jmc

. . . But I just wanted to say that I notice the board has gotten kinda of conservative or at least a tad bit more stirct which I know is because you want a better image for the site which I think is great. . .

Please let me add my two cent's worth here (feel free to convert to local monetary units as necessary)--

I think the apparent conservatism in this board stems from two sources:

1). The new administration is enforcing rules that have always been present. This is especially true for rules with respect to decency -- the hosting service for the old board had some rather strict and well-defined rules in this area and we had to toe the line. Trouble was, the existing administration had reached a point where other life pursuits had overtaken this board and a lot of stuff was "slipping through". This allowed some members to cultivate bad habits, habits that now need to be broken.

2). As I understand the situation, we (meaning the administration) want this board to be a kind of "gateway portal" for anybody who has an interest in high heels. Whatever your gender, if you are into heels you can come here and find something of interest. Your own personal interest may take you beyond the scope of this board but this is a place to start. There are a lot of other heel sites out there.

As an example, take my own personal experience. I found this board some five years ago after a Web search for "men wearing high heels". Had I found a great number of pictures showing genitalia or the like, I probably would have clicked my way out of here never to return. (It does not serve us well to "scare off" new members with overly graphic content.)

After about a year and a half of "lurking" I decided to register and begin posting. But as I readied myself to "take the plunge" a veritable "war between the sexes" broke out because women felt their forum was being invaded. Many of our celebrated female members left during that fracas and have not been heard from since. We are hopeful that enforcement of the rules and keeping guys out of the "for the gals" forum will make this board more female-friendly and keep more women around.

Now as much as we guys like our heels, you cannot really have a well-rounded discussion of high heels without including input from women. And if keeping the ladies interested here means letting them have a place of their own, I do not think that is too much to ask. Most of us are actually straight guys so we enjoy having the women around!

Ohhh, Yeahhh! Definitely strikes a chord! When we hear a woman talk about her out-of-control shoe fetish (usually we overhear it when she is talking to her girlfriends), I think we can all relate.

Nothing at all wrong with the lower heels -- and those are nice ones.

Maybe I'm overly optimistic but I interpret the "Streetheel vibe" as a sign of progress. More of us are trying it, liking it, getting excited about it, and want to talk about it. If streetheeling is not "your bag", no sweat. Enjoy heels as you see fit!

You might try walking around on concrete -- like a garage floor -- to roughen up the soles a little.

"faux leather" or "vegetarian leather" -- Do you suppose they are using those "euphemisms" just so they can sneak that word "leather" in there -- even though the product being advertised is not leather? It is a sleight-of-hand on the part of marketers.

Nice.

I dont think I have the guts to walk into a shoe shop and purchase heels lol

It is terrifying the first couple of times you do it. But the shops are there to sell shoes and if you're buying, most of them don't care.

That said, I still do most of my buying online. I still get nervous buying heels in a brick-and-mortar store.

. . .

Life is too short to walk around in ugly shoes!

. . .

My sentiments exactly!

Welcome aboard, Tina!

Just another of those "feminine wiles" that they know drives us crazy! Keep it up, ladies -- we love it!

This may be just a little off-topic, but as a rule, women dress for other WOMEN! Indeed, it is a rare woman and a rare circumstance when a woman dresses either for herself or for her man. It occurs to me that if women were more interested in how men dressed, perhaps men wearing heels might actually be in fashion.

Come to think of it, when women "dress" for men, does it not generally result in less clothing ???

It occurs to me that my country has done nothing but prolong the agony when it comes to standard units of measure. Officially we are metric but that really only applies if you are dealing directly with the government. All shade-tree mechanics have two sets of tools -- one inch and the other metric. Most of our cars use both types of fasteners -- so the ony real effect is we make twice as many trips to the toolbox!

I don't see an end to this madness anytime soon, either.

Go to Sears, by a set of Metric tools for less than $200, buy and read the $35 Chilton's for your vehicle, and learn to enjoy the momemt!

Amd be kind with respect to yur family, other than the fact that American's arrive to late, depending they think it's the money.

. . .but then I've also been known to just leave out a pair that I like so that I can admire them. I think it's less of a narcissistic thing than just enjoying looking at (in my opinion) a beautiful pair of heels.

Chris

I do that too -- like a decoration.

Come to think of it, there are a few artists who specialize in images or sculptures of shoes -- and they are always high heels. I've never heard of anybody turning a men's clod-hopper into a work of art!

. . .What do you think??

I think those boots are absolutely gorgeous! Wear them with joy and pride and know that Gary's a lucky guy. (And he knows it.)

shaq91, I completely agree with Nigel's warning. People on the Internet are anonymous, most of us here post under a username that may or may not reflect our true identity. I know for a fact that a great many posters on this board use female names even though they are in fact men. You don't really know anybody here, or me for that matter. We are all nothing more than glowing characters on a computer screen, we can write anything in complete anonymity. We can get to know a little bit about a person by reading his/her posts but it is far from a face-to-face meeting. I daresay most members of this board simply present themseves as they are while posting. It is just easier that way. But you can never really tell and there are a great many horror stories in the news of young people who have fallen victim to Internet predators. Somebody comes to you with the promise of something they know you want, and uses that as an opening to do something despicable. Maybe this member is legitimate and truthful but you cannot know until it may be too late. Heels are great, wonderful, interesting and fun but they are not worth this risk. You are 14 or 15 now, in 5 or 10 years you will be able to buy your own heels. I know that sounds like an eternity to someone so young (I was there so very long ago) but when you are my age it will seem like the blink of an eye. As Nigel says, do not take this member up on this offer.

TBG -- Shakespeare wrote something else: "This above all, to thine own self be true."

5150PLB1 -- I agree. I think the jury's still out on the silicone breast implants, there is some evidence that the brouhaha may have been an attempt to separate a large corporation from a big chunk of money. But there are some women who swear that they were harmed by them. To simply inject this substance into something as crucial one's feet does not sound like a good idea. It seems like the force of one's weight alone would cause it to migrate through the body and the results of that cannot be good. Jo, on the silicon/silicone theme, you are correct. Silicon is an element and is quite abundant here on planet Earth. Beach sand is mostly silicon dioxide, in an amorphous form this substance becomes window glass. As I am certain you already know, very highly purified silicon is used to manufacture the electronic micro-chips that make our computers work. Silicones are a class of compounds that mimic organic chemicals, except silicon is substituted for carbon. Silicones are available in the form of oils, gels and rubber. Silicones are generally biologically inert -- meaning they don't rot, are impervious to fungal or bacterial attack and do not enter into biological processes. Theoretically they would be inert inside the body -- but we still have all those breast implant lawsuits.

I'll take a glance off store windows or mirrors just to make sure my pants haven't ridden up. I'm still at the stage where I like to keep my heels hidden. They're for my enjoyment, the rest of the world can get their own!

Those are nice boots! I'm partial to the Western styles anyway and those look like a fine example.

Shaq91, Thus far I have not gotten involved in this thread but I have looked at your blog and your latest video clip. And you keep asking for comments so here goes. . . Upon looking at the blog, the first thing that jumped out at me was this: you got a broken heel, dude. Now I know you have heard that before and you seem to want some critique on your walking style. I have detected some frustration from you on the fact that other members who have commented on your videos cannot seem to get past the broken heel. Well, I cannot either but please allow me to explain why: Let me try to make an analogy here. I realize that at 15 years of age you probably do not drive yet but most of us guys have an almost innate interest in cars. I'm going to take a chance here: (To the few ladies that might be reading this, please bear with me. Car talk ahead.) One of the most critical factors affecting the handling of an automobile is the condition of the tires. It does not matter if the car in question is a Maserati or a Chevy pickup -- worn or unbalanced tires will deliver poor handling. Put bad tires on a Corvette and you will not be pleased with the result. On the other hand, you can take an old (but mechanically sound) "junker clunker", put a decent set of tires on it and make a world of difference in its handling. Further, tire defects can cause problems that mimic other defects, such as "pulling" or jiggling. The tires, after all, are the only part of the car that actually touches the road. Now the human components of locomotion -- hips, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, arches, toes, and heels -- form a system that is far more adaptive than the mechanical system of any automobile. We can figure out how to get around despite a great number of potential afflictions of our feet and legs. Shoes and boots add to and enhance our human system and in some cases they cause us to adjust our stride to compensate. Obviously, we walk differently in high heels than we do barefoot. That broken heel is causing you to adjust your stride, your step, your balance and the way you transfer weight to that foot to compensate for its compromised strength. I would bet that in a full body video of you walking in those boots you would display a slight limp as you favor that broken heel. It is likely that it would be a subconscious effort because you don't want to damage the boot any more. But asking us to critique your walking style in those boots is a little bit like asking us to critique the performance of a dancer who is dancing on a sprained ankle. It's going to be a little bit off! As it is, you do pretty well but that heel is ready to kick under the boot. I know in your situation the chances of coming across another pair of undamaged high-heel boots like those are rather remote. But if you want to keep practicing and enjoying those boots, you really need to get that heel fixed.

Welcome aboard! I think you will find we thoroughly explore every aspect of heels.

Mickey, thank you for the update. It is good to hear DawnHH is making progress, we consider both of you to be valued members here.

Welcome aboard, Kahlan51! We have a lot of boot afficionados here (myself for one).

Poor girl . . . and she was making such a fabulous entrance!

Or even Maxwell Smart for that matter. . . Sorry about that, Chief.