Stilettos, schizophrenia and sexuality

Objective. In the collective imaginarium there is a close relationship between high heel shoes and sexuality but it is not clear whether or not this statement is based on scientific evidence or it comes from the common idea that all women that dress up can look sexy. Certainly in the collective imaginarium heeled footwear are not related to schizophrenia, although a medical hypothesis suggested this kind of relationship, alarming generation of women who usually wear heeled footwear, self-sentenced to complain of this severe mental disorder. On the other hand sexual functioning has received little attention as an important aspect of patient care for those suffering from schizophrenia. We tried to define possible relationships between stilettos, schizophrenia and female sexuality. Materials and methods. We performed a review of published in scientific journals and literature using as key words “sexuality”, “schizophrenia”, “footwear” and similar words. We widened our search using also articles not retrieved by our search, but quoted by retrieved papers. Results. With a multiple keyword search we found only a letter concerning this intrigating issue. Only the already mentioned paper took into account a possible relationship between schizophrenia and heeled footwear. Several studies aimed at investigating female sexuality and sexual dysfunction in women with and without mental disorders such as schizophrenia. An increasing interest in female sexuality emerged and women are trying to recover their own sexual independence becoming from sexual subject to object, striving to conquer the equality in sex matter, respecting partners expectation as well. Conclusions. Sexual wellbeing is one of the most complex parts of women life, being dynamic and multidimensional, and including biologic, psychological, socioeconomic, and spiritual components. In this holistic view, also little changes in initial parameters concerning apparently anatomically distant areas might lead to considerable and unexpected events, thus explaining possible relationship between foot, schizophrenia, and sexuality.