"Cruel Shoes"

Got a nice feature over at Deviant Art -- this shot of Iris in "ballet heels" was selected as a "Daily Deviation," one of thirteen images/items selected and highlighted on the site for the day. Went from having a handful of comments to about 6 pages of them, mostly saying "cool image, and those shoes look like they hurt!" Well, I guess the appearance of discomfort (or actual discomfort) is a big part of fetish, so these fit right in. Thanks to Iris for bravely offering to model these "Cruel Shoes" for this shot.

If you're of my generation, you may recall that "Cruel Shoes" was a book of short writings put out by Steve Martin back when he was the hottest stand-up comedian on the planet... could it really have been 1979? While I didn't realize it at the time, or until just now, perhaps what struck me as something of a nonsense story back then was actually a peek inside the foot/shoe fetish mindset. Here's the text, glommed from The Compleat Steve, although you owe it to yourself to hear Steve's performance of the piece.

Cruel Shoes
Anna knew she had to have some new shoes today, and Carlo had helped her try on every pair in the store. Carlo spoke wearily, "Well, that's every pair of shoes in the place."

"Oh, you must have one more pair..."

"No, not one more pair... Well, we have the cruel shoes, but no one would want..."

Anna interrupted, "Oh yes, let me see the cruel shoes!"

Carlo looked incredulous. "No Anna, you don't understand, you see the cruel shoes are..."

"Get them!"

Carlo disappeared into the back room for a moment, then returned with an ordinary shoe box. He opened the lid and removed a hideous pair of black and white pumps. But these were not an ordinary pair of black and white pumps; both were left feet, one had a right angle turn with separate compartments that pointed the toes in impossible directions. The other shoe was six inches long and was curved inward like a rocking chair with a vise and razor blades to hold the foot in place.

Carlo spoke hesitantly, "... Now you see why... they're not fit for humans..."

"Put them on me."

"But..."

"Put them on me!"

Carlo knew all arguments were useless. He knelt down before her and forced the feet into the shoes.

The screams were incredible.

Anna crawled over to the mirror and held her bloody feet up where she could see.

"I like them."

She paid Carlo and crawled out of the store into the street.

Later that day, Carlo was overheard saying to a new customer, "Well, that's every shoe in the place. Unless, of course, you'd like to try... the cruel shoes."

Thanks also to Johnny Flamethrower for nominating the shot for this nice little honor. Cheers Johnny!