[ExI] how did high heels happen?

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of David Lubkin
Subject: Re: [ExI] how did high heels happen?

>...No one has mentioned the feminist take on high heels. That they're of a
kind with the many other fashions across history and the world that appear
designed to -- metaphorically or literally -- hobble women...

A week ago I would have found that notion compelling.  Now I reject it as
irrelevant at least in some cases.

>...Although many women's fashions seem to be for the sake of impressing
other women, I recognize that some men like the look of heels...

Possibly so, but irrelevant at least in one case.  Read on please.

>...I personally don't find them attractive at all... -- David.

Ja, my current notion is that we have somehow added a layer of complexity
that I will now try to explain and remove if possible.  I have struggled and
failed over the notion that women wear impractical shoes in order to attract
men.  I might be more tempted to argue that for some women, wearing those
shoes somehow causes men to be more attractive to the woman.  (Ponder that
one for a while.)

But even that paradoxical notion might be unnecessary complication in light
of the observation which sent me into a philosophical tailspin: my six year
old niece has no concept of sexual attraction, no clear concept of fashion
pressures, no example of peers or an admired adult woman wearing those kinds
of shoes.  She is very directly (and quite inexplicably) attracted to the
shoes themselves.  We cannot even untangle any possibly symbolism or
fetishism, or if so, it is most puzzling in this case.  This has apparently
little or nothing to do with how she would appear wearing the shoes, but
rather more about how she would feel when wearing the shoes, and even how
she would feel owning a pair that do not even fit her.  

Since we cannot find that kind of shoes that would fit a six year old child,
we learn that she wants the shoes even if they are not the right size.

All this has me back to pondering human nature and determinism.  Perhaps we
really are driven by urges over which we have little control and no choice.

spike