Thinking on your feet

I've been assailed by terrible shoe fashion advice through ads and influencer videos that make me believe women have not come a long way, baby, at all in terms of rational dress (see http://www.sageandsavant.com/2018/04/09/background-information-rational-dress-movement/).

Women used to bind themselves in corset that prevented them from breathing properly and even could shift organs out of place, but women today are doing the same kind of thing with their footwear, especially if they are slaves to fashion. So the point of this blog is to counter the really bad and potentially harmful advice that many influencers on YouTube are promulgating in promoting pointy-toed shoes.

These women have sold their souls and your toes out for the sake of the brands pushing this current fashion monstrosity. They recommend women actually torture their feet for the sake of "elongating" the look of their legs.


 Quite frankly, I find point-toed shoes repulsive -- not attractive. The human foot is not at all shaped like this, and picturing feet shaped like that or how they are getting misshapen is not at all attractive.

 Those are what I picture squished into those point shoes, and that i  not a pretty picture. The picture above comes from the video below.

Do you think shortening your calves is a good thing? Well that can happen just from high heels, but when you add on the point toe that the high heels force the front of your feet into, you get even uglier effects like foot pain, blisters, bunions,in-grown toenails, and even really ugly hammer toes. So even if you delude yourself into believing you look great while wearing such shoes, once you kick them off, you'll see your feet are paying the price and making you look worse than you would have if you had worn something that really fits a human foot.

But it's women themselves who opt to torture themselves with footwear that is the antithesis of empowerment. They want to buy into fairy tale fantasies that are as flimsy as the Emperor's new clothes.  At least, that's what Boden's marketing team seems to believe. Here's the ad I got in my email today:

So it's the glass slipper idea that is meant to sell you on a pair of point-toed leopard patterned boots that you would believe will win you a prince and a happily ever after ending. But since they brought up that Grimm's fairy tale, let's take a closer look at the foot fetish at the center of the story and what that entailed for those who tried the slipper.

Unlike the Disney version that showcases a glass slipper left behind by accident, this story features a golden one that the prince traps on purpose. When the step sisters try it on, their mother encourages them to cut off parts of their foot to fit -- very much like women do to themselves in squishing their feet into pointy shoes. Her argument is that they would not need to walk when they are queen, and, indeed, part of the reason high heel originated as a fashion statement for the rich was as proof that the wearer had no need to walk. So here's the central part of the text:

When evening came Cinderella wanted to leave, and the prince tried to escort her, but she ran away from him so quickly that he could not follow her. The prince, however, had set a trap. He had had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. When she ran down the stairs, her left slipper stuck in the pitch. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty, and of pure gold.
The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe."
The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."
The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!

Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large.

Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot."
The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
There's blood in the shoe.
The shoe is too tight,
This bride is not right!

He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again.
"This is not the right one, either," he said. "Don't you have another daughter?"
"No," said the man. "There is only a deformed little Cinderella from my first wife, but she cannot possibly be the bride."
The prince told him to send her to him, but the mother answered, "Oh, no, she is much too dirty. She cannot be seen."
But the prince insisted on it, and they had to call Cinderella. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the prince, who gave her the golden shoe. She sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, and it fitted her perfectly.
When she stood up the prince looked into her face, and he recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him. He cried out, "She is my true bride."
The stepmother and the two sisters were horrified and turned pale with anger. The prince, however, took Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel tree, the two white pigeons cried out:

Rook di goo, rook di goo!
No blood's in the shoe.
The shoe's not too tight,
This bride is right!

Kind of gory that story, and really not what a woman who expect to be able to stand on her own two feet should aspire to, especially not in our supposedly enlightened age.

Related post: https://uncommoncontent.blogspot.com/2018/06/feminine-feet-study-in-contrasts.html

Collection of quotes on integrity

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.  —  Albert Einstein

Goodness is about character — integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people. — Dennis Prager

In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And, if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. – Warren Buffett

If you believe in unlimited quality and act in all your business dealings with total integrity, the rest will take care of itself – Frank Perdue

Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, and treating people with respect. – Stephen Covey

Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep your word. — Brian Tracy

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.V Dwight D. Eisenhower

It is true that integrity alone won't make you a leader, but without integrity, you will never be one.  —- Zig Ziglar

Power really is a test of character. In the hands of a person of integrity, it is of tremendous benefit; in the hands of a tyrant, it causes terrible destruction.  —  John Maxwell

Losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep. – Denis Waitley

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out. -Thomas Babington Macaulay

Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.  — J.C. Watts

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.  — Douglas Adams

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.  —  John D. MacDonald

Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.  — Brene Brown

Honor your commitments with integrity  —  Les Brown

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.  —  Indira Gandhi

I’ve learned many things in my life. What never fails is integrity, consistency, and loyalty. — Bahiyah Shabazz

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. — Mark Twain

Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it. - Anonymous