In 1955 in Italy, defense shoes, complete with spurs on toes and heels to kick away sex pests, were designed by a Roman shoemaker to protect young girls from street. Police at the time referred to those harassing young women as “parrots” – because the girls said they repeated the same silly phrase all the time.
Reviews of the shoes suggested such a girl would be “publicly displaying her vanity ... that her own good looks would encourage pursuit” and that the wise boy would give the spur-shod girl a wide berth “because of the unmistakeable evidence of spurs on the heart and probably the tongue.”
Intriguing that they didn't catch on like the shoes covered in spikes did about 3 to 5 years back. Maybe the timing was wrong, they'd certainly catch on now after 60 years of Feminism challenging male attitudes to women. They're actually quite sexy because of their threatening nature; might spice things up if worn in the sack too :-)!
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