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Yes, it is funny how our paths are so similar despite our differences in lives and countries and jobs. You too have a good story. You certainly had some amazing dedication to have continued after that first painful night out. Like you, I found redemption in chunky heeled ankle boots. I'd always wanted a pair of boots such as you describe - I viewed them as racier, edgier versions of the hiking boots I wear as a matter of course (Im the guy editors send off to wild and remote places, not the one they have covering finance or politics) I found a pair of very nice black leather ankle boost with 8cm chunky heels and almond-shaped toes (my favourite style) and loved them. Like you I could them amazingly comfortable and easy to walk in, yet they still gave me the sense of being in heels and the satisfaction that came with that. I now have a couple pairs pf 8cm block heeled boots, including knee boors and an OTK pair and love them. Aside from liking the style they helped build up my abilities and now I'm taking up the challenge of 12cm stilettos!

Yes. I work from home - I'm a writer - and I often wear heels because I like to. It's my office and I can wear what I please. But I can certainly understand someone rebelling against the expectation that they wear heels - or some dress code requirement. I think you've touched on one of the joys of wearing heels - and the source of resentment. They are a challenge. Not everyone can do it, or if they can, are willing to put in the time and effort to make it look effortless. To do a difficult thing and do it gracefully and, what's more, make it look effortless, can certainly spark resentment among those who can't or won't do it. And that's more likely to come from other women.

It's really fascinating. @Shyheels regarding the paradox you mentioned: I guess this all comes down to the point that heels are sort of a challenge. Everyone can walk in flats, but not everyone can walk in heels. So one side sees this as a bad thing, and one side as a good thing. Both can be right.

Great storys from both of you! The unexpected situations when you have to stand for a long time are something that's unavoidable if you're wearing heels often. I also could tell so many stories about that... It's funny how we're all so different, but the general paths and ups and downs can be seen in all of our journeys. You definitely took me down memory lane and since we're at it, I might as well tell you about my beginnings: I bought my first pair of heels when I was 16. It was the time me and my friends started going to clubs and parties, and since we felt like we're the big girls now, we also wanted to dress like them. Needless to say we weren't nearly as grown up and smart as we thought we were. So my first pair were cheap stiletto pumps with a plateau and much bling-bling 😂 I don't remember the exact model but wouldn't find anything about them anyways because they were no-name. They must have had something like a 12 cm heel with a 3 cm plateau. I wore them the first time for going to a club. It started pretty good but after an hour or so they already hurt really bad. Nevertheless I (and also my friends) didn't want to show any weakness so we just kept on going for a few more hours until we couldn't take it anymore and walked home barefoot. I had blisters all over the place, but that didn't stop me. I always wore them out again when I had the chance to. Looking back I really don't know how I was able to stand the pain. Probably also a part of being young and dumb. And over time it really got better, and I also bought some better fitting heels. But the big breaktrough came when I was 20 and found me a pair of ankle boots with a block heel (around 8 cm). They weren't the type of high heels I wore until then, but I wanted something different for more casual everyday wear. I couldn't believe how comfortable they were, and started wearing them for every occasion where I wore flats before. This was the moment when I properly started wearing heels - looking for a good fit and quality, choosing an appropriate heel height which is comfortable, etc. It was like a reset where I started from scratch and then worked my way back up again to higher heels and different styles. And it's basically where I'm still at now, wearing my heels daily and sometimes trying something new 🙂

That's a great story @mlroseplant. I can picture the scene and imagine the circumstances - and the discomfort. I have a standing in heels story too - a couple of them actually. Like yours mine occurred when I was first trying out high heels. I'd always fancied heels and wished it were open to me to give them a try without it being turned into some big deal. When at last I summoned the nerve, I bought myself a pair of very elegant knee boots with 10cm heels - fashion classics, the very sort of boots I'd secretly always wanted and wished I dared to by. All well and good. They arrived and they were perfect. Nicely made, soft leather, perfect fit. I'd gone with boots as my f=gateway into heels mainly because I like boots but also because they seemed the sensible choice - if sensible is ever a word you can use to describe stilettos. In all the how-to-walk-in-heels articles and blog posts I'd read ahead of time, beginners were advised to start low and chunky and work their way up. Somehow I thought that didn't include me, but to be on the safe side I figured to get something at offered decent support. I wanted to succeed at this not end up in A&E with a twisted ankle and a dumb backstory. So boots it was. By all accounts they were easier to walk in. After sitting for a few thoughtful moments, admiring my new high heels and marvelling at my daring for having bought them, I stood up!. Wow. Aside from the giddy rush of finally being in heels, my calf muscles clenched up like I'd done a thousand toe raises at the gym non-stop. That was a surprise. Until that moment it had never even occurred to me that I might lack the muscle tone to wear heels. How could that be? I'm a cyclist. I ride a couple thousand miles a year and live in a hilly town. But taking up high heels was like taking up a new sport, one that not only requires a new skill set but uses your muscles in a whole new way as well. It was my first proper glimpse into the world of high heels. I didn't quit or give up but I look things more sensibly after that. A couple of days later, I managed to eat my lunch standing by the counter in my stiletto boots and felt quite chuffed at my progress. Outside a neighbour went by walking her dog. She saw me in the window, smiled and waved. I smiled and waved back, blushing a bit and wondering if she'd noticed I was several inches taller. A part of me hoped she had.

Ok, I've got some time, I might as well tell the story again. I should probably tell this story more often to people who ask me how I manage in heels so well, rather than just saying that I practice a lot. I officially "came out," so to speak, in May of 2012, when I wore my first pair of obviously elevated heeled shoes to a public function. Those shoes were effectively 3 inch, or 7.5 cm tall. All of the shoes I had at the time were platforms, so I am subtracting out the platform in order to give you a better idea of the steepness challenges involved. Later that month, I took my first real walk in these 7.5 cm heels, which was an eye-opener, because I had no idea how tired I was going to get before I got back home. Later on in that year, I moved up to effective 3 1/4 inch, or just over 8 cm heels. By about New Year's of 2013, I had bought some 4 inch, or 10 cm heels, and I thought I was doing pretty well at them. Until I made the decision to actually go somewhere in them. My wife and I needed to go to a large shopping mall, something to do with our mobile phones. I don't remember the exact reason, but it doesn't matter to the story. I proudly wore my new 4 inch ankle boots which I had just purchased the week before, and we headed off to the mobile phone store, which was probably 300 m away from our car. No problem, right? For whatever reason, the store was really busy that day, and we wound up standing and waiting to be served for the better part of an hour. After standing that long in heels, what seemed like a reasonably easy walk into the mall was incredibly painful on the way out. I literally thought I wasn't going to make it back to the car, my feet hurt so bad. I thought I was going to die. Now, 12 years later, it's hard to remember the intensity of that pain, but I remember thinking to myself, "This high heel thing is just a fantasy. Nobody can wear these things all the time!" I became very discouraged. I do not remember how I got the idea to actually start walking in heels for actual exercise, but it took root shortly after that incident, and I went back down to 3 inch heels and started walking the neighborhood, short distances at first. I didn't really try anything much taller than 3 or 3 1/4" for a long time, but eventually, the 4 inch boots which nearly killed me have become not only doable, but easy. I still have that same model of ankle boot to this day, and I really wouldn't hesitate to wear them to Disney World. They've become that natural, and I guess I've managed to train my feet and ankles to deal with them all day, every day without really thinking about it. I should remember this story more clearly whenever I hear somebody tell me that she can't wear heels for more than 30 minutes without great pain. I was at that place myself at one time. What motivated me to try again is still a mystery. In all reality, my life would have been much easier if I had given up back then and figured that all those women who wore heels every day were in constant misery, and that it wasn't worth it. Instead, here I am more than 4,000 km and dozens of heel tip replacements later, and now I'm the freak who can hack the tall heels like they were carpet slippers!

Yes I agree. Heels are contentious. I have found that women are far more likely to compliment me on my boots while men merely observe - although to be honest I mainly seem to pass unnoticed. with the exception of members here I find it far easier to talk about heels, and men in heels - me! - with women than with men to whom even the subject seems taboo

I think I get a lot less static from women about my shoes than I do from men. But, that's just from a purely initial reactionary point of view. That doesn't even touch the "would I date a man who wears high heels" question, and to me that question is irrelevant. Putting the shoe on the other foot, if you posed the same question to men, "would I date a woman who wears high heels" the answer to the question is a little more complex, but I bet there are a substantial number of men whose answer would be in the negative, based upon that fact alone.

Absolutely! But the people who want us to be seduced by the altogether more dangerous AI they are promoting want very much for this confusion to remain in place. To believe that this is all just the harmless betterment of all our lives

After reading the most recent replies to this thread, I was curious, so I asked Uncle Google, "Is Fuzzy Logic a form of AI?" Of course, AI gave me the first response, "Of course it is, you silly-billy!" I did not spend a great deal of time digging a lot deeper, so perhaps the official definition of AI is a bit broader than I generally think of, but I do have a rebuttal, which I believe is relevant here. Fuzzy Logic has been around for a while (evidently, at least 30 to 40 years, according to our local reporting). I have a "Fuzzy Logic" rice cooker. It works great. It will cook rice well even if the human involved messes up and adds too much water. If those sorts of things are actually AI, they are a distinct subset which is, as far as I can see, only good. They do not require many data centers which suck down the same amount of electricity as a whole city in order to operate. My rice cooker or at9's washing machine is not going to steal anybody's original creative material or cause anybody to lose his job. Nor does anybody question whether the rice or the clothes are "real." I'm not sure how we make that distinction, but I think it needs to be made.

It really is! The more I read about fashion as a culture and the history of fashion the more I want to know. Heels are especially fascinating. They are such a paradox. On the one hand they are denounced as tools of the patriarchy, designed to hobble and objectify women for the pleasure of men, yet at the same time they are born with panache by many of the most powerful women in the world, leaders in business, politics, arts and entertain,ent who view their heels as symbols of empowered femininity, spend small fortunes on designer help and speak of the emotional lift and sense of empowerment that comes with putting on a pair of stilettos and string into a meeting. Men are expected to admire - lustily - high heels on women but are told from birth they mustn't ever even think about trying on a pair themselves. Who can't help but e fascinated by all this furore and taboo?

Yes, I think so. True. It's simply because almost nobody does it, at least in everyday situations. Never looked at it that way but you're right. It's pretty interesting actually how shoes or clothes in general can cause such reactions/feelings in people.

I came across fuzzy logic in the 80's when I saw it in Automatic Braking Systems and anti lock brakes. In logic you have YES and NO in fuzzy logic you allow for more options like maybe.

I wonder if perhaps they feel threatened or challenged by the look. I think you mentioned once that there is an element of almost being an outlaw or renegade for wearing heels. There seems to be very few neutral perceptions of high heels. As a writer and observer that’s one of the things I find fascinating about them - more than just footwear they’re a part of our culture, wrapped in mystique and complicated meanings.

Sounds like marketing hype to me too. I use a 31 year old washing machine (Bosch in case you're wondering) and it has a button marked "Fuzzy logic". No idea what it really does. The machine is clever enough to try and redistribute the load to give a smooth spin. If it fails, it spins more slowly so as not to wreck the machine. It never argues with me either:)

@CrushedVamp Thank you for the story about the interviews. I can't remember a time like this, since my working career it was either wearing heels all day or not wearing them at all. But I have to add that I never worked in a really big city. The other part about the reactions of women and men, I absolutely agree on that. If I get any negative reactions, it's always from other women. I would sum it up as: Men either enjoy the look or don't bother. Women either enjoy the look or they feel offended for whatever reason (some possible ones you already mentioned)

A standing in heels story...now you got me curious

I was wondering that too.

I am not 100% sure how a washer/dryer can be AI. It sounds to me like it's an ordinary European style unit with a bunch of sensors in it to make sure the job is completed efficiently. It's not like the machine is designed to create anything. If it got into an argument with you, that would be a whole nuther level. . .

It is insidious. It allows for laziness on many fronts (like constructing a simple email), but even worse in terms of creativity. My wife deals with it as a school teacher; much of what the kids now give her is AI generated homework. BUT... she is no better, she uses AI to generate her teaching materials, which means pretty soon she will be AI outsourced. There is some good coming out of it. Because of our new AI clothes washer/dryer there is no longer a need for two machines, nor the need to take out the laundry after washing just to put in the dryer and dry, and even with that, no inefficient drying of the clothes. With our AI clothes washer/dryer it keeps checking the moisture content and either stops the drying process or keeps it going until the clothes are dry... all while using a heat pump to do it cheaply. Now... if only AI could fold and put the clothes away!

Of all the times we have gone out with her dressed up, and this includes such places as clubs, hockey games, fancy restaurants, etc; there was only once she felt uncomfortable around a man. He was a very large man, in his 70’s at an expensive restaurant and just kept staring at my wife’s legs. I mean eyes locked on them, head down, eyes not blinking, staring for 45 minutes straight. It was just really creepy for her and I. But most times men just take glances because we typically dress nicely which is not often seen where I live. I get that and could care less, but this was just flat out creepy. Not that I was too worried. You guys know me, my wife almost always wears an anklet and so do I, but my anklet holds a 9mm Kimber. :-) I love guns so I always conceal carry…

I'm much there same, but prefer almond-shaped toes. Living along a towpath makes things difficult as I don't are to ruin my boots or break an ankle!

Yes! Would have been nice to have had a coffee in town!

They are beautiful, must feel great to wear, and surpringly comfortable to walk in Cool, sure wish it was me!

jealousy for sure