2026-09-23T02:39:09Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1289772025-10-27T18:00:45Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Alan Lightman.
De Araújo Ferreira, Fernanda.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Comparative Media Studies.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
2021-01-05T23:10:58Z
2021-01-05T23:10:58Z
2020
2020
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128977
1227040917
Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 13-15).
Health foe. Confidence booster. Female oppressor. No other shoe style has taken on as many roles as the high heel or had those roles as passionately debated. Throughout their long history in Western fashion, high heels have changed shape and had new ideas about femininity, performance and compliance heaped on them Warnings about the health dangers of chronic high heel use also have a long history, with medical professionals counselling against them for almost 300 years. Still high heels have remained a staple of womenswear, always returning after brief sojourns out of style. This thesis unpack s the high heel, first looking at the effects of high heel use on the body before turning to the history of the high heel and discussing the reasons why countless w omen have endured a shoe that is by design uncomfortable. Then we look at attempts to reengineer high heels so that they are more comfortable for wearers and discuss the future of high heels in the footwear landscape. The thesis concludes with a discussion of how attempting to fathom the long narrative of high heels can change your relationship with the object.
by Fernanda de Araújo Ferreira.
S.M. in Science Writing
S.M.inScienceWriting Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing
15 pages ;
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Comparative Media Studies.
Graduate Program in Science Writing.
Unraveling the high heel
Thesis
application/pdf
2021-01-05T23:10:57Z
Publication
Master
CMS
unknown
unknown
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<Abstract>Health foe. Confidence booster. Female oppressor. No other shoe style has taken on as many roles as the high heel or had those roles as passionately debated. Throughout their long history in Western fashion, high heels have changed shape and had new ideas about femininity, performance and compliance heaped on them Warnings about the health dangers of chronic high heel use also have a long history, with medical professionals counselling against them for almost 300 years. Still high heels have remained a staple of womenswear, always returning after brief sojourns out of style. This thesis unpack s the high heel, first looking at the effects of high heel use on the body before turning to the history of the high heel and discussing the reasons why countless w omen have endured a shoe that is by design uncomfortable. Then we look at attempts to reengineer high heels so that they are more comfortable for wearers and discuss the future of high heels in the footwear landscape. The thesis concludes with a discussion of how attempting to fathom the long narrative of high heels can change your relationship with the object.</Abstract>
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