We’ve Known Shoes are Bad Since… 1781?
You might think bunions and bad knees are modern problems—the price we pay for concrete sidewalks or maybe cheap, mass-produced sneakers.
But it turns out, a Dutch guy figured out the whole scam before the US Constitution was even signed.
In 1781, an anatomist named Petrus Camper dropped a mic on the fashion industry with his Dissertation on the Best Form of Shoe.
He wasn't a shoemaker; he was a scientist who looked at the high heels of his day and did the math.
His conclusion was pretty brutal.
He proved that elevating the heel shifts your center of gravity so far forward that you’re forced to stand "like a quadruped" (a four-legged animal) just to stay upright.
He pointed out that to keep from tipping over, your knees have to lock and your spine has to curve, which explains why your back hurts in dress shoes.
He also called out the "straight last"—the old habit of making shoes symmetrical tubes with no difference between left and right.
Camper pointed out the obvious: your feet are asymmetrical. Jamming a curved foot into a straight tube is exactly how you dislocate a big toe.
So, naturally, humanity looked at his irrefutable proof, nodded in agreement, and fixed our footwear immediately.
Just kidding 😅.
We ignored him and all the scientists and researchers that came after for the following 244 years and made the toes pointier.
If you want to read the original "I told you so" from the 18th century, check it out here:
Petrus Camper: Dissertation on the Best Form of Shoe
Image of Petrus Camper from wikipedia
Help finish the movie
If you loved learning about this little part of the Stupid Shoe history, imagine what the whole movie is going to uncover 😅
Would it be crazy to ask you to help me finish the making of the film?
