why don't we just go back to foot binding and be done with it?

Apparently designers have launched an eight inch stiletto - which is all very well, and fine if all you have to do it totter down a catwalk and back in it. But some women are taking the craze for mega high stilettos to extreme, and actually having their feet shaved, broken and mutilated to fit their favourite shoes. What's all that about?

Don't get me wrong, I like shoes as much as the next person. I've been known to gaze longingly at a pair of strappy, vampy Louboutins in a shop, baulk at the price tag and then imagine the pure agony of having them on my feet for more than twenty minutes. I do own a pair of very sexy Jimmy Choo sandals, my one and only pair of designer shoes, and much as they are objects of beauty and I think they are plain gorgeous, the one time I dared to wear them for a wedding, I was accused of walking as if I'd gone into labour by the time I got home. I'd still wear them again - but only if I was going somewhere I could sit down!

Sliced bones and sore feet

I read about one woman who at the age of 23, hates her feet so much that she has saved up £2700 to have a gruelling three hour operation on her feet, where surgeons will use a saw to slice segments from her bones. She might not be able to walk properly for months, but that's OK because, "'When I look down at my feet, I just can't stand them - and I hate that if I wear strappy shoes, all their flaws are on show to everyone else."

Oh, that's alright then, sweetie.

Honest question to you all; Have you ever looked at another woman's feet and thought, "She needs surgery. Her toes are way too long?" I know that I haven't. I'd probably look at her feet and think, "Wow. Fantastic shoes!"

Why do we women do this to ourselves? Why can't we just be who we are and live with the feet we've got, rather than trying to be something and someone else all the time? Why don't we just accept the fact that some of us have bigger feet than others, a toe bigger than the others, or even crooked toes? Why do we have to make every single piece of our anatomy 'perfect'? Why can't we just BE? There's nothing wrong with liking fabulous shoes. They can really lift your outfit, make you strut around feeling like a million dollars, and I totally see the attraction of strappy heels. But not at the expense of your health. Even worse, some women are having to have corrective surgery to put right the damage that wearing extreme heels has done to them in the first place. It's mad, and it makes me wonder what next.

These boots are made for surgery

The most popular form of foot and leg surgery is actually liposuction on the calves, so that women can get their legs into thigh and knee high boots. Being blessed with a pair of chunky calf muscles myself, it can be really irritating when you can't get the zips done up. But many women are finding that it's actually fluid that's making their legs thicker, which makes lipo absolutely pointless even if it was worth doing just to wear a pair of boots in the first place!

High-flying British barrister Constance Briscoe flew to New York to have surgery to make her feet 'prettier' - and for £11,000, she transformed her 'broad and flat' feet into narrow and elegant creations. She had the bones on the outsides of her feet shaved, and the middle joints of some of the toes removed and then pinned. She says that it was extremely painful. Not only that, but it took a long time to recover. For three months she had to wear protective boots, wasn't able to work and had to walk on crutches. She still can't quite get into 'normal' shoes, but insists it was worth every penny.

'It may seem extreme to some, but being able to love my feet was part of the way to learning to love myself.'

How can you possibly love yourself if it takes that much expense and pain to be able to look at your feet? Feet aren't always the prettiest things to look at, but why should they have to be? They have to do a lot of work, and I'd rather mine were doing their job without hurting than a bit narrower just so that I can get into a pair of Manolos. Shoes should be fun, they should be a way of expressing your personality, something to make you smile, or accessorise a fab outfit. Shoes are not the be all and end all, and a reason to hate yourself....