High heels“To be carried by shoes, winged by them. Wearing dreams on your feet means starting to make your dreams come true. » -Roger Vivier Shoes of all brands and styles are loved by women around the world, but it is the heel, whether a stiletto or a platform, that is coveted, adored, desired in abundance, simply in and from the shoe itself. They are everywhere. They are ubiquitous in books, calendars, photographs, album and film covers, hanging in miniature versions in precious metal from earlobes and chains, from women's closets and even their living rooms, and let's not forget their most important place of residence: women's feet. They're a constant obsession in pop culture, constantly talked about and fetishized on television, in movies, in song lyrics, and seem to be worn without fail by glamorous celebrities, whatever the occasion. The most famous shoe-loving pop culture outlet is HBO's hit series Sex and the City, in which shoes are one of the main themes. Sex and the City cast at http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft /0,1518,grossbild-233666-286899,00.htmlWhat's in a shoe? Perhaps it was originally intended to protect the feet from the elements, but today the shoe has evolved from its practical origins to grandiose heights, and at the highest level of course is the high heel. Heels are not something you simply wear on your feet, but a passion, a hobby, a personal expression, a source of authority, of sexual independence, an essential element of gendered female culture, a brand of displayed femininity, psychological empowerment and joy. Women choose to wear high heels for many reasons; the key is that they are effectively the ones proactively choosing to endorse the high heel, often to the detriment of their own com...... middle of paper ...... the decision to wear high heels is a way of rebelling within a system. Women who wear these high heels because they love to do so, for their own pleasure. Whether they like erotic connotations, excitement, height, delicate structures, dangerous spots, phallic penetration qualities, royal history, haughty independence, aesthetic beauty or a confusing combination of all these and More so, women who love high heels do it on their own. volition and desire. Manolo Blahnik, the “High Priest of High Heels” (Benstock & Ferriss) encapsulates the patronizing idea that women should feel sorry for their choices and love of high heels. He was once asked if he "ever felt sorry for all those women who tottered through their lives in the pointiest high-heeled shoes," to which he replied, "Oh, my God, how could I feel sorry for them? Sorry. Sorry for who? They love it." (Spectre, 388)