Humans walk with their heels touching the ground, hence we have been classified along with other similar animals as plantigrade mammals e.g. raccoon, bear. Here, the heel is the back part of the foot, below the ankle and behind the arch. It is similar to the point of the hock in hoofed mammals and those that walk on their toes (e.g. horse, dog, pig). The human heel consists of the calceneus, cushioned below by a bursal sac, fat pad, and a thickened skin.

As such, it is well placed in plantigrade mammals to be a strong weight-bearing structure in standing. The ability to stand and walk upright diastinguishes us from apes and other animals as the structure of our feet enabled pre-historic humans to descend from the trees and come out of the forests into the grasslands. As a result of natueral selection and evolution, our feet and legs developed more and stronger tendons giving us an edge over the apes. Indeed, a man can outrun a horse non-stop in terms of distance. The result of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution thus becomes obvious.

Since the foot carries the body's weight when standing, the need was seen to protect the feet including the soles, hence the arrival of shoes and sandals, the history of which can be traced to 2000BC. The associated heels are the projections at the back of these footwear resting below the heel bone. They were added to improve the balance of the footwear and for decorative purposes, and the high-heeled ones have also been around for millenia as part of male and female footwear, and as a status symbol.

Now my question. Does this artificial heel not make nonsense o the years of speciation, adaptation and natural selection. God created Man beautiful. Man is beautiful. This fact obviates the need for enhancements that are artificial and imperfect. It is like trying to reverse nature's work and attempting to evolve backwards from walking on our heels to walking on our toes and the biggest culprits are our womenfolk. This however is not a new phenomenon as it occurs in nature and is like degenerate evolution. Examples can be found in the extinct dodo and solitaire that lost their flying ability, snakes that lost their limbs, ears and eyelids, and our genetic code and immune system.

If this trend continues, perhaps in a thousand years two toes on each foot of Homo sapiens sapiens would have become vestigial without touching the ground when standing and/or have their positions shifted to behind three remnant functional toes. If this were to happen, man would no longer be grouped among the plantigrade mammals but instead as one of the Perissodactyla, an order of hoofed mammals including horses, asses rhinoceroses amongst others, that are sometimes known collectively as odd-toed ungulates - in advanced forms the centre toe carries the weight. Eerie!

It is my understanding that high-heeled footwear are adored by lots of women because they feel it makes them look smarter and sexier with regard to their figure - their posteriors look bigger. Nevertheless, what they have not yet noticed is that such heels make both the posterior and hips appear muscular and taut as a result of the unnecessary and man-made stress induced in the contracting muscular tissue in those areas. Thus, these parts that men find alluring due to the rippling movement of the associated flesh without the high heels look like tough ponmo with them.

If you find my views extreme, especially my comparison with other mammals, consider the hooves of swine (pigs). The next chance you get to observe them take a look at their hooves when they walk and see for yourself whether or not they look like they are wearing (high) heeled shoes/sandals.

Is man willing to sacrifice real beauty on the altar of fashion? By the way, I am not a pervert.

Na wah o! I was hoping to spark a deeply thought-provoking debate as it has been said many times that quite a number of we Nigerian youths of today hardly read and think. I'm still waiting.

hi

i guess anyone with a lovely dress sense would have an idea of when to use heels and with what clothes.i've seen lots of ladies with high heels and was tempted to ogle 'cos they looked really lovely.