Tara Hunt has a moving post written in relationship to the essays in the NYTimes on womens' love of uncomfortable fetishistic high fashion shoes. A bit of Tara's essay is this:

"Which brings me to these shoes. A good step back (so to speak) would reveal to us that wearing 12″ heels or pointy toes or strappy sandals that we can't walk in more than 1 block and cut our feet to shreds is the unsexiest thing we can possibly ever do. I was at drinks with some friends of mine the other night and they showed me a photo of a male friend who is single and who makes his dates fill out a test before he'll go out with them. I looked at the photo and thought, "This man is bald, overweight and not particularly handsome, how does he have the power to administer a test to women who desire to date him? Would an overweight, unattractive woman be able to do the same?" And when I read the article on the shoes, I thought, "Oh geez, I balked at the test, but that's what these shoes are." Another test. A way to seek external validation that we are worthy...to be looked at...to be desired...to have someone with comfortable shoes and way more power ask us out on a date."

But the whole thing is so worth a read, so please, go read it.