Arctic

I think there really is no way back. We cannot stop the emerging countries from trying to unseat the established world. They are gaining knowledge faster (relatively speaking) because they are "behind" and they are working harder and longer for less money because they have a stronger incentive to do so (they have the lure of their first car and cellphone etc.). We may be able to make things more pleasant for us (focus on things that really count), or we may delay the process (by speeding up our own advance by working harder), but stopping it? No, I don't think we can. Yes, war or something along those lines could, but carpet bombing three quarters of the world? I'm often thinking about these things. Another minor issue: during the next decade, 200 million families in China and India alone will be able to buy their first car. It will do wonders for the car industry, but what will it do to the CO2 burden and the crude oil price? In the best scenario, it will double it, pulling the US and Europe in the deepest industrial recession since the seventies' oil shocks. I'm happy that I don't have to worry about those things, that's what we have politicians for. PS: it's good that you know how to bake bread, since I don't

True, but after >33000 messages about high heels, quite a lot has been said already! I don't know if there is a limit, and if there would be one, where it would be...

Although I kept my heels concealed in a "safe place" she knew where I kept them. One day, 3 children and 10 years of marriage later, she appeared in my office carrying a pair of my heels. She commented that while she usually didn't like the shoes I bought, she liked that pair. She sat down on the couch and tried them on. That was the turning point in her complete acceptance.

Wow... that was almost worth the 10 year wait.

Although my wife knows where I keep my boots, I'm pretty sure she doesn't check them. In a way I wished she did...

Your story indicates that one never should give up hoping for acceptance.

It seems to me that the board has become a little dull lately.

I've also noticed that some of the hh sites I used to visit regularly are not being updated like they have in the past.

Dull? Not exactly the word I would use either, but I see what you mean.

Well, it just indicates that we (=the high heel community) have reached consensus about how you should live out your high heel desires. Most aspects have been discussed and what the male part of the board is concerned, the main messages are: "do it" and "be honest".

I think this was inevitable. Although I think that the community will never die out, it will serve less of a purpose than it used to. It has done a great job and will become more of a knowledge base.

On the other hand, there is a possibility that we kickstarted a chain reaction and heel wearing will pick up exponentionally. And there will be a flood of new blood populating this board and making and maintaining new hh sites.

It is a direct consequence of the free flow of capital becoming global. The current level of prosperity and welfare in the world was reached because of the capitalist system that could operate more or less freely inside nations/continents. Now, with corporations increasingly spanning the globe, it makes more sense than ever investing money where the yields are the highest, since the differences between continents are so big. Shareholders demand that with a clear concience since there should be laws prevening corporations from doing things that are harmful to societies. Then, the dotcom era has put expectations of returns higher than realistically can be expected, resulting in extreme cost cutting measures and an even stronger incentive to lay off people. So, we are now in a wave of combined investor greed and globalisation and I'm afraid there is no way back. I'm not an economist but also I tend to think that it is not a sustainable model, but it will continue for at least a (few) decade(s). I'm not at all against capitalism, but I think that short term gains have gotten too important and the long term vision is almost no longer existing. But then, there is another angle to look at it: it could be self-regulating mechanism causing emerging economies like China and India to take the lead. They will get the development offices and factories as long as it is cheaper to run them there than it is here. This will cause the operational costs in the Western world to go down (lower salaries - and we'll go down the Japan route!) and at the same time the costs in the emerging markets to go up as the standard of living rises. So until we run out of emerging economies (and that will take at least a century) the trend will continue, after which an equilibrium will establish itself! If it costs the same to make a CD player in Korea, China, Europe or the US, it is just made where the customers are the closest, compared to now where they are made where it is the cheapers and they are shipped to where they have most money. Either way, it looks bad for the Western world Hm. It seems I got carried away a bit.

Most women will never understand, unless they've ever been addicted (and "recovered") to something like heroin or crack cocaine, because having a penis (and a Y chromosome), and the sexual urges that result therefrom, are every bit as difficult to control or "suppress" as the urge to give in to the addiction. No, I'm not an addict (in the conventional sense), but have known a few. If you consider the endorphins that flood the system during sexual fantasizing or roleplaying as drugs (and their chemical structures do resemble opiates), then I am most definitely an addict, and I suspect several others on this board are as well.

You make an interesting point here and I really think that this is a viable theory, but for those who don't have the sexual urge, it still must be different. I pick my boots because I really like how they look: how the leather shines, the shape of the toe or heel etc. So on a particular day I may prefer one pair over another. Pretty much the same thing as with cars: we have a Volvo V70 from 2000 and the 1991 Ford in the picture below. Although most people think in this country that the Ford is the ugliest car ever made, I really like it for various reasons, one of them being that it has a high torgue, low RPM engine, and I may be in cruising mood that day. So even though it is old, ugly, less powerful, has lousy airco and is probably worth just a few cents, I really want to take THAT car on a specific day.

I can understand why people think that it is not very logical that I prefer the old car over the new one, even though it is clearly inferior, and I can more or less understand why most guys don't want to wear high heeled boots.

But I hope that society some day will react the same way to me wearing high heel boots as they react to me driving a 1991 Grampa style Ford:

"You want to drive that thing? Fine, go ahead! Better order road service!"

"You want to walk on those? Fine, go ahead! But don't complain if you twist your ankle!"

Most women think, and more to the point feel like Laurie describes. I suspect most wouldn't be able to put into words exactly what they feel, other than that it is fundamentally WRONG for a man, especially their man, to be wearing women's clothes of any kind. It's visceral, lower brain stem, probably illogical, could be proven without merit in any court of law, but it still will be there! It is as set-in-stone as a person's faith or religion, and every bit as easy to change--e.g. only the person that has it can change it, and only when she finds a motive to do so, if indeed she ever does.

This is very interesting. I really have to remember this as an argument. Although my wife has said that all her friends think about this in the same way, I should try to get that checked some day one way or another. In that way it is somewhat compareable to religious beliefs..! One convinces the other that they are right!

I'm not too keen on the material, but the shape is great! If they would be available in black leather, I'd buy them instantly! They would even be better if they would be knee high! Yeah!

Hi FF, it appears that we are indeed a quite rare breed indeed. Of most guys who are interested in (wearing) high heels, the vast majority (99%?) does so in direct connection with intercourse. I think most of those are not participating on boards like these. The relatively small number of males who wear heels out of the bedroom (the members of this board, broadly speaking), appears to be consisting of two distinct groups: the ones that are also interested in female attire and those who just want to wear heels. Could it be so that the proportion is 95% - 5%? If we guess that there are 3 billion men in the world, at least 1 billion must be in the possibility to buy heels for themselves. If we assume that 2% of them are interested in wearing high heels, we have: 1E09 * 2% * 1% * 5% = 10000 That's quite a small number, if you think about it. In a way, I like to be the way I am: it makes me unique. Or almost B

I've talked about this before so the veterans better skip this post. For my wife there are two reasons that she doesn't want me to wear anything out of the mainstream. Read the second paragraph, because that is actually where the message is :

1. a man has to be a "pure" male. He can be childish, poor, nerdish, have bad style, poor hygiene, whatever (which she is all ok with, although she wouldn't want to be with one that is too much of those things mentioned above). She sees those as male "deficiencies" and since nobody is perfect, this is acceptable. But she doesn't want that his masculinity is diluted with even the slightest "strictly female" property. She says that this is a major turn-off for her. Let me explain a bit: I wear only boots (ankle to knee high), with only a block, blade or western heel between 6 and 10 cm, so nothing else (like stilettos, skirts, whatever). I feel happy in my skin and have no other desires than those. I don't want to be a woman, nor look like one, nor feel like one, I just like the boots - which happen to be made for women. When I came home with a pair of FLAT black leather knee high boots, she freaked out because they had a zip at the inside. She said that boots that zip up tightly around the leg are for women, irrespective of the design or heel height. Zipped up knee-high leather boots are made to look sexy in a female kind of way. She forced me to throw them away instantly and didn't speak to me for a week. Similar story for some other pairs with small heels etc. Some of the other pairs went into the basement and she knows about them being there.

2. she doesn't want any pity from other people. She thinks that one of the worst things that could happen in life is that I would be seen in the city by her parents or friends while wearing what she calls "woman's shoes" and as a result of that would discuss about that behind her back and feel sorry for her since she has that kind of freaky husband. She would be deadly embarassed if she would figure out at some point that her friend has seen me or known about my things and then start to talk about it to her.

She has asked me, almost begged me repeatedly, not to wear 5 cm or higher heeled shoes in public. I have reluctantly agreed, even though it eats me from inside out.

So I violate the agreement very regularly because although I don't know why, I really want to wear those bloody boots. I'm very careful though, not to run into her friends or family.

Bottom line: she doesn't want to get pity from "other people" and she doesn't understand why it is so hard to suppress that weird desire. As long as she doesn have to talk about it or look at those boots she's happy. It is absolutely not about me not wanting to play it open, but she doesn't let me to. So what I wanted to say with this long post is that we should not make everyone in the closet to believe that it is just them that need to make the move - there may be other hurdles ahead.

If I would have brought this up right after we met, I would have been dumped sante pede. (but I didn't know about this yet so that was not an option ). In effect it means that if I would have known about it, the choice would have been: I change or the becoming wife goes. We've been together now for many years and I can honestly say that she's an excellent wife and I love her extremely much, and since good partners are hard to find, I have made the choice to live with a life-long frustration.

So, my recommendation is to be open if your girlfriend lets you to. If she cannot accept it, only you can make the trade-off.

Too bad things aren't proceeding, Laurie, but remember that it is the worst possible moment for looking for a job... we are in the middle of the worst (longest at least) downturn in history, some say. I know it doesn't help you right now, but not getting a job right now doesn't say anything about your merits. In the company where I work, we have seen thousands (literally) of excellent people being pink-slipped at the same time and as a result nearly anyone managed to get a job anywhere. You just have to rely on your own sense of self-worth and the support of people close to you until the tide turns or you get lucky. Some say that the business confidence is slowly returning (it's about time!) and then companies will be more eager to hire. Good luck Bert

oh bugger ....

I HAD PUT THE KEYS DOWN ON THE BATTERY !!!!!

Dammit .... I'm locked out of both vehicle and home. I bought my paper anyway but how to get at the keys, right at the top of the engine compartment. Thankfully the Sunday Times has a vast amout of superfluous newsprint which I laid out on the ground under the jeep so as I wouldn't get dirty as I reached up into the mechanics. The only problem was the locals didn't realise the legs (in jeans) didn't belong to a guy .... they could only see a very nice pair of heels, so presumed a mechanically-minded woman was having problems with her jeep !

After explaining to a very confused gentleman that my keys were on the top of the battery which I couldn't reach

Great story!!

Let me and the rest of us know what type of high heel..and why you would buy that brand...*smiles*

Angela Falconi, an Italian brand that makes only boots, is my all-time favorite. Nothing beats the quality and feel. Too bad they cost $300 and up. I got two pairs (bought discounted 30% and 50%...). More info at http://www.myrto.it/

Then there is Bronx, medium quality but very hip looking. The summer collection usually sucks but winter is often ok, but a bit too hip for me sometimes. Their site: http://www.bronxshoes.com/#

Tiscali is not only an internet provider, but also a great Italian shoe maker. I don't think they have a website.

Vagabond, a scandinavian brand, isn't too bad either but is unlikely to be found in the US. They make quite ok boots in winter: http://www.vagabond.net/intro/index.asp

And I got two pairs of custom made high heeled Western boots from Western Ranch in Canada. If you want something special, they can do it for you! http://www.westernranchboots.com

I just yesterday bought a pair of Kenneth Cole boots online. They look awesome on the picture so I have high hopes. Let's see when they arrive...

Bert

You would think they wouldnt want to bother a paying customer and their friends. I'm hoping you talked with the people involved at some point and could let us know why they may have gone through that sort of trouble.

I considered for a while doing that but then I thought that by doing so, I would admit that I was doing something out of the ordinary that they ought to tolerate. Which may make me a weirdo or nagger at best in their eyes. By just plainly ignoring the fact I thought that I would get a more positive impact on the long term...

Bert

Also, I entirely agree with you that this sort of attention to your heels might be a bad experience at the time, but those people will be a lot less reactionary NEXT time they see a guy in heels, and so on until full acceptance is reached

Yep, that's what I think too. There probably is no easy way...

Bert

I posted this quite a while ago:

Posted: 26 Apr 2002 22:30 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oppressed in fashion? Read this...

Last saturday I was in a crowded bar with my mates having a good time by dancing on the tables (common at that particular place) when around 01:30 in the morning one of the waiters was working his was through the crowd. That by itself was nothing unusual, but the 5D-cell MagLite he was carrying didn't promise too much good when I saw two women in his wake pointing in my direction. And yes, my uh-oh feeling was justified: the flashlight was to check my boots. I was wearing my what I consider my not-at-all intruisive 8.5 cm heel black leather Bronx boots. So what happened was that 2 m of free space was formed in front of the table and the guy with the MagLite put my boots literally in the spotlights. Probably the two women, which didn't look neither too bright or attractive, had probably been looking at them for a while without me noticing it, but due to the darkness they weren't sure. A lot of people got a good laugh out of it and I got my share of fingerpointing. I felt quite humiliated I have to say. I tried to put it out of my mind and continue partying but it wasn't the same anymore after that incident. Also one thing that had some influence was that I was by car so I was totally sober and then it takes more effort to get in the mood.

I almost had worn my 4" blades there, but then I thought that this was already pushing it enough with these.

I had bought a new pair of 501-style black leather pants that day and I was wearing those as well. I expected to have more comments about those than the boots, but that turned out to be wrong. It's not that I want to look rough or tough or anything, but I wanted to have a pair because I like how they look and feel, even if it's not the best for my image. I met 4 of my pals in the city and they saw the pants from a mile away of course, and I got my share of Lederhosen jokes because of them, but that kind of comments is different of course. They made me do a step backwards so they could give them a look, but they akwardly enough didn't comment about the boots...

On the other hand, I also got some positive comments. In that bar there are some sofas/couches in a quieter corner and after some jumping around for a while we went to get a rest there. There were some ladies sitting in those sofas and the first thing one said to the others when I came to sit beside them was "hei katto.. ihanaa" which means something like "look, how great". For the rest I didn't hear a word, which is the way I like it

The good side of the flashlight story is that I got a lot of exposure in an environment of trendsetters which will help the general acceptance of heels on guys in public.

Bert

I seem to be really healthy since I don't do any of that freaky sounding stuff mentioned below I sometimes :drinking: a little and my body mass index is 25 point something (20-25 is ok I was told) so I guess I'm not THAT healthy but I eat healthy (although a lot ) and excercise... I defenitely don't go to see a therapist or a doctor if I'm not sick/insane...! Bert

Good to hear that you are doing fine and are happy with your life! Congratulations on the move and we all hope that work-wise things will turn out fine too! Bert

What size are they TD? And where did you get them from? Are they from winter 2002 or 2003 collection? Bert

I actually prefer the softest possible rubber I can get for my heels for two reasons: - I DON'T want to attract attention - They give the best possible grip at quick turns, which is important if you weigh 80 kilos like I do. The wear is a problem but I put up with it... Bert

Awesome... I'd buy them straight away too! Bert

Nice shoes!

You should have gone out in them at first. The demons are in our heads.

Well said Warren. D, go for it next time.

Bert

Hey there! What's all this Texas bashing? No one gets "sentenced" to a hospital for wearing platform shoes! We are talking about Kingswood, after all, one of the wealthiest communites around Houston. And we're talking about a private psychiatric clinic for behaviorial and addicitive problems...not some federal prison or state run school for reformed high heel wearers. So I suspect that there's more to this story than is being told, and it isn't about what camo boots are being worn in Texas!

Probably you're right... Sometimes people let themselves go a little.

It doesnt come close to tunnel vision, it is! But as u said about methadon treatment, no, i wouldnt be suprised though. Im actully from california... adopted, so i dont really understand texas.

Ah... But you have Kingwood, TX under your name, so I assumed from there that you were living in the lone star state.

B

Bert,

It is actually rather sqaure (slightly rounded on the edges, but nothing

pointy or so). I got them from some discount outlet in San Francisco that sells expensive brands like Via Spiga at seriously reduced prices.

Whoo, is that by any chance DSW shoe near Union Square? If not, please tell me where it was, I'm going to SFO in a few weeks again and I'm defenitely going to visit a place that sells expensive brands at seriously reduced prices!

I'm going to polish my credit card now