Shoes were originally created thousands of years ago with the purpose of protecting our feet when walking barefoot. Soon after that, they began adopting different meanings and uses through time. Nowadays, shoes are shown in social media as a symbol of sensuality, attractiveness, style, and power. Even though media shows that wearing heels can improve physical appearance, it has also brought to life the distorted idea that wearing heels is what makes a woman classy.

We can trace early versions of the women heel — called “chopines”, during the High Renaissance period. These consisted of a high wooden platform- sometimes up to thirty inches- covered in velvet or leather, with pearls and stones. They were used to prevent women’s skirts and feet from becoming dirty. Women couldn’t walk in “chopines” without the assistance of their servants, leaving them completely dependent to perform simple tasks like walking. Those in the lower class were not allowed to wear them, because their height symbolized superiority.

It seems absurd that women would purposely put themselves through that kind of pain, but if we look at today’s fashion trends, “chopines” are just an exaggerated version of contemporary footwear for women. In a survey conducted by the American Podiatric Medical Association, 500 women were interviewed. Three fourths of those women admitted wearing heels on a regular basis, while 39% said they do everyday. 42% of these women admitted wearing heels despite the pain, because the style and attractiveness is worth it. These statistics highlight that many women put themselves through pain for the sake of fashion.

If they presuppose so much suffering, why do so many women choose to wear heels? From the time they learn how to walk, women are taught to believe that high heels boost elegance and power. Young girls play with their mother’s heels and act as mature and classy women. Cinderella teaches girls that in the transition from an ordinary girl to a princess, the heel is essential. No princess would ever find her prince charming while wearing flats.

High heels are not only used by princesses but by almost every female public figure in the world. Women tend to imitate what they see on media when choosing their wardrobes. Pictures of models, actresses, and singers wearing heels circulate the media everyday. Even politicians and professional women wear them on a daily basis, giving women the sense that wearing heels is utterly necessary to become a confident woman. What they need to ask themselves is: are heels a pre-requisite for becoming a powerful women?

According to the Colombian fashion designer Natalia Munarriz, it’s possible for a woman to project class while wearing flats because the woman makes the shoe elegant, not the other way around. She believes that “a woman who is not refined in her demeanor can wear heels as much as she wants and still look ungraceful”. Successful women are not successful because they go to work everyday in stilettos, but because they’ve studied and worked restlessly for years. They still wear them not because they attain qualities from them, but because they’ve been taught that they have to wear heels no matter what.

Many women who wear heels don’t even know how to walk in them. “If Sarah Jessica Park can walk through the streets of New York with her four inches Manolo Blahnik, then I can too”. Thoughts like this can seriously compromise a woman’s health in different aspects. It can cause feet and spinal problems as a woman forces herself to walk in pain. Mental health can also be affected because self-esteem is in jeopardy. When women are uncomfortable in their own shoes and are observed as they struggle to walk, they can feel weak, vulnerable, embarrassed, and less feminine. This is because they can’t do what all women are supposed to do according to society: walk in heels. How are women supposed to accomplish their goals when they are worried about falling or tripping because of their shoes? Heels are supposed to enhance self-esteem, not degrade it.

Susan Schorn argues in her column article “Dressing up, Looking Down” that when looking at someone and then down instead of away, people’s self-confidence decreases:

No matter how adept you are at wearing high heels, you look down more when you wear them. And when you look down, you feel more vulnerable, and you appear more vulnerable too. Is this merely a coincidence?