The World’s Most Torturous Shoes

(http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe NULL.jpg) (http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe3 NULL.jpg)The forwards my dad sends me usually involve touchy-feely fables, funny photos, or blonde jokes (guess what my hair color is?). Today, though, he sent along an email that hit this single fashionista a little too close to home. Apparently the rage in Japan – a country where painful foot-binding was as essential to being a geisha as finding the perfect red lipstick – is to wear architecturally unsound, toe-pinching heels that resemble an en pointe ballerina’s foot dipped in patent leather. (And I thought Jimmy Choos were a hassle.) Now, there’s a lot I’ll do in the name of fashion, but I draw the line at butchering my feet. The email also included images revealing the aftermath of foot binding and killer heels; an elderly woman’s foot had literally morphed to match her tiny shoes, with four of her gnarled toes tucked behind the arch (I’ll spare you that unsightly image). (http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe3 NULL.jpg)

Whether this woman was a slave to fashion or just wanted to impress a guy with her ability to teeter around in shoes built for a four-year-old is unclear. But if that’s what it takes to land a guy, I’ll be happy to stay single. (http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe3 NULL.jpg)

(http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe4 NULL.jpg)

(http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe3 NULL.jpg) (http://v2 NULL.singlemindedwomen NULL.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/shoe4 NULL.jpg)