Women's stilettos can be instruments of torture (6)
I believe the answer is:
wheels
'instruments of torture' is the definition.
'wheels' can be an answer for 'instruments' (wheel is a kind of instrument). I'm not sure about the 'of torture' bit.
'women's stilettos can' is the wordplay.
'women' becomes 'w' (standard abbreviation).
'stilettos can' becomes 'heels' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'w'+'heels'='WHEELS'
'be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wheels that I've seen before include "turns round" , "Spins on an axis" , "Circular frames with spokes" , "Circular spoked frames" , "Turns in a wide circle" .)