Shyheels Posted January 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 Back on the subject of heels, I feel certain that a substantial number of men - a majority, probably, - would secretly like to see what it is like to wear heels - even if it was just for a day. Curiosity has to be in play here in the minds of many men. Then that leads to the more interesting conundrum - supposing they do try it, a day or even just an hour, in heels. What do they do if they find they like it? Own it? Admit it? Feel threatened? Get angry and sneer at men who display more inner courage and acknowledge they like to wear heels? Daring to try is one ting; daring to like is something harder still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyboot Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 Just now, Shyheels said: Back on the subject of heels, I feel certain that a substantial number of men - a majority, probably, - would secretly like to see what it is like to wear heels - even if it was just for a day. Curiosity has to be in play here in the minds of many men. Then that leads to the more interesting conundrum - supposing they do try it, a day or even just an hour, in heels. What do they do if they find they like it? Own it? Admit it? Feel threatened? Get angry and sneer at men who display more inner courage and acknowledge they like to wear heels? Daring to try is one ting; daring to like is something harder still. I got the urge at a very young age. As a child of the 70s, seeing all the women walking around in knee high boots made me a tad jealous, I have to admit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) Just now, pointyboot said: I got the urge at a very young age. As a child of the 70s, seeing all the women walking around in knee high boots made me a tad jealous, I have to admit. Same here. I always liked the look and wished it was available for men. It took decades for me to grasp that it was up to me, not misplaced convention, whether or not I wore knee or over-the-knee boots! Heels were not really part of it. I liked high heeled boots. And I liked low ones too. I suppose if I thought hard about it, I might have had a preference for heeled ones, but not overwhelmingly so. I just liked the lines and look of tall elegant boots. Trying heels though is going to be fun and adding, literally, a new dimension. Edited January 9, 2018 by Shyheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointyboot Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 Just now, Shyheels said: Same here. I always liked the look and wished it was available for men. It took decades for me to grasp that it was up to me, not misplaced convention, whether or not I wore knee or over-the-knee boots! Heels were not really part of it. I liked high heeled boots. And I liked low ones too. I suppose if I thought hard about it, I might have had a preference for heeled ones, but not overwhelmingly so. I just liked the lines and look of tall elegant boots. Trying heels though is going to be fun and adding, literally, a new dimension. Heels were also a part of it for me. When stiletto heels came BACK into fashion in the 80s (they were the norm for women in the 60s) I realized I could have the best of both worlds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) Just now, pointyboot said: Heels were also a part of it for me. When stiletto heels came BACK into fashion in the 80s (they were the norm for women in the 60s) I realized I could have the best of both worlds. Oh, I am quite sure I shall enjoy my foray into heels! A high heeled boot is certainly aesthetically pleasing and I’ve no doubt wearing a pair of stiletto boots will add something - a greater sense of adventure and the forbidden. My first recollection of liking boots concerned go-go boots on a very pretty red haired girl in my seventh grade class, 1969-70... I don’t recall if they had heels or not. I think not... Edited January 9, 2018 by Shyheels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacchi Alti Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Interesting exchange of views! I've learnt quite a bit about drivers for fashion. Thanks, all. I have a theory that the unisex fashions of the 70s made a lot of men who were teenagers then interested in wearing heels, and there are quite a few of us on this site who were around that age group. I wore block heels about 2.5 inches every day to school, and I was very disappointed when the fashion suddenly changed. My interest in heels, and jealousy at women, started when I was in my early teens. I tried on some platform sandals belonging to a friend's sister, when everyone was out of the way, and was hooked. I made a pair out of plimsolls and wood, and wore them at home when no one was around, and made some wedges I wore in wellies for fishing, but didn't possess my own proper heels until I was about 20, when I chanced on a pair of 4 inch stilettos in a pile of clothes put outside someone's flat door. I wore those a lot, going for long walks when it was dark, but had to leave them behind at the end of the academic year. I started getting a few women's clothes and wore them at home, but realised after a bit, and after going out dressed a couple of times, they were an excuse for wearing heels and it would not have been any good apart from at a transvestite club, and I never attended one of those. I still have a few bits but hardly every wear them. I started wearing heels regularly in man mode a few years ago but was much freer to do so after our eldest son left home just over two years ago. I'd found, very conveniently, that they suited my back, which really ached when I was standing around in flat shoes. This has been my reason ready to give to anyone who asked, but NO ONE has ever asked! Most of the staff in the rest home where my mother lives look at them when I arrive, and of course they're obvious when I'm going upstairs to her room. I now wear them all day, most days, and I'm slowly pushing the boundaries regarding styles. I went for a walk in 4.5 inch stiletto boots (thanks FastFreddy - they're the ones you sold me) at the weekend and almost wore the tips out! I walked past several people - I think some noticed them but there was no audible reaction. I don't intend wearing stilettos regularly but was interested to wear them for an extended walk while a suitably long distance from home. One thing that fascinated me a few weeks ago was going to a company conference where a lot of people got glitter stuck to their faces (purposely!) and I did it for a bit of fun. I wore it all the way home on the train (about 4 hours) and three people remarked on it! WHY???? My heels were clearly visible. Would they have been a taboo subject because the people (two females and a male) wouldn't have been comfortable mentioning them, while the glitter was a bit of fun? Soooooo..... I wear them because I love the feeling of walking in them, but also have another reason (my back) to give should anyone ask. Sometimes I'm tempted to broach the subject with one or two who know I wear them, and tell them that reason, but I don't want to force the subject on anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 I have worn engineer boots in the past that had two-inch block heels and found that they were very good at easing back pain. I am not so sure that 4-5 inch stilettos will have the same therapeutic effect - I'd be surprised - but I shall find out soon enough. As regards your conference and the glitter, my guess is that nobody noticed your heels, even if they were clearly visible. As Sherlock Holmes used to tut-tut at Watson: you see, but you do not observe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacchi Alti Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 It's possible they didn't notice, but I'm sure women are far more aware than men about what people are wearing. If I'm sitting in the train, by the aisle, with heels clearly visible because my trousers ride up, some people must see them. Anyway, my wife and I are going out for a meal tonight. Last time I wore my 'stiletto' wedges, and we were in quite a public part of the restaurant. I can't decide whether to wear those or my new trouser boots, although maybe not as I haven't shown her those yet! I'll be wearing 'ordinary' trousers rather than boot-cut jeans, so the thin heel should be rather obvious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Again, I am sure they see - but whether they observe and thing is another matter. I take it then that your wife is comfortable with your wearing heels out to dinner? That's quite nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacchi Alti Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Yes, she's OK with them. These are probably about as 'stylish' as she'd tolerate. Stilettos would be out but then I'd probably not want to wear them anyway, particularly as the place we're going has decking with gaps between the planks! I'll have to go upstairs for the toilets so everyone will see and hear the heels if I go up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Yes, getting your stilettos stuck between gaps in the decking would not be a good look! My wife is quite fine with my flat/low OTK suede boots. She is supportive of my desire to try out stilettos although I don't think I would care to go out in them - assuming I master the art of walking in them well enough so that it would even e a possibility! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 On 09/01/2018 at 2:51 PM, Shyheels said: Bicycles did drive fashion and the move by women into wearing trousers - it is a rather widely accepted premise by social and fashion historians. Google searches tend to disagree. As you know, the most popular/most read appear at the top of any search results. Here are the top 5. Of them, only the last one even mentions women riding bicycles, and it's mentioned as one in a group of activities. (Not prioritised or singled out.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_trousers http://www.historyandwomen.com/2012/04/woman-and-pants.html http://the-toast.net/2014/08/07/wearing-pants-brief-history/ https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/A-History-of-Trousers-and-Pants-in-Western-Culture http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/Modern-World-1930-1945/Trousers-for-Women.html The overall conclusion from these, is that it was work that changed societies view of women wearing trousers, spurred on by their participation during the world wars, of doing work historically carried out by men alone. So work related in a climate of social changes. Bicycles changed the world, but not for many women. One of the articles I read (I don't remember if it's amongst those linked as I researched this two days ago) mentions that in modern times, some employment in religious organisations, still (unofficially) forbids women to wear "pants". Even in Christian cultures, women have been repressed in their personal freedoms. They were considered 'chattels' (possessions) until very recently, not even qualifying as second class people. As late as the 60's, rape of a wife wasn't outlawed in the UK. On 09/01/2018 at 2:51 PM, Shyheels said: PS: I just looked up the cycling figures for Britain 1895 - 1.5 million cyclists. And that number continued to grow quickly through the rest of the decade. I love statistics. Which organisation independently verified this figure? As we know, retailers tend to overstate sales. (Like Tesco's board members charged with fraud for "accounting" errors that significantly increased the share value of the company.) Where is the breakdown of men vs women owner/users. Equally, all ownership/users. More importantly, the demographic of owner users. My stance on this is that employed (men) would have been the bulk of the users. (Postmen, butchers, bakers.) Shop girls (bakers, linens) would have been kept in the shop. Women with access to bicycles, would have been wealthy middle class. As I mentioned before, the poor barely had enough to eat - often, not enough. In todays Daily Mail, there is an article on Glasgows poor in the 1940's some 50 years after the 'bicycle boom'. Some of the people shown in the photograph are clearly wearing worn out clothes. Even my own (working class) family didn't own a bike until I got my second hand one aged around 6. Glasgow wasn't the only poor city. My fathers family who lived in London, started life in a slum. My father was fostered out because there wasn't enough money in the family to feed everyone in the family. Bike ownership? Not until the early 50's when my Auntie got herself a job did anyone in the family own a bike, and then it wasn't recreational, it was a requirement of (post war) work as shown in "Call the Mid-wife." Bicycles helped change the transport world, but it didn't put women in trousers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Here's Susan B Anthony, one of the leading suffragettes of the age, on the topic of the bicycle: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” She was not referring to a couple of ladies she happened to know who had taken up cycling. It was a massive movement and indeed it was demand for bicycles by women that drove the bicycle manufacturing industry to the heady heights it reached during the 1890s. As to hunger etc: Britain wasn't Ethiopia in famine at the turn of the century. Bicycle ownership was huge in Britain, as it was around the world, during the 1890s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 On 09/01/2018 at 5:25 PM, Shyheels said: Back on the subject of heels, I feel certain that a substantial number of men - a majority, probably, - would secretly like to see what it is like to wear heels - even if it was just for a day. Curiosity has to be in play here in the minds of many men. I have read somewhere, a statistic that suggested some 20% of males had tried on/worn women's clothing. I think the 'shoe' value was a bit higher. As I've mentioned a couple of times before, about three quarters of my shoe sales have gone to men. The most expensive pair going to a youngish tradesman who I met face-to-face with no secrecy over who they were for. Another pair sold to a biker, who had them delivered o a work place, rather than his home. I'd say there were a significant number of male heels wearers out there. On 09/01/2018 at 5:25 PM, Shyheels said: Then that leads to the more interesting conundrum - supposing they do try it, a day or even just an hour, in heels. What do they do if they find they like it? Own it? Admit it? Feel threatened? Get angry and sneer at men who display more inner courage and acknowledge they like to wear heels? Daring to try is one ting; daring to like is something harder still. Typically, hide them somewhere, and put them on for ten/fifteen minutes when solitude allows. Even on HHp when members talk about meeting up, everyone takes a step backward. Why? Possibly because men into wearing a heel, see it as a guilty secret they are loathe to share publicly. I've no shame. (Almost literally none.) I'm happy to meet like-minded people. I'm comfortable going out in public wearing a discreet heel. I haven't always been so confident in public places though, but am not reluctant to share. On 10/01/2018 at 12:06 PM, Tacchi Alti said: I started getting a few women's clothes and wore them at home, but realised after a bit, and after going out dressed a couple of times, they were an excuse for wearing heels and it would not have been any good apart from at a transvestite club, and I never attended one of those. I still have a few bits but hardly every wear them. That pretty much mimics my early experience of wearing heels amongst others, but I've never stopped enjoying wearing tight clothing, and almost always have leggings on. I still have a taste for tight skirts too, but not to feminise myself. (And 3 hours a year hardly qualifies me as a TV.) On 10/01/2018 at 12:06 PM, Tacchi Alti said: I started wearing heels regularly in man mode a few years ago but was much freer to do so after our eldest son left home just over two years ago. I'd found, very conveniently, that they suited my back, which really ached when I was standing around in flat shoes. This has been my reason ready to give to anyone who asked, but NO ONE has ever asked! Most of the staff in the rest home where my mother lives look at them when I arrive, and of course they're obvious when I'm going upstairs to her room. I now wear them all day, most days, and I'm slowly pushing the boundaries regarding styles. I went for a walk in 4.5 inch stiletto boots (thanks FastFreddy - they're the ones you sold me) at the weekend and almost wore the tips out! I walked past several people - I think some noticed them but there was no audible reaction. I don't intend wearing stilettos regularly but was interested to wear them for an extended walk while a suitably long distance from home. If you are walking some distance, you will need a stock of tips. I recommend this outfit: http://www.stiletto-heel-tips.co.uk/ For a while I had a job that had me walking almost two miles home in the early hours. I put metal tips on a pair of boots because I used to walk miles in them and would use these for walking home in (rather than driving). Sound was incredible. I don't remember meeting anyone, but there would have been no hiding my footwear. On 10/01/2018 at 12:45 PM, Tacchi Alti said: It's possible they didn't notice, but I'm sure women are far more aware than men about what people are wearing. If I'm sitting in the train, by the aisle, with heels clearly visible because my trousers ride up, some people must see them. They must. But British people are quite insular. Only children will talk about them openly, or drunks .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Here's an article: http://www.annielondonderry.com/womenWheels.html And this book by Frances Willard one of the leading sufragettes of the day: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheel-within-learned-Bicycle-Reflections-ebook/dp/B0763NQNHC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1515677042&sr=8-5&keywords=Frances+Willard From The Atlantic Monthly https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/the-technology-craze-of-the-1890s-that-forever-changed-womens-rights/373535/ And an academic journal: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1135&context=ghj THere's loads more on the topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) As you say, a good 20% of men admit to trying on an article of women's clothing, and rather a higher percentage for those who tried on dshoes/boots. I suspect there is far higher still percentage of men who would secretly like to try on heels but haven't done so. And would probably hotly deny any leanings that direction if they were asked. Edited January 11, 2018 by Shyheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Just now, Shyheels said: Here's Susan B Anthony, one of the leading suffragettes of the age, on the topic of the bicycle: “Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” She was not referring to a couple of ladies she happened to know who had taken up cycling. It was a massive movement and indeed it was demand for bicycles by women that drove the bicycle manufacturing industry to the heady heights it reached during the 1890s. She was an American social reformer, a minuscule voice in a global sea of change. Just now, Shyheels said: As to hunger etc: Britain wasn't Ethiopia in famine at the turn of the century. Do some reading. Irish potato famine(s). Occurred while part of the British Isles/under British governance. Going on while Ms Anthony was trying to get slaves freed in the South. Millions immigrated to the US to avoid famines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Check your dates Irish potato famine - 1840s Bicycle age (worldwide) - 1895+ Susan B Anthony was hardly a minuscule voice And the millions - literally millions - of bicycles that were sold during the 1890s radically changed the world - including ladies fashions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Just now, Shyheels said: There's loads more on the topic There's loads on social reform. Loads on womens suffrage. (Film stars wearing trousers in their films and at press events, did more to get women into trousers, than Emily Pankhurst ever could.) Loads on bicycles. I've even agreed that amongst the wealthy, a trouser of some style might have been suitable around the turn of the 20th century, but that's not what got the working women into trousers, it was a necessity of work. One of the interesting pictures I saw, was of a woman coal worker. She had a skirt on (as society and the church demanded) but wore mens trousers underneath. While working, she would tuck the front of the skirt into belt. If I conclude that women making in-roads into wearing trousers was largely (if not entirely) as a result of searching the internet for wisdom about this, your points (as valid as the may seem to you) are in conflict with the great bulk of the information offered by others, including some large organisations who's raison d'être is social history. As I mentioned, women+bicycles not even worth mentioning except as (virtually) an after thought in one article. As to the popularity of cycling (and I speak as an enthusiast myself), in my very young days, the only people I saw on a bicycle was the local bobby and the postman. No one else (until the mid sixties) had one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) Just now, Shyheels said: Check your dates Irish potato famine - 1840s Bicycle age (worldwide) - 1895+ Susan B Anthony was hardly a minuscule voice And the millions - literally millions - of bicycles that were sold during the 1890s radically changed the world - including ladies fashions. There was more than one famine, and Ms Anthony was 'busy' in the 1850's. She was not a voice anyone in the UK would be familiar with. Especially when it came to her anti-slavery views (which by default, would have had to have been before 1865.) And in any event, her, and suffragettes like her, didn't get women wearing trousers in Europe in the 20th Century. Edited January 11, 2018 by FastFreddy2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 You are quite correct that in the 1950s etc bicycles were thin on the ground, or on the roads. The arrival of the automobile in the early years of the 20th century knocked the bicycle crack of the 1890s on its head - ironically many of the car manufacturers stared out as bicycle builders (John Kemp Starley, who invented the modern bicycle was among them - Rover bicycles became Rover automobiles!) By 1910 the bicycle craze was over. It is for this reason, its brevity, followed by the wars and the 20th century's mechanised age, that the transformative power of the bicycle during its magic decade of primacy is now all but forgotten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) Just now, Shyheels said: that the transformative power of the bicycle during its magic decade of primacy is now all but forgotten Not to me, but for an entirely different reason. In the UK, bicycling on footways was made illegal in 1835. That's 60 years before Mr Benz gave us what we know as the motor vehicle. It's a law that needs reform. Forcing cyclists into roads where 2 tonne cars and 40 tonne lorries travel at speed, isn't a law that would be passed if it were offered to parliament today. Edited January 11, 2018 by FastFreddy2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2018 Back to the subject of why we like to wear heels - and in my case, the fact that I am doing so; my boots are on order; some days ago. My wife approves of them - thought they were beautiful. Nice to hear. I bought some nice skinny black jeans to go with them (they've arrived). I would like to find some stiletto ankle boots as well to give me some variation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddy2 Posted January 12, 2018 Report Share Posted January 12, 2018 Just now, Shyheels said: Back to the subject of why we like to wear heels - and in my case, the fact that I am doing so; my boots are on order; some days ago. My wife approves of them - thought they were beautiful. Nice to hear. Very nice to hear. (Mine sees my heel-wearing as something of a competition I think. Although there have been times when we've both been out in a heel, she can't walk in them -or chooses not to- for the long periods/long walks that I like to indulge myself in when opportunity arises. She much prefers; house to car; car to restaurant/theatre; restaurant/theatre to car; car to house.) What brand/style? Just now, Shyheels said: I bought some nice skinny black jeans to go with them (they've arrived). I would like to find some stiletto ankle boots as well to give me some variation. That's how it starts ..... You'll blink, and the next thing you'll notice is that you have a room full of high heeled footwear - in your size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyheels Posted January 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2018 Indeed, I can see how this could become a very expensive hobby. I like to dress well for the office, even if my fashion sense is a bit on the boho side. I definitely want some stiletto ankle boots and will pay for good ones. I would rather have fewer - even just one - nice pair than buy a lot of indifferent ones just for variety sake. My boots are from Italian heels. A classic knee boot, simple and elegant lines. The jeans are from Topshop. I really like their jeans. They fit me better than any I have fiund Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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