This is so interesting! I hadn't realized that. It's tragic the way we women participate in our own oppression. I completely agree that modern day high heels are comparable. You can hardly walk in them and they certainly hurt. And it's sick that literally disabling women, making them less capable of walking and running and so more at the mercy of stronger others who CAN walk/ run, is the height of fashion. Why is that? Have you noticed that ALL the feminine fashions have the effect of making them weak? Fingernails so long you can't use your hands; eyelashes so long you can't see; clothes so tight or short you can breathe or bend down... It's a sad tribute to the patriarchy that women buy in to all this. I can see wanting to be sexy. But guess what? WE can decide what's sexy and it will still turn others on. We don't have to accept the "sexy" standards thought up by a bunch of sexist, power hungry, disabling, sick men.