Not to generalize, but women seem to be crazy for shoes. Shopping for them is almost an obsession for some women. Men, on the other hand, generally couldn’t care less, and just need shoes for practical reasons.
Why the female fetish for shoe shopping?
Evidently you’re not married, chum.
All I know about is Mrs. Mojo’s shoe buying habits, and I can tell you “fetishism” definitely has nothing to do with it.
The real reason is an evil conspiracy among women’s shoe manufacturers to deliberately make shoes that will never be comfortable on women’s feet. Mrs. Mojo has been searching and searching throughout our 15 years of marriage for shoes that do not hurt her feet. The search goes on. Meanwhile, I get plenty of volunteer employment every night as a masseur of foot and back.
It’s a stereotype, just like men being obsessed with tools. I hate buying shoes, personally. I do like to shop in general though, since it’s a way to socialize with friends up here where there’s nothing else to do but go to movies or bars.
It’s a genetic defect limited to females of the species.
My mom constantly whines about her aching feet. I told her to stop wearing her favorite Prada shoes and I took her shopping for a pair of Rockports. She wore them exactly once and never wore them again. She says they hurt her feet. I think it’s all in her head.
I’m one woman who hates shopping for shoes or anything else.
Women have to have more shoes than men because women wear more of a variety of styles, plus YOU MEN want us to look sexy. Casual shoes for slacks, sandals for the beach,
sandals for shorts, flip-flops for beach and around the house, and a variety of high heel dressy shoes for work clothes, and dressier shoes for evening wear. And there is something to Jomo’s point – especially the dressy shoes. Have you worn 3" spike heel sandals lately? I’ve been wearing 2" heels lately with a squared off toe and my feet still hurt at the end of the day. Also, the lift (the rubber thingy on the end of the high heel) wears out fast and I suspect many women simply go buy another pair rather than have it replaced. Then there’s the scuffing of the heels from driving. You men need one pair for the office (and maybe not even that with casual being accepted in many offices) and dress-up, and a pair of athletic shoes for everything else. Women can’t get away with that. I envy you.
I have never had a male friend say that he didn’t like a woman because of her shoes, but I know many woman who have dismissed many men for their lack of shoe expertise.
Shopping in general is a relic of woman’s traditional role as the gatherer, but the fixation on the shoe (or foot) is strange. Perhaps there is a certain amount of “Queen” gonig on: No matter how unappealling the woman might be, a man services her every whim.
I will say this, that it is not just a female thing. In China women have had their feet “bound” for centuries. This was accomplished by bending (or breaking if needed) a young girls toes and the front part of her foot under her heal. Done well the women would not be able to walk far under her own strength. The goal was to create a women who “walked like a bird”. So powerful was the foot of these women that some men preferred having sex with the crease of a woman’s foot than, well you know…
Hmmm…perhaps it’s because feet don’t tend to change size, even if one gains weight. How nice to slip into the same size 7’s you wore in high school, even if the other sizes in your wardrobe have crept up over the years.
Shoes don’t tend to make you look fat. Even if you don’t like the shoe, it’s not depressing the way, say, an ugly swimsuit might be.
(As you can see, I get most of my information on this topic from the comic strip “Cathy”, which is probably largely responsible for perpetuating this stereotype anyway.)
I personally like trying on shoes because it’s usually rather easy. You don’t have to take off all your clothes and muss your hairdo. If you’re in the right sort of store, you can have someone else (perhaps even of the opposite sex) take off your old shoes and put the new ones on for you…a luxury that shopping for other clothing does not give you. 
It’s not a fetish or an obsession, but if I need shoes, I don’t generally mind buying them.
I agree with Sycorax, women wear a lot of shoes to look sexy, but I don’t think that its for the men. I was raised by my single-father as a teen, so my knowledge of feminine things is limited. I have been critized about my shoes many times by women, and never once has a guy noticed.
For some reason, women nit-pick each other’s clothing but guys seem to go by the “how much skin is she showing” rule.
Some women are stuck between shoes that “look” good and shoes that “feel” good and can’t strike a balance. Me, I go with the second category. I have drag queen friends who offer to lend me high heels, but I’m sorry.
I also know several men who are obsessed with buying shoes.
This is more appropriate for the “IMHO” forum, so moving it there… - Jill
Negative. Your shoe size will increase if you gain weight, and decrease if you lose weight. Mostly it’s the width that changes with weight. More weight presses harder on your feet and they spread out more. Believe me, I know this for a personal fact, I have 13EEE feet and I have fluctuated in weight as much as 35 pounds.
Personally, I do not have a shoe thing. While it is a steroetype, there is reason for that. I know many a woman who professes love for shoes. These woman, however, seem to possess every other female stereotype. I think they are trying to be convincing of their womanhood. Perhaps they feel they need to compensate…
I don’t generally like shopping, not stereotypical in that way, but I like buying shoes. I’ll linger for a while in the shoe department, and forever in book stores.
Um, men just need shoes for practical reasons? And what defines a practical reason? I wear mine. That’s practical. If you wear the same pair everyday, they stink, and they don’t usually last that long. If I change my shoes everyday, they last for quite a while, and they don’t develop an ugly odour. I think that’s practical.
I don’t wander around professing my great love of all footwear, but I’m often on the lookout for another pair of nice looking, comfortable shoes at a good price.
I’m a “girly” girl and must admit to a great love of clothes, shoes, bags, make-up, etc. A large part of it, I think, is accessorising. If I get a new top that doesn’t match anything, I’ll often buy a new bag and a new pair of shoes to go with it.
Personally, I don’t see it as any more of a fetish than my pile of books, or my boyfriend’s CD/MP3 collection. Reading gives me pleasure. Listening to music gives him pleasure. Looking my best gives me pleasure. (And looking good while reading? Ooooh baby!)
Dr. Phil on Oprah sez;
When women go shopping, its a social event.
A man shops to get his item, then takes it home so he can play with it.
stands up
“Hi my name is gadgetgirl, and I’m a shoe-a-holic”.
Now, when I go to work, I have to wear steel capped work boots (do you have any idea how hard it is to find steel capped work boots in small sizes??) and I wear my hiking boots or my Docs on the weekends. Most of the time I am a “sensible shoe” kina gal.
But when I go out or get a bit dressed up I just LOVE to slip into a great pair of strappy heels. Or a fantastic pair of knee high boots. Whoo hoo! Its like playing dress-up. I think you can make an inexpensive outfit look like a million bucks with the right shoes. (and make a really nice outfit look like CRAP with the wrong shoes!)
But I don’t think its just a “girl thing”, I think its only particular girls. Kinda like sickle cell anemia, not all black people have it, but its primarily black people who get it.
And I agree with Dr. Phil. It is a social thing. I love going shoe shopping with the gals. Too much fun.
I love shoes. I do, I do, I do.
But there’s something that some of the other folks in this thread have missed, and that’s shoe shades. Yes, sometimes the shoe really is just the wrong shade of black!
Before I got pregnant for the first time, my feet were a 7 1/2 AA. Thirteen years and two more pregnancies, and now I’m stuck with 8 1/2 wides. I know that this has happened to other women too, but I’m still at a loss as to why. 
In yoga, it’s important to balance everything, so when we go one way, we always follow it by going the opposite way, to keep our bodies balanced.
In my yoga class, there is one woman who works in downtown D.C. and plays “dress up” to go to work every day. For her that means high heels.
When the yoga teacher has us standing and tells us to lift our heels off the floor and go up on our toes & balls of our feet, High Heels Lady is all smiles. It’s her usual state; her feet have actually taken on this shape.
But when the teacher reverses this and tells us to lift toes off the floor and stand on our heels, then H.H.L. moans and groans! She practically begs the teacher not to put her through this.
Jomo sez: High heels are evil.
Blush.
This is the one remotely “girly” thing I do–and I loathe shopping.
It’s a matter of comfort and convenience. I’m forced to plan a “work wardrobe”–donnable in a morning fog–but it’s still more complicated than men face. (And more fun, truth to tell; hassle can be fun in a twisted way even though my preferred garb is soft jeans, a Tshirt and sneaks.)
My dress clothes are built around dark blues, taupes and grays; suits, slacks and varied dresses. Putting the wrong color or heel height together simply looks and feels funky.
One caveat: I routinely pull 12-hour days feet hurting isn’t an option. So comfort’s a huge factor: gotta look good and feel good. It’s the Grail, y’know? Gotta be elegant, versatile and feel like clouds on my feet. Forget trendy crap; fumbling and finding exactly the right shoes in the morning is bliss.
Tangent: I loathe the clodstomper trend–they’re heavy, clunky, ugly ankle-bangers. They’re as bad as spike heels. At least heels have the advantage of perverse sexuality. I’m 5’11" tall barefoot with a solid yard of great legs. It can be fun to ratchet up on spikes even if it means wobbling and pinched toes. Clodstompers just mean walking like Frankenstein and bruised ankles. Feh.
Veb
I generally hate to shop and that includes shoe shopping. I have 3 pairs of boat shoes - I’m a sailor, after all - 3 pairs of SAS loafers, 2 pairs of sandals - one kinda dressy, one definitely not - and a pair of sneaks. There are also maybe 3 pairs of pumps somewhere in the closet for those not-rare-enough occasions when I have to don a dress. Nary a heel exceeds 1.5 inches. I go for practical, comfortable, utilitarian… style? What’s that???
I hate shoe shopping. In fact, I would rather go look for a bathing suit in flourescent light than have to endure the horror of shopping for shoes.
This has more than a little to do with the fact that my feet range between 9.5 and 11 (depending on the brand, time of day, whatever) and most shoe manufacturers make really ugly shoes in those sizes, if they bother to make shoes that big at all. No one considers that something needs to be done with proportions, so about half of the pointed toed shoes end up looking like clown shoes. Clunky shoes and heels (the kind that have been in style for the past 8 or so years) may look cute in size 6; in larger sizes they become huge clodding nightmares. I nearly ended up in tears last weekend while trying to find a pair of sandals that would come someone close to fitting and not look horribly cheap. An 8 store, multiple hour search turned up with ONE pair and they only fit for about 20 minutes standing or 2 hours sitting.
So, no, not all women like it. I generally find a pair that I don’t hate - then wear them slightly beyond death in order to avoid going back out there again.