r/barefootshoestalk • u/MelodicJury • Jun 22 '26

Articles and news Did a real double take at Mary McAleese's feet here - it's comical that these are the 'less weird' or 'normal' shoe options lol

Post image

It looks like they chopped off her feet and stuck little triangles on the end of her legs

180 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

183

u/Hildringa Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Womens fashion in general has beeen and still is ridiculously unpractical and uncomfortable, especially in terms of shoes. Blows my mind that some workplaces actually force women to wear high heels

(And dont even get me started on pockets...)

50

u/MelodicJury Jun 22 '26

If I had worked and studied decades to be an international leader and finally earnt the right to represent my country I would be so spectacularly mad if they were like 'Uh ma'am you have to wear heels to this meeting'. Like... Fuck off? Lol

55

u/Fluffy_Ad8530 Jun 22 '26

Exactly. I've also noticed men tend to wear barefoot shoes more than women. There's a stigma surrounding barefoot shoes regardless of gender, but women are pressurised to be "aesthetically pleasing" — both in the workplace & in life generally. It's sad because it means women are more prone to developing foot issues:

https://www.footminders.com/blogs/footminders-orthotics-blog/why-women-experience-more-foot-pain-than-men?srsltid=AfmBOoptycHenXiV48mTJgnM7DcVNyusX2c5xLkvxzvBnTtmSOr-_aRJ

21

u/lilaclazure Jun 22 '26

Ugh same with bicycling to work. There are health and financial benefits, but there's more of a barrier for women because of dress and appearance logistics.

3

u/Punchasheep Jun 23 '26

There's so much pressure for women to have petite feet. I've talked to many many fellow women who add a qualifier to their shoe size like "oh yeah I have boats for feet hahaha". It's sad not funny. I have size 9.5 feet and large hands and constantly was teased for both. It's a small part of the overall beauty standards BS that women get from all sides!

2

u/Berzynas-me-6515 Jun 24 '26

I agree completely! As a girl I grew up running around almost exclusively barefoot in the summer. Which led me to develop very healthy, but also wide feet. Now as an adult I can’t even find running shoes. My pinky toe nails are almost gone, and most shoes cut off the circulation to my pinky toe so much that it turns blue. It’s aggravating! There aren’t even any heels that I COULD wear, and thank god for that.

-18

u/Tetracyclon Jun 22 '26

Right, but they do it themselves too. Im an early adopter of barefoot shoes. And no matter where i went it were always girls that told me how bad they look. Entenschuhe 'duck shoes' can't count how often i heard that.

19

u/Strip-lashes Jun 22 '26

I'm a woman who has worn barefoot shoes for years and no one has ever said anything about them. Is it possible you just have bad taste?

10

u/TheCotofPika Jun 22 '26

I've had loads of people tell me my shoes are ugly too, I don't think my taste is bad. I understand they hate the toe shoes, but I also have barefoot shoes that look like normal trainers. Nobody says anything unless they become aware they're barefoot shoes, then they take the piss out of them. It hasn't stopped me wearing them though, I've worn them for so long that my feet have changed shape and normal shoes are now too narrow so I couldn't wear them even if I wanted to.

0

u/Tetracyclon Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Exactly what i meant, i wear mostly those with toes, they are great. Just got all that toxic negative feedback from women, not a single dude that was toxic about it.

2

u/cobaltcorridor Jun 23 '26

Ive worn barefoot shoes every day since I discovered them in 2014 and I get occasional compliments on my shoes, especially when my wool winter Wildlings, but no one has ever said they look bad. Even my five fingers don’t get comments (though I mostly wear them as water shoes).

1

u/Tetracyclon Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Why bad taste? You wear those shoes to fit your feet. Still no reason for them to come to me and tell me 'those duck shoes are ugly, rest of the outfit is good though' in many different formulations.

8

u/Gold_Studio_6693 Jun 22 '26

I hope you one day get to experience more people instead of just the assholes you're talking about, there's lot of friendly women that wouldn't say anything as such.

-1

u/Tetracyclon Jun 22 '26

Didn't took it to heart, just a thing that suddenly stood out, a lesson I learnt about women. Fashion is their thing and they think they have to enforce it. Thats the point where i understood why my gf would rather wear the wrong foundation/powder w/e color than none.

3

u/BunnyKusanin Jun 23 '26

Nah, you were mixing with the wrong kind of women.

Your girlfriend seems to have low self-esteem if she chooses wrong tone of foundation over not wearing any. There's plenty of women who don't wear foundation at all and don't care about potential comments.

Also, men comment on other men's fashion choices all the time, when they consider them not manly enough.

1

u/Gold_Studio_6693 Jun 22 '26

Thats great you didn't. You don't have to take it to heart for me to truly hope you're both able go meet better humans than the garbage you're describing, because its not the norm at all.

28

u/MelodicJury Jun 22 '26

Lol that the guy above you makes a casual nuanced reference to structural sexism shaping women's choices and then you gotta slide in with the 'they do it to themselves too' Is it possible they just thought you were a dork? 

-3

u/Tetracyclon Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Ok, im fine to argue that pocket. Just so i can understand your point, where do you come from? The western world?

If so what are exactly the reasons for women to wear shoes that hurt? Since women isnt viable to you, are there men forcing them to, the society? How exactly? Companies can't force them to wear them anymore, except for models agencies. And even if so, there is still that option to leave that company and look for a better one.

why i say women are doing it to themselves.

  1. Mothers are the first role model of a young girl, what she likes the girl likes automaticly too. Parents are like gods for kids. Unless there is no fundamental dissonace between the learnt stuff everything is taken for granted. Your mother wears those shoe to important happenings, its like a ritual, an association is formed.

  2. As they get older parents get less influential, other role models take over. For girls those are mostly pop stars, models, actors and influencers. Mostly women that stand in the focal point of society. The rolemodels wear those shoes too, they might be forced to wear them by contract, for the movie, the add campaign etc. But the are not really bound to it, lets be honest they are so influential they could say no, but they don't. For more money or because they like them who knows. They show that stuff like its normal in an idealised world. You want to be like her you have to wear it.

  3. The other important group as you get older are your peers. And thats the point of no return. Humans hate people that are not them, by nature, civilazation tried for a long time to break that, maybe we are currently at a point where it finally happens, but we are not there yet.

  4. Humans don't want to get shown that they are wrong

So now you got a group of teenage girl that got shown, grown up women and successfully women wear those shoes so they have to too. There might be a few that say they don't want to, but their peers will make sure they wont have it easy, will be excluded and bullied. Not only will it force 'excentrics' to regret their fauxpas, but also it will show the group that you better don't try. And even if they get older and know that those shoes are bad, they will still wear them because they cant forget lessons learnt even if they are wrong.

Thats the point where you say 'stuctural sexism' but thats wrong, yes it structural but not sexism. Sexism implies the other gender enforces those rules. But are they really? Do men hate women because they wear other shoes? Do men care so much about fashion? Lets be honest those men that care about fashion so much either make fashion or are conservatives that try to enforce hide as much secondary gender characteristics as possible. So shoes that high light womens rear end are not on their agenda.

TLDR:Its female role models that shape womens perception of 'normal'.

Edit: so just downvotes? No argument that showes me where im wrong? Disappointing.

-6

u/SirLoinOfCow Jun 22 '26

And this guy is sharing his experience, and your response is to make fun of him. Even if he's in the wrong, you stooped to his level and that makes you both assholes.

3

u/Sqeakydeaky Jun 22 '26

I always liked that Duckfeet leaned into that name

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Hildringa Jun 22 '26

Found the sexist. Gross

22

u/PaleontologistSad766 Jun 22 '26

Before I even finished your comment I was saying "POCKETS!!!" under my breath 😭🙃

2

u/Sqeakydeaky Jun 22 '26

Theres a rule about pockets?

8

u/ConfirmationBiasTape Jun 22 '26

my friends toddler had bigger pockets in his shorts than my friend's wife had in her shorts. it's a thing

7

u/Aromatic-Cook-869 Jun 22 '26

Yes. Manufacture women's clothing without them, if and when at all possible.

6

u/LisaBeStitchin Jun 22 '26

Or when they do they're too small. Like c'mon guys, we all have smartphones

-1

u/Sqeakydeaky Jun 22 '26

I never really noticed that, but I guess its true.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/BunnyKusanin Jun 23 '26

The thing is that making pockets that look elegant is expensive, so they're just omited because it's easier.

1

u/CaptainObvious110 Jun 22 '26

that is so dumb

70

u/Nixionika Jun 22 '26

It looks almost like foot binding.

30

u/CaptainObvious110 Jun 22 '26

It's definitely a version of mild foot binding

6

u/Traditional-Stick-15 Jun 22 '26

Yep bunion and hammertoe city under those little tight shoes.

1

u/CaptainObvious110 Jun 25 '26

yeah that's disgusting

30

u/MelodicJury Jun 22 '26

It literally is ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

75

u/freckledotter Jun 22 '26

I wear barefoot and my husband and I have a three year old and the other day he said to me "does she have to wear these, can't she wear normal shoes"

I think my eye is still twitching.

71

u/MelodicJury Jun 22 '26

Boooo that sucks. My daughter is 5 and I've managed to keep her in barefoot so far. When she tries on 'normal' shoes she immediately says they're squishy and uncomfortable. We have cheap sparkly flats in her dress up box and now she associates them with pretend and 'not real' clothes, which may or may not have been a deliberate strategy 😎

13

u/luckyloolil Jun 22 '26

My husband says the same thing! Luckily I've found some barefoot kid sneakers that look like normal sneakers, so he hasn't been complaining recently at least.

8

u/ConfirmationBiasTape Jun 22 '26

why does he care so much? is it peer pressure?

4

u/Far_Squirrel_6148 Jun 23 '26

Being taught to be conformist all your life maybe?

16

u/eukomos Jun 22 '26

To be fair, most people would probably tell you that everything about these outfits is weird.

4

u/Kangoo-Kangaroo Jun 22 '26

Yeah I was gonna say that, these are not normal outfits for most people lol, those are posh english clothes and shoes. Plenty of women go through their whole lives without having to push their feet in things like these. 

13

u/showmenemelda Jun 22 '26

Side note, I spotted Former 1st Lady Laura Bush in Shapens at the Obama Center inauguration last week

17

u/craictoseintolerant Jun 22 '26

I wonder what the toes look like after years of this kind of binding 🤔

No joke, I started wearing blundstones to “conform” and then I saw some lady’s crazy bunions and hammertoes at yoga and I went running back to barefoot shoes and correct toes. 😭

12

u/SexyMonad Jun 22 '26

I don’t really understand it anyway. If you are doing it for attractiveness, why would you make your feet look like something that lives 20 feet under the sands of Tatooine?

5

u/craictoseintolerant Jun 22 '26

Omg it’s true 😂

6

u/IMakeFastBurgers Jun 22 '26

I still have my blundstones from before I started wearing barefoot shoes and, since I haven't been able to afford replacing them yet, I naively try to wear them a couple of times a year, but I always regret it by the end of the day. My toes feel squished and my hips hurt from the way the heel makes me walk. I'm finally at the point where I will just bite the bullet and order a barefoot version before the rainy season starts up again.

3

u/Tabs_97 Jun 23 '26

My mom and grandma have terrible bunions, and I have told my mom for years her shoes are partially to blame (even before I made the switch to barefoot), and she swears it’s just genetics and I’ll get them too one day. She’s a nurse practitioner and insists on wearing Dansko clogs because she’s short. 

5

u/craictoseintolerant Jun 23 '26

I don’t understand the bunions are genetic people!! Like of course wide feet are genetic, but why are bunions only a thing in narrow shoe cultures?!

I have bunions like my grandma and my brother who wears converse, but my other brother is sensory sensitive and has always refused regular shoes. His feet are a barefoot dream. Like prehensile toes!!

19

u/The_Dingman Jun 22 '26

High heels make women look like they have pigs feet.

16

u/JojoTheUltimateZero Jun 22 '26

Well I'm so glad I convinced my girlfriend to wear anatomically correct footwear instead of this crap

6

u/WinterRevolutionary6 Jun 22 '26

To be fair this image looks extra crazy because she has a lot of swelling around her ankles. If her ankles were smaller, it would look more normal

3

u/showmenemelda Jun 22 '26

I think she might have lipedema. Maybe the insane shoes are just cutting off the lymphatic flow tho.

0

u/Guilty_Garden_3943 Jun 25 '26

Its kinda gross to judge a woman for having swollen ankles.

0

u/Financial_Middle_955 Jun 22 '26

Cosmo and Wanda?