I am importing the first part of this blog from my old discontinued fashion blog, because I feel my point was made fairly well there:

So now on to the new – how does this apply to comics.   As I have stated a few times before (my very first post, my blog about women in the bat-titles) I don’t find high heels on superheroines to be very practical.   Here are a few reasons:

1.   You can’t run – I don’t know if any one has ever seen footage of the Charity “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes”.   It basically involves men walking a mile is women’s high heels for charity.   Some events as opposed to walking encourage the participants to run instead.   If you haven’t seen this check it out and then maybe look at a video of someone running the 100 m sprint in the Olympics.   You can see the different running styles and how much slower the men are just because of the mechanics of what is involved.   In fact running in heels is pretty impractical, even ones which are designed for it.

2.   You can’t balance (and therefore fight) – Women all across the world every year suffer bruises, breaks, pulls and strains from wearing high heels.   The main problem with these shoes is that they put pressures on feet which are unnatural which when combined with the way that you are balanced gives it a good chance of causing injury.   There are a lot of workout techniques designed specifically for women to wear high heels over 4 inches high.   Therefore fighting would be nearly impossible.

3.   Enhanced strength becomes a problem   - The design of some high heels is such that the pressure placed but the heel on a surface is greater than the pressure which an elephant applies to a surface where it walks.   Now imagine if you were a heroine and you had to pick someone up or carry something with superstrength.   Your heels would quite possibly poke holes through the floor wherever you or more likely just crumple under the forces applied to them.   Even thicker or chunkier heels would have this problem.  

There are some exceptions to high heels, but not really as it would apply to superheroines.   Dancers are often seen wearing them, but keep in mind these are specially designed shoes where the heels is extremely well reinforced and the heel itself is no more than two and half inches.   What dancers can do in these heels is just about the furthest extension of what is possible in heels.   They can hardly jump and they move a lot more slowly.   I understand that comics like to present things in greater than life detail but maybe the heels should be left for social occasions not fighting bad guys.       

I agree 100% on the issue. Yes, high heels help make the woman's legs look great, and hence asserts sex appeal for the woman wearing them, but they just are not practical for anything but walking and standing. I know this after being dared, years ago, to spend a day in high heels. Unfortunately it wasn't for charity, but in the end I felt like I owed somebody somewhere money.

Ugh, this reminds me of a girl in my class. She always wore high heels and every day she was complaining that her feet hurt. When we said something (also other girls in the class) about it, she'd respond that 'no she wouldn't wear other (comfortable) shoes because high heels made her look sexy'... *sigh*

Granted, they did make her look sexy. But when she's constantly whining about it, the sexiness goes away real fast and it just gets plain annoying. I'd say if you have to wear them, fine. But don't bug others with the fact they hurt when we've already told you to wear different kind of shoes! I'd say wear shoes you feel comfortable in and you can actually walk on, but i'm simple like that xP

To get to the superhero part, yup they are really impractical, but then again.. a lot of superhero outfits are just plain impractical. Men or women.

High heels serve one purpose which you have mentioned here(make you look more sexy).  I am of the opinion that practicality should be the rule for crime fighters.  Female comic book characters are idealized already, high heels may add to that but it doesn't make sense to have a female crime fighter wear them.  They have to fight, run, etc.  High heels become a liability.

lol this describes my wife and her sister perfectly. My wife hates high heeled shoes and refuses to wear anything that is taller than 2" and even that has to be a wedge type sandel. She went as far as wearing flat flip flops on our wedding day (for the whole ceremony)

My sister in law wheres them everyday every where. She owns 50+ pairs of high heels and maybe 1 or 2 paris of tennis shoes. She actually claims the high heels are more comfortable for her because she wears them so much and for so long that that is what her body and muscles are used to.

My cousins on the other hand actually own their own high heel shoe line (KM2 Shoes) and while they do where high heels for parties or events, you also catch them more days then not, wearing normal shoes.

Great post Tazzy! While I agree with many things you say here, that heels are impractical and wouldn't realistically work as part of a costume, I do feel like, as a writer and artist, you're forgetting the element of fantasy involved. Yes, heels suck, but they are also sexy, and look great on the strong, independent female hero. They're like a symbol. 

I liken the issue of heels to how swimwear is nowadays and has been for some time.  Its all for aesthetics rather than practicality.  In all fairness though at least the heels in comics have not gotten ridiculously big...and by ridiculously I mean this...

   

For most female characters that fight anything at all, they look retarded.

this blog might have just hurt my already low wallet...>.> Need to go make some money (sounds sketchy...) ....Anyway I like heels overall ( can make 5'2'' go to 5'4'' or 5'6'' like that....XD )  I do wear them casually, however, like everything you do not want to over do it, it is unhealthy and looks like you are trying to hard =/ In a manner of comic book heroes it is completely  impractical and stupid if these were normal girls, but they are not in many ways accurately represented especially physically. High heels can also be associated with the meaning of power and confidence which I believe fits in well with the female super hero or villain. On the other hand if we are going off of realism it is the worst idea of all, I would probably choose a cool pair of boots if I was a super hero, it much more practical and can still look sexy/hot/pretty/attractive. I am overall very girly though other than my nerd habits so yes. 

I'm in that hate/love category as well. I love the way they look and I'm pretty short so a few inches is always good, but they hurt so bad! I'll wear them to go out to dinner but that's about it. I see some girls at school walk across campus in them and I don't know how they do it, lol. Definitely agree that super heroines/villains should opt for better traction and maneuverability. I'd suggest what THB said and just go for boots, and I'd say that by design they also have the benefit of encasing your ankles to give you more stable footing. I've seen some pretty stylish ones that had what was almost a sneaker sole.

I’ve owned orthofeet for over two months now. I’ve suffered from planters fasciitis and a broken foot. My feet were in constant pain until I bought these shoes. When I get home from work I don’t want to put on my slippers I just want to keep on my shoes. I’ve been recommending them to all my friends. I think they look great and clean up well.