blackslide

I agree with Chris on the feelings and that you have to accept the feeling. The why has always been a curoisity for me. I have a brother who decided to get a sex change to the surprise of everyone in the family. I wondered if he had some of the same stuff I did except more severe. I have seen two couselors. One in college said he could "cure" me of these feelings by showing me pictures of me in women's shoes, while administering an electrical shock. I politely declined. I was not a rat. Another was a professional phsyciatrist who I went to in order to keep a marriage together, and because I was curious what he would say. I went session after session he said nothing. I did all the talking, he would only direct my talking occasionally. I wore high heeled boots to one session, and that did not phase him. Finally I ran out of things to talk about (that I thought were pertenant to my problem) so I started talking about sailboat race strategy and how great it felt to do a horizon job on another boat. He said capture that feeling. Sessions were done. I did. It made me stop being confused about my sexual orientation. It did not diminish my desire for womens shoes. People always like to pin labels on people who are different so they can put them in a little box and say "Oh yes, he must be gay", or "he is a transvestite." or he is a woman trapped in a man's body. I don't feel any of these apply to me. I have decided that if someone needs to pin a label on me, I am a straight guy who prefers to women's shoe styles over men's. It is that simple.

I was about 4 when the neighbor girl and I traded shoes. After that I wanted girls shoes. I can remember urging my parents to buy girls saddle shoes in the 50's, instead I got Pat Boone type saddles made for men. As soon as I was old enough to buy my own shoes in high school, I bought girls penny loafers, to match my girl friend's pair. I have bought nothing but women's shoes ever since. For a long time I had a rule to only wear low heels in public or at work, since there are lots of styles that are similar in men's or women's, such as penny loafers. To be naughty I would buy high heels to wear at home or on haloween where anything goes. After joining this site, I have become more bold in wearing heels, but still am fairly conservative about it in public. Most are black or brown and are chunky heels. To change the thread a little, have any of you ever wondered "Why me?. Why do I have this desire to wear women's shoes and not most other guys? Why can't I have the same feeling of satisfaction with men's shoes? Most guys don't have a closet full of high heeled womens shoes. Were we born with some kind of hormone imbalance, did our mothers do the wrong drugs (prescribed by doctors)? I have felt that my preoccupation with wearing the right shoes has held me back. I spent many hours in a college library looking at what shoes the girls were wearing when I should have been studying. It was not just the normal guy gawking at girls thing. It was a deep envy and wishing I could wear shoes like that without being laughed at. Wondering if I was born the wrong sex or something. I have spent and still spend many hours in shoe stores, and have spent many dollars on shoes that could have been invested in stocks or a business with much more return. Right now I am writing this instead of working. What causes this? I deal with it by wearing what I want which is women's styles, including heels. It is my life.

Having worn womens shoes for over 40 years now, I have had a share of bad experiences. Guy at gas station asked me in a loud voice if I was going dancing. I was wearing purple flats with black trouser socks and jeans. While wearing 2-1/2 heeled boots and jeans at a bar a guy came over to ask me to dance, in front of my wife. At airport, wearing what I thought were very conservative black Mootsy Tootsy oxord type shoes with a 2" block heel, long jeans, the entire federal search staff walked over to the search line to watch me take off my shoes. Every one was snikering or laughing. (it is a small town and they aren't very busy) Last week 3 high school aged kids started pointing and laughing uncontrollably, at a an ice cream parlor while I was ordering ice cream. Black Catapillar sandals, very masculine looking, 1-1/2" heel, 1/2" platform. One red big toenail, one green (starboard/port). Guy in bowling alley asked where I bought my shoes. He said his wife wanted to know so she could buy some just like them. Back in early 70's red 4" platform heels, loafer cut with red/yellow plaid bell bottom pants. Got hauled to jail once for wearing womens clothes in a department store. The cops got their laughs, took pictures, and sent me off with a warning siting some 1890 law that says men shall not wear women's clothes. While wearing round toed cowboy boots, with 2" block heel, a guy at the bar was throwing kisses at me from across the room. He looked stupid doing this as most people did not know why. The boots could easily pass for men's boots. Good reactions: Mostly compliments from females about my shoes, although sometimes it is hard to tell if it is a genuine compliment or if they are mocking me. Women I dated became enthused about my shoes and we went shoe shopping together, and in one case went out on Halloween wearing pumpkin outfits with 3" stilletto orange high heels and black tights. One gal made me try on a pair of brown 3" stilletto heeled shoes in the store in front of the whole world (maybe 2 or 3 people nearby) to see. One gal encouraged me to try on and buy a pair of low heeled flats. Without a word being said, a female coworker and I had a shoe wearing contest. I wore a different pair of women's shoes every day, so did she. I won. I have over 500 pair to choose from. Most were loafer and low heeled styles since we were in a business office. She matched me in style and taste pretty much. It was fun, and not a word said.

I have to be subdued because I live in redneck country. I have been known to wear short heels inside of my men's pack boots. If you don't know what pack boots are, you do not live in snow country.

My information came from a lady friend that I dated for awhile. She sold clothes in a large department store, and was very into clothes and shoes. She liked shoes as much as I did and we had great times shopping together. She is the one who clued me in on the difference between slides and mules. Slides have open toes and no back. Mules and clogs have closed toes and no back. Hey, you can't argue with a woman. As Will Rogers said, there are several ways to win an argument with a woman. None of them work.

The shoes are way cool as are the models.

All right, I thought this was going to be a picture of some mules and they are in fact, slides. Mules have a closed toe, slides do not.

My wife and I have our own business and work out of an office above our garage. I can wear any shoes I like all day, and usually it is a pair of 3" or greater heels. My wife has all but quite wearing heels. We are quite a pair. She is 5' -2" and wears frumpy flat shoes, I am 6'-1" and wear 3" heels. She usually wears 1/2" heeled mules or her running shoes. We got into a small argument about me wearing heels and I said to her "Someone in this house should be wearing high heels". Her reply "I might start to wear high heels again when you stop wearing them." How do I respond to that? Gals, what is your take on this?

Para boots? This test is for SHOES..... Try it with a pair of mens' wingtips (if you have any), then with a pair of 3" heels. It works.

Thanks for that information. When pumps have a strap across the front they are often called Mary Janes. Are they still pumps or are Mary Janes yet another name?

I have made wood shelving shoe storage for the floor of my closet with vertical and horizontal dividers. Each shelf holds 4 pairs of shoes side by side (each pair stacked on top of each other) horizontally and 4 rows of shelves. There are 4 sets of shelves on the floor, so that is about 64 pairs. Original shoe boxes take up too much space. Shelves are different heights for different shoes. I also like flats and have hundreds of those. Flats are easy to store in a 4" x 3" x 12" shelf. Heels have higher shelves according to heel height. Boots go on shelves above the closet pole. Still not enough room, so the space below and behind the water bed is lined with boots. Excess shoes are stored in moving boxes in the attic. I shuffle shoes between the closet and attic according to season, or just for a change. Way too many shoes, way too many!! There is a second hand store in our town that sells shoes for $1.00. Many times the shoes are brand new that a department store has donated. It is a weekly ritual for me to visit this store.

I have made wood shelving shoe storage for the floor of my closet with vertical and horizontal dividers. The shelves hold 4 pairs of shoes (each pair stacked on top of each other) horizontally and 4 rows of shelves. There are 4 sets of shelves on the floor, so that is about 64 pairs. Original shoe boxes take up too much space. Shelves are different heights for different shoes. I also like flats and have hundreds of those. Flats are easy to store in a 4" x 3" x 12" shelf. Heels have higher shelves according to heel height. Boots go on shelves above the closet pole. Still not enough room, so the space below and behind the water bed is lined with boots. Excess shoes are stored in moving boxes in the attic. I shuffle shoes between the closet and attic according to season, or just for a change. Way too many shoes, way too many!! There is a second hand store in our town that sells shoes for $1.00. Many times the shoes are brand new that a department store has donated. It is a weekly ritual for me to visit this store.

The black car is another Pantera. Check out this site. http://www.panteracars.com/marque.html The American cars were imported from 1971 to 1974. They had a Ford 351 Cleveland V8 engine mounted mid engine style.

It is very appropriate that Gina pose with this car because, according to the history in the above site, a blonde American race driver in the 60's was instrumental in bringing this car into production. I wonder if the race driver wore sexy high heels racing? (Probably not)

Gina, thanks for the yellow heels pic and the black heels pic. Very nice. Do you have a collection of Panteras as numerous as your shoe collection?

It does not get much better than this - well maybe throw in some of that great German beer.

Are these terms for the same style of shoe. Does anyone know the history of these names?

A high heel shoe is one that when thrown on the bedroom floor will always land on it's side. Those are the kind of shoes I like to wear.

gina, Why not get some yellow heels and outfit to match the Pantera color? That would be really cool. I have a red 1959 Porsche and of course like to wear red shoes to match the car. Looks much better on you though.

Gina, You look fabulous in the shoes too. Did not mean to igore that.

Gina, What is the story on the Pantera? They quit making those back in the 70's right? This one looks brand new.

I travel a lot. Last trip I wore 3-1/2" heeled black boot, round toes, ankle height. The heels are about 1-1/2" diameter - not stillettos. Three times at different airports, I had to take them off and put them in the bin to go thru security check. No one in line nor the security people said a word or even gave a funny look. The sound of the plastic heels on the hard floors was kind of neat. It was nice following women in heels and feeling good about my own shoes instead of envying theirs. Had to watch out for escalators, carrying my bags and not tripping, etc. It takes some care wearing heels while travelling. I found I got used to them and felt wierd putting on lower shoes for meeting my clients. As soon as my business was over, I put on the HH boots again for walking to dinner and around the motel. It was great. Blackslide

I have been looking at this forum for some time but reluctant to join in. Seems like a waste of time talking about shoes, but here I am. The short story is I live in a western red neck town where men are men and sheep are nervous. The usual reaction to me wearing womens shoes is a grin and "Are ya goin dancin'? " or the point and laugh routine. I am 55 and have been wearing women's shoes since high school. I wear all types. Heels are fun but not in the snow. Ihave a ways to go to make Imelda Marcos jealous, but I have over 200 pair. In all my years I have only seen only one other guy wearing women's shoes. I thought I must be kind of wierd or perverted. Apparently not. I try not to waste too much mental real estate thinking about what I wear on my feet, but as you must know, the feeling and the frustration is always there. You just have to deal with it the best you can. Glad to be part of this. I have a real life, but will visit from time to time.