CassieJ

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

oooooooh. Zombie clubbing girl. Might even make the toughest attempt to 'pass' easy.

I think you have shown that being confident and not taking crap is usually enough to keep problems at bay. The occasional person that can't see the boundaries will (eventually) be taken care of by their peers. Glad you are doing well with the gigs. You should look into the convention market. My wife's 7-piece band performs a couple days a week all over the world. All expenses are covered and they don't step into a room for less than $6,000. The bar scene is fun but the pay doesn't really cover costs. NYC is a huge convention market, number 3 behind Vegas and Orlando.

If we could get these with a normal sized and shaped footprint, no one would ever know you were wearing heels.

Dr.Shoe, I think it is more than just getting fired. Many of us are in professions in which we would like to move up and gain raises and promotions. Even without any official policy against 'being different,' you have to admit that people will judge you differently in many cases. You can be passed over for promotions and even have your credibility questioned over things that really have nothing to do with your abilities or performance. A few people at my work know about my heels but I do not wear them at work nor would I tell many of my co-workers. It is not because I really care what they think or would say, but because they can affect my job in negative ways. Like it or not, most people are not 'live and let live' but want to put people into neat little boxes. Step outside the box, or get placed in the wrong box, and your career can stagnate or end.

I have found senior citizens, as a group, are the most openly demeaning group for everything, not just heels. They are old enough to say what they mean without holding back and they are openly against anything that they think is wrong. My mom still thinks the 1950's are alive and anything that doesn't fit into that "Mayberry Main Street USA" world she has built mentally is wrong and should be stopped (by whom?) I think much of the population is the same but as I grow older I am more open to expressing my feelings to others. While I don't care what you put on your feet, most of the population is programmed by society and 'fashion' to see heels on men as wrong and think the wearer must have a screw loose. By the time they reach retirement age, they will pretty much tell anyone who will listen, or at a minimum, scour at you for wearing heels. At the mall, I think it is fun to openly laugh at them. When I see a senior citizen scouring at my shoes, I just give them a big grin to let them know they can't bring me down. Funny as it makes them more upset. I think retirement gives many people too much free time to stew in their thoughts. You know the saying about idle minds?

Not to inject politics into this but did you read the comments on that last link? Most of the people complaining are upset that eventually some of these wearers will require medical assistance on their feet. This is a reason to reject socialized medicine like the UK has. You can have freedom or you can have government control. You cannot have both. Once you sell your freedom for government medical care, the bureaucrats control you including eventually passing rules or laws to restrict your choice of footwear. Read the comments on that story and tell me those people wouldn't fully support a ban on heels. It is coming if they can attribute medical expenses to this 'bad behavior.' That said, I don't think most of the commentors have ever even tried to wear heels like those. They are quite easy to walk in as the difference from toe to heel is only 3.5" The rest is platform. The woman modeling them is over-dramatizing the photos for the sake of an article. As someone else stated, most of the women (and men) that openly deride heels and heel-wearers are unable to walk in them and don't like the attention women (and men) that wear them receive. Simple jealousy.

I've done it in plats from 6 to 7.5 inches and my fiancee tells me that I seem to drive better in them than I wear my regular tennis shoes.

Fiancee? Congratulations!

With all that white-space in your post I was waiting for a photo of your 'toys' to load.

We have a shoe closet for my wife's 400+ pair and about 60 pair of mine. I also have more (30-40 pair) under the bed in boxes. It's funny that we all start believing that everyone is going to see them and question us but the reality is, no one is really observant. Heels in boxes in a closet won't attract attention unless you draw it to them.

Society has placed certain activities, jobs, fashion and colors into categories, Men and Women's. Just because society has deemed these things to be for men or women, this doesn't change the fact that a certain percentage of both will like something, no matter what it has been categorized. Heels have been placed in the Women's category but why wouldn't the same percentage of men (compared to women) have an interest in them? They are not inherently female. Like football (a men's category item), both sexes can participate. In the last few decades, women have been able to embrace things in the Men's category. They like and play sports, wear pants, can wear a tux, be a truck driver, etc... Thus, we men are now the only ones restricted from what society had deemed "women's." Just because it is in the women's category doesn't mean that men aren't interested or want to participate. Most will refrain due to the "rules" but they do have the interest.

They are appropriate only for the pool, shower or beach. Flip Flops anywhere else is inappropriate. It's like wearing a t-shirt and shorts to the Prom.

I bought it on iTunes.

Sorry, but I don't consider what those guys are wearing to be heels. They are more cowboy boot like heels. Until it his 3+ inches, it's not really a heel.

Keep watching. They have had them up to 16 before. Looking good 23. Let me know when you are in the area.

I have a foot sanding board on the shower. It looks like a small paddle with two different roughnesses of sandpaper type texture on the opposite sides. After I have been in the shower for about 10 minutes, my feet are good and moisturized with water and the hard skin on the heels is softer. I just sand it off a bit. Doing this every day, I don't have to do anything uncomfortable and my feet are very soft and my wife comments on them. I used to have a hard ring around the heel but it has been gone for quite some time using this regimen. It also works for those hard spots on the ball of your feet you get when you wear heels a lot.

Maybe 6 pair of mens, over 150 pairs of heels.

Great she knows at this point. You would have a tough decision to make if she objected to your heels. Many members here have stories of bad ends to relationships when their partner was against heels. It is probably something you won't be able to just stop doing, no matter how hard you try. I am lucky enough to be married to a high heel lover with over 400 pairs. She buys me heels and encourages me to wear them when appropriate. I have about 150 pair now myself and shave my legs and often wear toenail polish. Be careful to pay attention to the signs she gives you. Don't push it too far, too fast. If she gives you any negative signs or hesitation if you wear heels out with her, give her time to adjust. It can be quite a hard thing to wrap her mind around and get used to after a lifetime of programming by society.

My wife and I have both of these. They had a special at OfficeMax to get it free with the purchase of 2 packs of tape.

We Americans are totally in the dark. Can you explain this one Puffer?

CassieJ, those are awesome. What is the heel height and platform height.

The heels are 6.25" and the platform is 1.25" so the rise is 5". They are quite high but not hard to walk in. The toe box is good but the slope of the box puts pressure on the top tip of my big toenail. I put a shoe stretcher in with a bump there and it seems to be better now.

If you plan to walk in them, have a cobbler remove 1/4" off the heel. They purposefully put a longer heel to try and prevent people from trying to walk in them. Have the cobbler check for a metal rod in the heel too. They can add it if it is missing. Otherwise, you will break off the heel.

I like the heel. These are missing that feature. Definitely something to start a conversation though.

Depends on the situation. When I first go out, I am usually pretty conscious of my trepidation but do it anyway. When I am with my wife it is easier, or a place I frequent in heels. Once settled there, I find I want to be noticed. At a restaurant I will try to stick my foot out where people can see it. Seated, the pants pull up revealing the heels. I don't drink but I find the later it gets, the bolder I get. By time to head home, I am totally on display. Next time...repeat.

Same..mom's closet. I do remember trying to make my own with legos and duct tape. I was probably about 8-9 years old and made heels out of blocks, then taped them to my tennis shoes. Didn't work very well but I got my fix. I soon grew into my mom's shoes and when she threw out a couple of pair, I snagged them. Had them until I grew out of them. In college, we had a female mannequin in our room that we dressed in women's clothes provided by girl friends of ours. When along, I could steal the shoes and walk around. No one ever questioned why we had heels with the mannequin. I now have a close full of heels. If I had to guess, almost 200 pair. Not many considering my wife is well over 400 pair. Too bad I wear 10.5 and she wears 5.5-6.