I’ve devoted many a blog post to the negative effects of high-heel wearing, so I’ll summarize quickly before moving on: slipping into stilettos on a regular basis can lead to or worsen existing bunions, cause your toes to transform into hammertoes, shorten and/or inflame your Achilles tendon, leading to tendinitis, not to mention throwing off your stability and putting you at risk of sprains and fractures. Phew, what a list!
As if all that weren’t bad enough, studies now show that wearing heels actually makes women more reliant on men. Allow me to explain before you start throwing the tomatoes at me.
According to a study, conducted at the Université de Bretagne-Sud in France, men are more likely to help women when they wear high heels.
How so? In the study, a woman asked people to complete a survey, first while wearing flat shoes and then again after switching to high heels. At one point during her interactions with survey takers, she also dropped a glove. Researchers found that, as the height of the woman’s heel increased, so did the willingness of men to both complete her survey AND pick up her glove for her. While men were quicker to rush to the aid of high-heeled ladies, fellow women were not similarly influenced by their fellow female’s shoe height (maybe they were focused on their private foot pain, instead!)
Lead study author Nicolas Guegen attributed his findings to the fact that the men associated heels with sexual attraction and hoped that, by helping well-heeled women, those women would become physically interested in them.
Now, I’m just a humble Houston podiatrist, so I will stay far away from making any social comment on these findings and just say this: there are many foot wear choices out there, some of which DON’T hurt your feet and DON’T alter the way others view you. Make the footwear choice that’s best for you and come and see Dr. Andrew Schneider for any and all foot health concerns.
