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Walking on the balls of the foot also makes the legs appear more graceful and feline. Ballet dancers, a potent symbol of femininity, often ruin their feet by taking the position to extremes and actually standing on the tips of their toes - the classic "A Pointe (releve)'" position.
Why are long legs so strongly associated with femininity and desirability? One source claims that the legs of adolescents appear long and thus length implies youth - always desirable to men. Another source suggests that long legs give a woman the automatic appearance of gracefulness which in turn implies femininity. A third source, and one more down to earth, suggests that long legs means that a woman can run faster and is more likely to survive in a hostile world and therefore a better potential mate. (All humans sprint on the balls of their feet.) The truth is that it may well be a combination of reasons but there is no doubt that men generally prefer long legs.
Women who wish to appear attractive, and by definition available, will wear ankle twisting heels and flit on tip toes to achieve this visual effect.
Another important consideration is symmetrical proportions which imply physical wellness and long straight legs help to create this impression. It was not very long ago that Bandy-legs (birth defects) and Rickets (vitamin D and calcium deficiency) were common in the western world and straight legs were seen as very visual evidence of wellbeing - health.
