Why are shoes made so narrow to the point that it changes the bone structure of our foot? There had to be a benefit at some point so make them so narrow, right?

Question

Tribal people who don’t wear shoes have very wide feet compared to people who wear shoes. I saw a commercial for “natural” shoes talking about how narrow even athletic shoes or standard shoes are compared to theirs. They claim that this changes the bones structure of the foot and can cause issues. I understand why we wear shoes, but why did we make them so narrow to the point that it changes our foot? Is there a benefit?

In: 4245

Answer 1

Well, there are tons of physical attributes that are favored at various times throughout history.

The issue is that humans are the only ones who can really take steps towards altering ourselves to those standards.

There doesn’t have to be a direct evolutionary benefit to things like that, other than the obvious one of something visually appealing making it easier to attract a mate.

At various times extra weight was good, today less weight is good. There’s no direct evolutionary benefit for piercings, but plenty of people do it. Liposuction, implants, extreme fitness levels, etc.

In short, there are things that have *some* small advantages, and we’re able to really focus on those things and push them to extremes.