This whole conversation is getting more amusing by the moment... for me. You see, I recently had some "random thoughts" (that I forgot to post,) about this issue.
For some years I've heard about how Women's sizes have been shrinking. i.e: a woman who used to wear a size 9 dress now wears a size 6 or something. What we used to think of as skinny as heck... a size 5... is now a 3 or a 0. Women want to THINK they are smaller than they actually are. If YOUR brand shows them they can be a 5, they buy YOUR jeans. Simple, diabolical, and apparently "legal." I understand Marketing.
So, with guys is it the same... though diametrically opposite in direction? Do guys want to be "smaller?" Of course not. When our "idols" like Shaq wear a size 22 triple D, and shoe size is "legendarily" related to um... er... the "pleasure factor," is it unreasonable to consider that maybe your feet have not grown, but the "bar has been raised" and marketing agents have changed the "scale" by which our shoes are "sized?"
As a Democrat... therefore intrigued by (and generally supportive of) SCIENCE... I have been aggravated by the general "girth" of the newer generations. I'm talking about the normal sized ones. I would expect (though troubled by) the few sizes larger in male shoe size over the last 30 years. When I worked in a shoe store in the 70's and 80's, the largest size we carried in a "full line" was size 10. Larger sizes, like 11, 12 or even the occaisional 14... were usually "standard" models, and ugly at best. I got a bonus if I actually SOLD a pair!
But, we're not TALKING about our kid's generation here. You guys are just as old and decrepit as ME! What's with the big feet? I've SEEN a picture of Hoggie next to a vehicle. I judge his heighth at not over (or actually near...) 6 feet. I'm only an inch or so shorter than that. Don't KNOW what kind of behemoth MichiganDriver might be.
Point is... maybe as women's sizes get smaller (for the same size or more girth,) Men's sizes get BIGGER to somehow boost our "sports influenced" egos.
