Tara Hunt has a moving post written in relationship to the essays in the NYTimes on womens’ love of uncomfortable fetishistic high fashion shoes. A bit of Tara’s essay is this:

“Which brings me to these shoes.
A good step back (so to speak) would reveal to us that wearing 12″
heels or pointy toes or strappy sandals that we can’t walk in more than
1 block and cut our feet to shreds is the unsexiest thing we can
possibly ever do. I was at drinks with some friends of mine the other
night and they showed me a photo of a male friend who is single and who
makes his dates fill out a test before he’ll go out with them. I looked
at the photo and thought, “This man is bald, overweight and not
particularly handsome, how does he have the power to administer a test
to women who desire to date him? Would an overweight, unattractive
woman be able to do the same?” And when I read the article on the
shoes, I thought, “Oh geez, I balked at the test, but that’s what these
shoes are.” Another test. A way to seek external validation that we are
worthy…to be looked at…to be desired…to have someone with comfortable
shoes and way more power ask us out on a date.”

But the whole thing is so worth a read, so please, go read it.