What do men want? And do we care?

Will this blog ever escape the topic of footwear? Not at this rate, it won't, no. Because I've now sustained a tango-related injury. Or rather, a tango and high-heel related injury. According to the physio, a ligament in my left foot is strained. She examined it lovingly, treated it to ultrasound and then it bound up in a way that made it feel much better. Although it does still ache and twinge, and will apparently take some time to heal because there's no blood flow to cartilage. She graciously accepted the pointlessness of forbidding me to dance, but suggested I always ice the foot afterwards. This inevitably rams home all that, until recently, I held as revealed truth - that high heels are the modern equivalent of foot-binding.

And yet ... That's the thing about getting older (one of the things, anyway) - there's always an "and yet".

In her comment on a previous blog, Jacquie made two points: 1. that men would rather see a woman tottering in heels than striding in flats, and 2. that women don't necessarily wear them for men anyway - she doesn't and neither do high-heel wearing lesbians. Rather, they are a celebration of femininity, and she loves wearing them simply for their own sake.

The Plain Jane and No Nonsense side of me flinches at that loaded word "femininity", and yet there's truth in what Jacquie says.

I'm happy to report, though, that she's wrong on count one. I've identified at least one exception to her rule - N, my local cafe's excellent barrista and all-round excellent young man. With only the slightest provocation, he launched into a diatribe on the subject of high heels. He can't understand why women (and more particularly his girlfriend) wear something they can't walk in, and he would much rather they/she wore sensible flats so they didn't have to be supported across busy roads and uneven terrain.

"Be all right if they had a button you could push for walk mode," he said, and performed an impromptu click, drop and go mime.

And yet ...

Searching online for the ultimate in safe and comfortable tango shoes, I went to the source - Argentina. But the women there must be made differently because all I could find were variations on this one.


Out of the question, even for you, Jacquie, surely.