Opinion piece: Stilettos are worth the pain & problems!

By Holly Ranford, Website Contributor

Holly Ranford considers: are high heels worth the pain?

As you exhale at finally getting the chance to release your aching feet from those stilettos, you promise yourself to never again wear those evil shoes.

But, if you are anything like me, you always go back on your word and return to tottering around in the beautiful power shoes.

And that's exactly the reason why - power.

The introduction of the high-heel established something for women that little else has managed to achieve.

Femme Fatale

Just slipping them on can give you a higher sense of authority that a pair of flat shoes couldn't even sniff at.

(If you agree with me, just add your comment at the bottom of this page!)

Plus you will never find the image of a femme fatale un-heeled. The stiletto is designed to force women to stand on their tip-toes, tense their calf muscles, and thrust their chest forward for balance. All of which give the wearer an appearance of slimmer, longer legs and a better posture.

But just when you started to think that your stilettos can do no wrong, somebody would slap a great big health warning on it. So-called experts proposed that regularly wearing high-heels would cause ankle problems because the shoes change the natural shape of your foot.

Even my mum would warn me of the damage I was causing to my feet.

Research

But, at last, the day has arrived that I have a comeback…

The news that Staffordshire University professors have announced that heels cause no apparent damage is music to my ears. And they're experts - surely my mum will not argue with experts?

Models queue up to wear their heels on the catwalk

However, it isn't just health warnings that the stiletto has had to defy.

It has often proved difficult for me to put up an argument against their impracticality, which goes along the lines of: perhaps running for a bus would be easier in flat shoes?
(But they don't look as good).

Impracticality

Even so, and even if they were bad for you after all, I echo what UK shoe designer, Terry DeHavilland, once said: "People say they're bad for the feet - but they're good for the mind. What's more important?"

So, they may be impractical but I will always defend the stiletto - even when, whilst cursing and trying to stay cool, I have had to frantically pull my heel from the clutches of a grated drain.

For me, high-heels worth the hassle.

What do you think?

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High heels - worth the hassle?

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As a man, I would say YES YES YES!
Andrew, Little Haywood