danbo wrote:
> Are you sure they smell good ?
> 
> 
> 


Well, shoes like these have less to do with practical utility (by most 
definitions of utility) and more to do with sex.  It is held, especially 
by Freud who originally talked about it, that sexual fetishism for shoes 
is rooted in smell.  Fetishism, that is, which refers to the shoes 
themselves becoming the object of sexual desire.  But here the sex 
involved has more to do with issues of personal and public display.  The 
teetery high heels that have become in our culture a visual cue for 
'female' can also signify 'female on sexual display' but to relative 
degrees and depending on context.  Other design elements of the shoes, 
depending on context, would play into how they are interpreted as a 
choice for personal display.  My sense with these shoes and the Palin 
candicy was that they were intended to give a slightly playful accent to 
an otherwise upscale wardrobe.  But many people just saw 'tart'.

-Jim

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