High-heeled shoes and pavement.

[randomness]

I have noticed something odd in my recent travels. There appears to be a correlation between broken or uneven pavement/sidewalks and women wearing high-heeled shoes. This is extremely counter-intuitive.

For example, cities in the following countries undeniably have more than their share of broken pavement: Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Latvia, Slovakia, Italy. In these places, high-heeled shoes are popular with local women.

Compare with cities in the following places: Singapore, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Japan. In these places, sensible shoes are more popular with local women. And the sidewalks are in better repair than the previous group of places.

Now, correlation does not imply causality, and it would be perverse to make the claim that it does in this case. Although I appreciate a nice set of heels as much as anyone, I think it's dangerous to try wearing them while walking on broken sidewalks.

My personal theory on this includes a complicated set of connections between economics, culture, fashion, and the role of the sexes. But I'm still collecting data.

Comments

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I'm more inclined to believe that, in a society where the economy is sufficiently bad that people rent themselves out practically for free, that: a) they doll themselves up for it, and b) you can't expect regular maintenance of public facilities.

BTW, did you ever find out why they were tearing up Khao San?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Dunno. When I left it was still torn up. There was some evidence of new sidewalk tiles, but that didn't explain the bizarre holes in the street.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

they doll themselves up for it

So, here's my point: in all of the places I mentioned, women doll themselves up. The question, however, is why in the places with bad pavement the local definition of "dolled-up" includes higher heels than places with good pavement.