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Shyheels

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Posts posted by Shyheels

  1. I’m not at all surprised to hear that there are far more men than one might at first think would be interested in heels. Curiosity, if nothing else, to say nothing of a restlessness for change, and to escape all the stifling conformity that is men’s lot as far as fashion is concerned.

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  2. I was considerably older at the time than you would have been in the 1980s and, I suppose, the added maturity in years - to say nothing of the very different world of the 2010s - allowed me to take a more dispassionate look and more calculated appraisal, although, as I say, it was still unsettling to see myself in stiletto knee boots and skinny jeans. 

  3. On 12/22/2023 at 11:16 AM, mlroseplant said:

    I did realize from a very early age, say, younger than 6, that the white go-go boots were for girls only. Or the black, as the case may be. And somewhere, in my own interpretation later on, I decided that I liked wearing such "forbidden" items, but that I had to have a certain presence with them that was more on the feminine side. I can remember the first time I saw myself in the mirror with high heels on, I was horrified. I looked absolutely terrible! I vowed never to wear them again, they just weren't for me. And, for the following 15 years, I did little to nothing with it.

    As life became more stable and more comfortable, I took it up again, this time for real. And I tried to address my concerns about looking terrible, which had mainly to do with posture and gait, and a little bit to do with how the rest of me was dressed. I never entertained any serious thoughts of trying to change my gender or my gender appearance, I just wanted to be cool and graceful.

    Interesting! The first time I saw myself in heels - in my case chocolate brown knee boots with five inch stiletto heels worn over skinny jeans - I was unsettled. Not horrified, but definitely unsettled. It felt very strange to see myself in stilettos. Rather than get all self conscious about it, as I might usually have done, I studied what I saw and I realised that was unsettling about it was not that I looked bad in heels but the unexpectedness of it, the femininity of them as counterpoint to the rest of me.

    Considered dispassionately I did not look bad in stilettos. My legs are slender from being generally fit, and if one was to see an image of just my legs, from the thighs down, one would have made an assumption that it was a picture of a woman’s legs in high heels. It is only when one sees the male top half that the unsettling bit comes in.

    My conclusion is that men do not intrinsically look bad in heels - it’s just that it is unexpected, contrary to the norms and therefor unsettling. The more it is seen, the less unsettling. And perhaps the more minds open to the idea that men can look good in heels.

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  4. Yes, the world is blinkered. We are also our own worst enemies in being so fearful of stepping out of line and jeopardising our masculinity. Women will adopt a masculine fashion without a second thought and make it their own. Men would never dare to do the reverse.

    Like you I fancied a particular style of feminine footwear as a child. In my case I really liked white go-go boots. Oddly enough it didn’t even occur to me, at first, that these were only for girls and I nearly blurted out a desire to have a pair for myself. I don’t recall what alerted me but I was mortified to find I had been hankering for a pair of girls boots.

    it scared me off for many years

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  5. 2 hours ago, Histiletto said:

    Thanks for emphasizing the non-issue!

    My! Rather touchy, aren't we? The historical link with men and heels is rather well known, as are the 17th century paintings you posted. If you like I can give you chapter and verse on the introduction of heels into Europe - the envoy sent by the Shah of Persia to the court of France in 1599, and the racy footwear worn by their cavalry officers, and how they cut a dash with their exoticism and swagger and made high heels a hot fashion at court for the next century; I can tell you about Louis XIV and his love of heels and England's King Charles II who, at 6'2" hardly needed the extra height yet wore four-inch heels to his coronation (as seen in his official painting); I can tell you about the daring coterie of high-born women in the early years of the 18th century who began wearing men's fashions until heels and bright colours began to be seen as something feminine; I could tell you about what sociologists call the "Great Male Renunciation" in the mid 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, when gentlemen wanted to appear scholarly and intellectual, rather than preen around like peacocks at court, and forswore adornment in favour of sombre shades and practicality - an imprisonment of thought we've never really moved on from. 

    So there we are. Happy now?

     

     

  6. I totally agree. Everyone should be free to be themselves but don’t expect the entire world to be focussed on your latest form of self-expression. A lot of people seem to be very precious about themselves these days, quick - even eager - to take offence and claim for themselves some new form of victimhood.

    The guy taking off his clothes is just weird and any good he might have accomplished in normalising a guy in heels just vanishes. He becomes just another weirdo and only reinforces the stereotype that a guy in heels is weird 

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