It is the habit of the sages to interpret Scriptural verses. Thus, they explained the words of the prophet Isaiah, who details the sins of the Jews which led to the destruction of the Holy Temple: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet. Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover [ ye’areh ] their secret parts” (Isaiah 3:16-17).
“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty” — because they walked upright.
“and walk with outstretched necks” — because they walked slowly so the young men would look at them.
“and wanton eyes” — because they made themselves up and hinted to the young men with their eyes.
“walking and mincing as they go” — because they walked tall alongside short, so their beauty and stature would be obvious to the young men; in the words of the sages, “they walked heel by toe.”
“making a jingling with their feet” — because the girls would put perfume in their shoes, and when they passed young men would kick the shoe to give off scent, sexually stimulating the young men. As the sages put it “the girls would introduce the evil inclination [into the young men] like a poison.” The scholars asked: What was their punishment? Answer: Their bodies filled with sores, their hair fell out and they became bald, their private parts were infected; in the words of the sages “the openings that lead to [sensual] joy shall be for a girding of sackcloth.” Some of the sages add more punishments and say the girls became leprous, they began to discharge great amounts of blood, and their pubic hair became as thick as forests [ya’ar] until they repelled the young men sexually.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 62b)