I’m sitting at my desk with Blister Guards and my second round of Sponge Bob Square Pants band-aids and I’m wondering to myself, why oh why do women like myself have to wear high-heeled shoes? Where did this awful trend come from and when will it go away? My curious spirit gave way to researching Wikipedia and low and behold, I discovered that men where the first to wear high heels! How did we (women) get stuck with it?

Supposedly, high heels came about in the 1500s as a way to end rider’s slip while riding a horse. Alas, cowboy boots. Then, men in the French court decided it would be a good idea to start wearing them (as tall as 3-4 inches!) as a status symbol until Catherine de’ Medici decided she wanted to be the first woman in on the action.

Oh Catherine, if she only knew how much pain she has caused for the rest of us. But interesting history, no?