Highluc

...I believe custom shoes would be cheaper than a foot transplant -- although, if the shoes don't fit, probably just as painful )

On the other hand look at the number of (cheap) styles available after an (average) foot transplant.

I wish all of you a pleasant day in London, my heart will be with you and I will surely miss the shopping and beer sipping with the Brittish heeled friends I met during previous heel meets. Unfortunately present financial priorities are different and hopefully I will be able to join you in 2004. Happy heeling (and shopping) from Highluc to all.

Hmmm! Isn't language funny? Most of the participants here would define "transgendered" as a man or woman wanting to change their sex to the opposite of what they are. A man wanting to become a woman, for example.

What you describe is "transsexualism" or the most extreme form of gender dysphoria.

Different professional literature uses transgendered in two different ways, one uses it to encompass all the variations of gender dysphoria, the other (more recent) definition uses it for people that are really in the middle of the scale and feel they don't belong to either (society created stereotype) gender but like to mix advantages and forms of both.

During the last years the medical world start recognising the desires of these people are genuine and in some countries (like Belgium) only during the last few years such people can get help and medical treatment like for instance moderate feminine hormones sufficient to feel better, get some breast development, but still maintaining their full masculine reproductive capabilities and equipment. Other men just prefer to get rid of their testes (and associated testosterone production) while some women prefer to et rid of their breasts, all this without pursuing further sex changes and maintaining a life in the born gender or a bit more androgynous.

There ain't no two persons the same on this world and we happily slowly get recognition by society of different (deviant?) forms of living. I'm sure there are millions of men on this planet who would love to "also" have a pair of breasts. Because all this is serious matter some standards of care (SOC's) have been established and internationally recognised and practiced. Irrelevant of what you want, all start with a specialized psychiatric evaluation (of about a year), not to cure you, not to declare you crazy, but to help you discover yourself and escort you through the inevitable difficult phases of life. With society becoming more tolerant and the mass of information available on the internet things are moving fast. In a near future, people will finally be able to be themselves instead of having to conform to a single standard (ie: coat and tie) to make in in life.

Enough said on this subject. Anybody who wants to talk more or wants reliable references on books or internet available material can pm me.

I disagree slightly here with Highluc. I have worn skirts and high heels for years, purely for the fun of wearing them. I don't consider myself to be transgendered.

Hi skirted, whatever you consider yourself might not stroke with what the professional medical world categorises you in. I was like you during decades, also enjoying mostly heels (in public) and sometimes a skirt (in private), always straight heterosexual (been married twice), but even that limited crossdressing automatically puts us in in the general transgendered category, meaning some desires from both genders, not to be confused with wanting to become the other gender. Due to a recent near death experience I started shifting even further down the scale but some stay happy along the same point all their life.

Self acceptance is the most difficult obstacle to conquer and the need of society to push people into (well defined?) squares (man,cd,drag queen,tv,ts,women, gay,tomboy, etc) forces us to adopt names and lifestyles that might not completely stroke with our inner desires.

Some people can live a happy life with just some limited expression of their feminine side (everybody has a bit of both sides hidden within), while others develop an uncontainable desire to cross even more barriers or even change sex completely. The division of man and women in only those 2 categories is a pure western invention (other civilisations have more genders) enforced by our priests, but in fact humanity is not so black and white, we are a continuum with only a few being "pure", the rest happily finds a way combining their (different) percentage of both gender feelings into a workable compromise of life. The more you approach the middle mark, the more problems you will get (from society) to express your true feelings and desires.

Please also note all this discussion has nothing to do with sexual preferences which is a completely different and independant story.

I would say that you are almost certainly not transgendered or dysphoric in any way, you just want HUGE tits!......

Wrong: In the specialised literature the term transgendered often refers to a wide scala of gender dysphoria ranging from mild cross dressing to full transsexualism. In other cases the term is used specifically to define people happy with their born gender (and equipment) but desiring some adaptation of their body with a or certain parts usually found on the other gender. With what I read so far, heeled shoes, skirts, breast envy, this subject definitely falls into either category and as such has to be labeled transgender. This is nothing to be ashamed off, because it already has been proven it is independant about somebodies will or education, it just happens in one form of another in roughly one in 12000 persons (male to female and 1/30000 FtoM). Being a TG myself I've been reading a lot about the subject and over the years have been sliding along that wide scala lately.

Dr Shoe, you might be an expert on shoes, but there is a very approriate saying in Flamish: "schoenmaker blijf bij je leest", which traduces as "cobbler, stay with your last", or in clear terms: if you are not really familiar with a subject, leave it to the specialists.

Stuffing an old cut off spounge in larger cavities worked well for me, lightweight and absorbant, as used in some older loadspeakers.

The totaly artificial way they are supposed to walk down that catwalk also might have it's share of the problems they encounter, plus usually there is only one pair of prototype shoe that is supposed to fit any standard model feet.

So highluc, your telling me that, me getting implants is bad, it's what I want to do. I dont want to be a different gender, I love being a guy, I just want breasts... when you said that I'm getting a picture of my mother in my head... UGH.

There is absolutely nothing in your reply that matches what I wrote, please read attentively and think before replying. By the way, in your original post you asked for thoughts and comments. You got them, and not only from me. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to take some advise from people who have been facing similar problems and found long term acceptable solutions for it. You are still (too) young, don't ruin the rest of your life on impuses you could regret later.

Thank you Emma. Sorry for disgressing but talking only about heels would get anybody nuts after a short while. But I agree it's time to go back to the original topic after this interesting historical intermezzo. It's just that after 35 years in heels I can't talk anymore about struggling in heels, they just feel so natural to me.

My opinion is that it would be ideal for you to start looking for a psychiatrist with previous experience with transgendered people. You obviously have gender dysphoria brewing in one form of another and with the tumult of hormones raging through your body during puberty this could still take on various forms (or even disappear). Going to a specialized shrink early could after the correct diagnosis get you some form of treatments that delay or stop the formation of secondary sex characteristics (i.e. facial and body hair), that are so difficult to reverse if desirable at a later stage. Don't understand me wrong, you are not sick and therefore cannot be cured but obviously need professional help. Names of local specialized professionals can be obtained through the Harry Benjamin professional association, or local tri-ess groups in the US. Good luck in your life, you're gonna need it.

I already answered in a personal mail but for all the other interested ones, hidden heels can be purchased directly in the usa from http://www.elevatorshoes.com/ and Europeans can find local dealers (including in UK by hitting the country flags on http://www.bertulli.com/

For people with a UK size 7-1/2, Us male 8-1/2 or fem 10B, Euro size 41 you can always buy my hidden heeled shoes second hand because I hardly wear them anymore after my separation from my ex and probably will sell all of them within the next year. I now prefer real nice looking heels on my feet. Check out my website http:// highluc.net and if interested feel free to contact me about any shoes I have.

You really mean 1000kgs is a tonne ~ a metric tonne as distinct from an imperial ton which, at 2240lbs, is by extraordinary co-incidence only 1%-2% more than the metric tonne. So in practice you can use the two interchangably as long as you are not paying for a delivery of thousands of tons of aggregrate.../I

Yep, I also wonder what base they used for that imperial tonne, given the fact that 2240lbs is not an obvious logical starting point. I even never heard of an imperial tonne before. Is there also something like a US tonne, as analogy to Imperial versus US gallons? And by the way how did that gallon stuff diverge after all those imigrants got into the states. Don't tell me native Indians used US gallons as a standard.

The advantage with spray filler foam is that you could maybe get away with drilling a small hole in the heel top, rather than removing the top and refixing.

But you better watch out because most of those foams keep expanding for longer time as you wish and could create some bulbous looking heels if not given sufficient expansion space.

Next time in the UK I'll pay attention to how the scales are graduated in a pharmacy, the butcher and in the bathroom, I'm anxious to find out how such a difficult system was made workable for everybody.

1000 grams is a kilogram, 1000 kg is a ton. EASY to weigh from pills to trucks, even our kids can do it.

To revert to the original topic I would like to point out I have many street wearable heeled shoes and boots for sale for a sensible price on my webpage http://www.highluc.net/highlucs_for_sale_shoes.htm

Unfortunately only in roughly size 41, UK8, US fem10B. Most have been worn but still have sufficient life in them to make you a happy 24/7 heeler for years to come.

Bought myself these sporty heels while in the USA last week, only 32$ in the sales, by Steve Madden, further details on my website.

Yes, IMO, it would help if people admitted to their "real" sex. Because thinking of their comments based on actual" gender gained knowledge" is, in most cases, important and their thoughts and experiences could be viewed in their true context because most people registered here are serious about this subject.

Firefox and those that accompany him on his "heelmeets" have a large advantage over the rest of us. They have actually met face to face and have no doubt that they are who they say they are.

What is somebodies real sex? The one somebody assigned to you after a quick glance at some outside secondary sex characteristics during birth, or the one imbedded in the brains? Luckily for most both match but for a small percentage of humans there is a dysphorie which can go from minimal (preference for heels?) to totaly opposite (sex reassignment surgery), and all the forms in between. Are those people lying then?

I've been to a few heelmeets but I doubt any participant saw through me at that moment (even I was still discovering myself at the age of 50). After a few decades you become a master in playing roles to suit society, but am I a lesser person because of all this?

Am I pretending? My parents pretend they have a boy who will die like a man but nothing is for sure in this world anymore. At least some of us get the chance to be themselves, without having to pretend to be who they aren't.

I don't know how it is in the UK, but in the east coast of USA (except for maybe New York and FL) things tend to be alot more conservative.

Can others offer their opinions?

Thanks,

Scotty

I'm just back from a week in Dallas Texas and had no flats with me and wore and tried heels in the busy weekend shopping malls during their post summer sale days. I again had no problems and don't understand how you can be bothered by other ones' presumable conservatism. Be yourself and show coordination in your outfits and shoes , all the rest is imagination. To see the heels I wore during that week (in male or andogynous mode) check out the September 2003 diary entries on my website. The shoes shown are the only ones I had with me.

I've been wearing this outfit to a BBQ party lately and got many compliments for my leather skirt for being elegant and not tarty.

Great boot adventures but I really don't understand why you have to ask people in a restaurant or supermarket if the boots are fine. If they mind, they'll tell you, otherwise it is none of anybodies business what you wear on your feet.

Great, it also works through Windows 98SE. I like your shoes and your ability to master them with straight knees and see you also are an addict of tight skirts. Thanks for sharing this, Highluc

Nice choice of boots thighbootguy, and congratulations on bringing up the courage to break down the walls around yourself. That was the hardest bit, the rest is peanuts. Enjoy your life in your stylish boots, Highluc

Recent adepts find the sky the limit but except for the ones wearing them in the bedroom most of regular heel wearers stick to the more practical 8-11cm heels (true elevation proportioned for approx size 40). Even that heel height will get you addicted because of slow tendon shortening and calf muscle adaptation (besides the omnipresent pleasant feeling). The challenge of 5 or 6 inchers (real elevation not counting platforms) remains and I admit I like to try those as well once in a while but in the end bravery will make place for satisfaction and comfort, if you are a 24/7 heel wearing type like myself, independant of heel type or gender.

I just spent two weeks in Belgium ....... All in all as disappointing as the weather usually is in Belgium.

You just have witnessed our warmest summer since the start of met reports. We never had such a steady long beautiful summer before. Next time you come over it probably will be much worse. By the way, next time please feel free to contact me if you need a guide for high heel shops (or some drinks) in Belgium.

Today with a clear sky in Belgium, even the sodium lights spoiled horizon and sky was not able to tone down the bright clear reddissh glow of Mars. It is still amazing how strong this planets reflects light at this distance without radiating any light like other stars in the sky. Of course being on heels again makes us a bit closer to this fascinating planet as the other population just following the fashion of flat trainers