Shyheels

Auvergne

Janus

To be clear - and this will be my very last post on this thread - at no time have I been conducting a 'feud' with anyone. I was engaging in what I believed to be a vigorous discussion about the value of social media as a bellwether for change in society. I scrupulously kept to the issues rather than delving into the personal remarks or characterisations and I was not rude. Indeed, when things started to become overheated I suggested we get the thread back on track and then endeavoured to do so. I was astonished by the outburst I received and disappointed to find myself being trolled by another member. I find that my contributions characterised as negative and discouraging and myself cast in the role of the Grinch spoiling Christmas by raining on the passions of others. The fact that I have acquired 555 likes over the years suggests I can't be quite as bad as all that. Indeed I have gone out of my way to be supportive of individuals in their posts about themselves and their outings. And the so called "discouraging" things I have had to say - the scarcity of men in heels, the likelihood of Instagram being an accurate reflection of the real world - are observations that have been made by plenty of others on this forum and are, in some cases, the subjects of active threads. I was merely the one holding the ticking bomb when it went off. I had thought - and still believe - that HHP could be quite an interesting platform for engaging in thoughtful debate with interesting, impassioned people, discussing social and philosophical issues that really don't get aired anywhere else - the sociology behind fashion, or the nature of masculinity. If it is to be merely a cheering section, choruses of approval for whatever is posted, and free of dissent lest anyone be discouraged - and apparently that's the idea - then I think I shall confine my contributions to the Word Game. I made this post not in furtherance of this mess but because I did not want to let stand unchallenged the notion of my conducting a "feud" or my being a voice of negativity and discouragement. Now, I am stepping away and you guys go on with the thread as it is meant to be.

Sincere

Neanderthals

Queues

Team

Walk

Baseline

It’s like Mark Twain says. There’s lies, damned lies and statistics. I have seen men in cowboy boots - men’s boots - with heels sufficient to be useful on horseback. Not often, to be sure, but then I don’t live in Texas. So to that extent I would have seen men in heels, although, again, not for many years - probably not since the last time I was in Texas. I have spent much time on stations in outback Australia and while the blokes out there wear boots, they do not have heels in any real sense. My RM Williams boots - classic outback wear - have just standard street shoe heels. In terms of “heels” I tend to think of the more overt ones worn by people on this site. I do remember platforms in the 70s. I don’t recall heels on them although I suppose there must have been something. Platforms were not a style that appealed to me and so I did not give them much thought, and in any even it has been nearly half a century since they were in vogue.

Arrow

Manners

I am hardly the only one on this forum who has never encountered a man wearing heels. This is an observation that has been voiced by many on here. I think your point in selfies is well taken - virtual self expression. I read an interesting article the other day about a Dutch model who has been the face of L’Oreal for the past ten years. She said she was doing her best to teach her children that what they see on the internet does not reflect real life. And she is someone who would be at the pointy end of all this.

Gluttony

This is just trolling. I've no time for this.