Help Me Please!!

[Guy N. Heels]

Your mother has great taste in boots! That's a nice picture you took too.

Hey Shaq91, Quit worrying about what the sales clerk thinks. If I bought a King Kong outfit for Halloween, would that make me King Kong? Of course not. And the same thing goes for Darth Vader or Superman costumes - much to my chagrin, it just ain't so! The same thing also goes for high heels. Besides, if the clerk gives you any shine, you can always tell 'em your money is paying for shoes, not nose.

[Fog]

Hey Shaq91, Quit worrying about what the sales clerk thinks. If I bought a King Kong outfit for Halloween, would that make me King Kong? Of course not. And the same thing goes for Darth Vader or Superman costumes - much to my chagrin, it just ain't so! The same thing also goes for high heels. Besides, if the clerk gives you any shine, you can always tell 'em your money is paying for shoes, not nose.

You won't get any better common sense than that.

[terayon]

4000 people finding their way to, and registering, on a small private board that doesnt advertise and operates on the extreme fringe of current societal norms isnt a bad accomplishment IMO. We may not be mainstream, but we certainly arent alone.

[Fog]

4000 people finding their way to, and registering, on a small private board that doesnt advertise and operates on the extreme fringe of current societal norms isnt a bad accomplishment IMO. We may not be mainstream, but we certainly arent alone.

Agreed, but there are a hell of a lot more blokes who'd like to do it than actually do. Don't you ever notice that look of jealousy from other men - ok there's outright disbelief and contempt as well, but you can tell some blokes just wish they had the balls to do what you do.

[Shafted]

Agreed, but there are a hell of a lot more blokes who'd like to do it than actually do. Don't you ever notice that look of jealousy from other men - ok there's outright disbelief and contempt as well, but you can tell some blokes just wish they had the balls to do what you do.

And I thought I was the only one that noticed that.

[Fog]

And I thought I was the only one that noticed that.

Hang on a minute

I havent yet had the courage to wear any of my heels outside, but I hope someday that I will.

You're one of those 4,000 people, yet you haven't had the courage of your convictions to wear heels out of doors. There are far more men who'd like to wear heels than actually do - granted. There are numerous occasional wearers on the board (like me) once a week if I'm feeling like it, but only a handful of regular out and out wearers - please contradict me if I'm wrong. Therefore the chance of seeing a man in heels is infinitessimal.

[dr1819]

My feet perfectly fit her boots. I learned how to walk very well, and dont use the handrail to go downstairs or upstairs either. My mom just doent have anything higher than this. I have to go somewhere get 5.5 inch heels and stick to those and then ill try 6inch heels, and will probably be addicted to them, for the rest of my life. I live In Staten Island, and just don't see were i can get them without having the salesperson thing im gay or bi. Gotta think about it. The only thing is i would like for you guys to explain how to sit in high heels, with a sexy posture, without breaking the heels, and without the shoes hurting too much. Please help!!!! I hope you all liked my boots, once i get more shoes, ill definetly post them up

Having talked with many a high-heeled shoe salesperson, I sincerely doubt they will think you're gay.

In fact, during the last two years I've been conducting an informal survey of shoe salespeople when I go to try on and/or buy heels. It goes something like this:

1. Are you surprised to see a man buying a pair of high-heeled shoes/boots? Answer more than 95% is "no" or "not at all." About 3% of the time it's "a little," and just once did I receive a "yes."

2. What percentage of your sales goes to men who're buying heels? Answers range from around 10% to "about half" from one Payless manager who's store is in the heart of a progressive city that's quite open to personal alternatives. The average is around 20%, which is 1 in 5, and much higher than I would have imagined. The Payless manager even mentioned that part of the initial training involves teaching the sales clerks about how men buy heels, too, how to help them without drawing attention to them, and other techniques to avoid scaring them off.

3. What reasons have other men given you for the reason they buy heels? Some are CD/TV, but most, interestingly enough, simply like wearing heels and dress in typical male attire, except for their heels. I think these figures are accurately reflected in the posts on this website, where "For the guys" section enjoys about 5 times as many posts in any given time period than the "For the TV's CD's and TS's" section.

4. In your best estimation, would you say that most of your male high-heel customers are straight or gay? A few, about one in five, have refused to comment, but the rest have all said they think most of their male hh customers are straight/heterosexual. Many managers have reported that about a quarter of the men come in with their wives or girlfriends, and seek their opinions as to what looks best.

5. What's the most common type of high-heeled shoe purchased by your male customers? The boot gets the nod by far, followed by the androgynous hh loafers commonly worn by women in business settings. Significantly less common are the more feminine heels such as strappy sandals.

Finally, various polls on hhplace.org have confirmed that, by far, most male heel-wearers on this board are heterosexual. Somewhere around 80% to 95%, from what I've been able to gather.

Clarification: Some people mention the word "fetish" in conjunction with men wearing heels. This is inaccurate, as a "fetish" involves sexual arousal, whereas for most male members of this board, the wearing of high heels has nothing to do with sexual arousal. Thus, for most men who wear heels, it is by no means to be considered a fetish, but rather, is simply their choice of fashion. While that choice is unconventional, so is the wearing of more than one earring in one's ear. A century ago, pierced ears were very rare. A couple decades ago, almost all women with pierced ears had just one hole in each ear. Now, two or three holes are common. Similarly, almost no males had pierced ears, while now it's very common.

Fashion comes and goes, and there are many "contrarians" to current fashion norms, from the punk/goth movement to men who wear heels.

[Fog]

In fact, during the last two years I've been conducting an informal survey of shoe salespeople when I go to try on and/or buy heels. It goes something like this:

1. Are you surprised to see a man buying a pair of high-heeled shoes/boots? Answer more than 95% is "no" or "not at all." About 3% of the time it's "a little," and just once did I receive a "yes."

2. What percentage of your sales goes to men who're buying heels? Answers range from around 10% to "about half" from one Payless manager who's store is in the heart of a progressive city that's quite open to personal alternatives. The average is around 20%, which is 1 in 5, and much higher than I would have imagined. The Payless manager even mentioned that part of the initial training involves teaching the sales clerks about how men buy heels, too, how to help them without drawing attention to them, and other techniques to avoid scaring them off.

In the interests of brevity I've chopped off points 3 ff -

The results are interesting and surprising. I'm tempted to do a survey of Oxford St. Obviously I'd have to sample every Nth shop and categorise them into main stream - low, mid, upper - and there are a few alternative shops at the TCR end. That would give us an idea of the guesses of Oxfor St Shoe sales staf as to the demographics of their ladies shoe customer base. To get a uk wide picture would be complicated, but surveys of one or two other towns would give an interesting comparison.

So here's the question - is there anyone with a market research background who doesn't live in London who'd be up for it?

[dr1819]

In the interests of brevity I've chopped off points 3 ff -

The results are interesting and surprising. I'm tempted to do a survey of Oxford St. Obviously I'd have to sample every Nth shop and categorise them into main stream - low, mid, upper - and there are a few alternative shops at the TCR end. That would give us an idea of the guesses of Oxfor St Shoe sales staf as to the demographics of their ladies shoe customer base. To get a uk wide picture would be complicated, but surveys of one or two other towns would give an interesting comparison.

So here's the question - is there anyone with a market research background who doesn't live in London who'd be up for it?

Well, although I'm in Germany, my background began with statistics. It progressed to engineering, and computer networking security.

I think the best approach would be to randomly select shoe shops that routinely have larger sizes available (a shoe shop that tops off at size 10 US (8 UK) would not have many male clientelle at all, and would skew the results).

The easiest way would be via the post. After stratifying the samples (shoe shops with sizes up to 13 US (11 UK)), just mail them the questionairre.

If you need help designing a more detailed questionairre that holds rigorously to the principles of statistics (no leading questions, objective points of view, randomized questions, etc.), please let me know - I've designed hundreds of them.

[Fog]

Well, although I'm in Germany, my background began with statistics. It progressed to engineering, and computer networking security.

I think the best approach would be to randomly select shoe shops that routinely have larger sizes available (a shoe shop that tops off at size 10 US (8 UK) would not have many male clientelle at all, and would skew the results).

Avoiding certain shoe shops is the surest way to skew the sample. What you say would sound plausible to anyone outside the market research industry, and, if you want to put forward a case for a high penetration of male purchasers of high heeled shoes that's the way to do it.

This is my last post for nearly three weeks but I'm sure this discussion can wait.

[terayon]

Post inadvertantly edited (rather than responded to) by moderator. I apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused by my mistake. - dr1819

[dr1819]

Avoiding certain shoe shops is the surest way to skew the sample. What you say would sound plausible to anyone outside the market research industry, and, if you want to put forward a case for a high penetration of male purchasers of high heeled shoes that's the way to do it.

This is my last post for nearly three weeks but I'm sure this discussion can wait.

Not necessarily. Consider the fact that stratified random sampling is an approved method of gaining valid data. I estimate that less than 20% of all men could fit into a size 10 women's shoe, yet that's the median (most commen) largest size in most women's shoe stores, followed closely in recent years by size 11.

Thus, sampling all stores would skew the results, as most stores could cater to less than 20% of the male population. In contrast, by stratifying the sampling to those stores which can cater to most (perhaps 80% or more) of the male population, while still catering predominantly to women (example, Nordstroms), we obtain a much clearer perspective on the percentage of men who're buying heels as compared to the total number of people (men and women) buying heels.

Natually, we also have to qualify that by noting that just because 20% of the customers of a store that sells larger sizes are men, this does not mean that 20% of all heels are sold to men, since most stores don't sell in the larger sizes. All we can say is that of those stores which sell a wider range of sizes, 20% of their customers are men.

Still, that says quite a lot about how many men are actually buying heels, and I've had to revise my estimates upwards several times over the years as new data has arrived.

These days I estimate that more than 10% of the entire male population in the US buys a pair of heels at least once a year.

[Guy N. Heels]

Not necessarily. Consider the fact that stratified random sampling is an approved method of gaining valid data. I estimate that less than 20% of all men could fit into a size 10 women's shoe, yet that's the median (most commen) largest size in most women's shoe stores, followed closely in recent years by size 11.

Thus, sampling all stores would skew the results, as most stores could cater to less than 20% of the male population. In contrast, by stratifying the sampling to those stores which can cater to most (perhaps 80% or more) of the male population, while still catering predominantly to women (example, Nordstroms), we obtain a much clearer perspective on the percentage of men who're buying heels as compared to the total number of people (men and women) buying heels.

Natually, we also have to qualify that by noting that just because 20% of the customers of a store that sells larger sizes are men, this does not mean that 20% of all heels are sold to men, since most stores don't sell in the larger sizes. All we can say is that of those stores which sell a wider range of sizes, 20% of their customers are men.

Still, that says quite a lot about how many men are actually buying heels, and I've had to revise my estimates upwards several times over the years as new data has arrived.

These days I estimate that more than 10% of the entire male population in the US buys a pair of heels at least once a year.

Having not studied statistical math, I find it a little difficult to follow your argument. But my "gut feeling" is that yer 10% estimate may in fact be low - especially in light of the fact that very few store personnel even give a guy a second glance when they shop for heels these days.

[dr1819]

Having not studied statistical math, I find it a little difficult to follow your argument. But my "gut feeling" is that yer 10% estimate may in fact be low - especially in light of the fact that very few store personnel even give a guy a second glance when they shop for heels these days.

That and the fact that women shop more than men, you may very well be right, Guy N. Heels!

Actually, I expect you are. I should have put "as a minimum,..."

[Secreto]

this one popped to the top and I didn't respond back then so:

I'm straight, married and a baby on the way (I can't wait!) I'm sat here typing in a pair of 4 inch heels, jeans, boxer shorts and a t shirt.

I thought about my sexuality as I used to pinch my mums and my sisters shoes. I even got caught aged about 12 at my aunti's house in my cousins heels, but, well, I'm me - don't worry, you'll turn out to be you and that I expect will be great!

I can't offer you advice, I turned out to be me and that's cool!

this guy can though http://www.metacafe.com/watch/277085/everyone_must_see_this/