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Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy

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easternsky
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
Heels are a status symbol.

Wearing heels says I do not work in retail. And I do not serve food. I am educated and have the luxury of sitting during the day.

Moreover, I can look down on men.
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SarahMC
12/16/08

@easternsky: You've never seen a sales girl wearing heels?
What a snotty comment.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I'm 1.6m, and I have tiny feet. I prefer to wear flats, and bristle whenever someone taller tells me they wish they 'could wear heels' too. I do own a few pairs of (kickarse) heels, but truth be told, I hardly ever wear them and when I do it's only for short bursts of time (I live in a hilly area, in a hilly city, so it's not practical anyway). I like how my legs look in heels and stuff, but I just prefer flats. The end.
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AvocadoGills: purveyor of kinky fish porn
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
So, what do you think Ms. Greer would say about lesbians who wear heels on dates?

With some exceptions, I suspect women usually wear heels because they feel sexier in them. Those of us who don't like heels have other options. I don't avoid heels to subvert patriarchal expectations, I avoid them because I'm more comfortable in flats. Either that, or I'm secretly trying to subvert "Greer-iarchal" expectations. I'm devious like that!
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Seeräuber Jenny
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
She's right. Alice Walker has said similar things. As have many other thoughtful women. And to be a really tall young woman in the 60s or early 70s was a lot harder than it is today.
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SarahMC
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
em·pow·er (ěm-pou'ər)
tr.v. em·pow·ered, em·pow·er·ing, em·pow·ers

1. To invest with power, especially legal power or official authority.
2. To equip or supply with an ability; enable: "Computers ... empower students to become intellectual explorers"

There is a legitimate critique to be made when someone claims that high heels are empowering. They ain't.
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heykoukla
12/15/08

@SarahMC: I wonder if women in the 18th century were telling each other how empowering corsets were because they made their waists look so tiny and my gosh, didn't that make them feel confident?
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shewar
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I'm gonna go out on a limb (no pun) and say that heels have a closer relation to male genital mutilation than female.
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funnyface
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
Being insecure about your height is normal for a tall girl. But I think that as you claim your womanhood, you kind of begin to own it, and then, if you want, you should rock the heels with pride. Greer needs to realize that there is no such thing as too tall for heels. I'm a head taller than everyone in my family. I outgrew the boys at an early age. And for most of my life, I felt like an awkward, uncute, unsexy giraffe. Now, I've sort of grown into myself and learned to like the things I've hated, like bowed chicken legs, small boobs, and even the mole on the side of my nose. In a world of short girls, sometimes I like to be the towering Amazon. But only for about an hour, because then my feet start to hurt.
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Diziet_Sma
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
Megan, you may have a point. But this Germaine Greer obsession is a real turn-off.
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heykoukla
12/15/08

@Diziet_Sma: It's like Groundhog Day, isn't it? Seriously, I made the point above - I have no idea how Megan summoned up anger after reading Greer's piece. Amanda Foreman's piece is much stronger and goes in much harder:

"You don't need to be a psychiatrist to figure it out, but fashion is largely controlled by gay men, who can ultra-feminise the female form through their designs. Now, there are fewer power struggles than at any point in history, but fashion doesn't reflect the power of women being free: they are still constrained."

And yet, Megan ignores her.
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Diziet_Sma
12/15/08

@heykoukla: I KNOW. It's bullshit. Megan has really gone 'Fox News' on Greer, which makes me question her intelligence.
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hortense
12/15/08

@Diziet_Sma: That's a little out of line, don't you think?
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Diziet_Sma
12/15/08

@hortense: Now you mention it - yes. I apologize.

Sorry, Megan.

Although I think your vendetta against Germaine Greer is misguided, I shouldn't have said that - you are highly intelligent, obvs. And I shouldn't have let my annoyance get the better of me.
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Remedios Varo can't see no huevos.
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
Does Ms. Greer even know the origins of high-heeled shoes? Among other things, many people started wearing them in the 1700s because it lifted the feet away from sewage in the street -- sanitation wasn't the greatest, y'know? Find something else to bitch about, Ms. Greer.
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Raspberry Swirly
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I'm nearly six feet tall. I love wearing heels. She can suck it.
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heykoukla
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I must be reading a different article because the one I read was a fairly straightforward chronology of high heels, and was mostly just entertaining and forgettable. There was not much in it that I thought was controversial, apart from the link to FGM, a topic which Greer has gone into in depth in the past, and a topic on which she is a cultural apologist. I disagree with her - she says many women defend their right to genital mutilation just as women in the West defend their right to boob jobs and piercings. I'd argue as to how much of a free choice women have when it comes to genital mutilation. But I'm genuinely surprised Megan has found so much to be offended by in this article.
Anyway, I am surprised - the title of this post is "Your shoes are a fetishistic tool of the patriarchy", so why not quote historian Amanda Foreman, who writes in the same article? Her argument fits the headline a lot more neatly than Greer's does.
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Diziet_Sma
12/15/08

@heykoukla: Yes. The level of Germaine-hate here is mostly undeserved. I find it depressing that so many people just read Megan's slanted post and fire off a knee-jerky reaction without actually reading the article in question.
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Erinthebitch
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I consider myself a red blooded feminist and I wear heels from time to time. Equality isn't about androgyny or eliminating differences between the sexes, it's about respecting them.
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SarahMC
12/15/08

@Erinthebitch: What do high heels have to do with differences between the sexes? Are female bodies molded to fit perfectly into tall shoes or something?
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starlessnight (of the living dead)
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
So...am I a bad feminist if I think most high heels are hideously fugly, and would rather wear something practical?
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Red-headed bookworm
12/15/08

@starlessnight: No, you just have different taste. And that's the thing here, fashion is up to your taste. Wear what you want.
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exelizabeth
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
Heels have destroyed my hips and rendered me nearly unable to walk at times. While I could chalk this up to my personal experience that might serve as a warning to others (I was 21 when my hips gave out), I could also generalize my experience to all women and paint it in terms of feminism.

Actually, the fact that women account for 80% of orthopedic patients and that we have to spend our already relatively less amount of money fixing problems that our impractical shoes caused us could be discussed in terms of feminism. But it comes down to: you can choose to wear heels, but do recognize that there might be (physical and lasting) consequences.
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veronykah
12/15/08

In reply to Your Shoes Are A Fetishistic Tool Of The Patriarchy
I'm 5'11" and kind of understand the too tall for heels comment.

At 5'11" I'm perfectly happy.

I have NO DESIRE to be 6'2", none.

If I could wear heels and be 5'11" I might like them more but I guess as the minority within the tall women on Jez, I don't enjoy towering over an ENTIRE party.

I don't think its fun and it doesn't empower me or make me feel like I am "rocking" anything.

I like being tall, always have but I don't feel any need to be taller than I already am.

That being said I can understand people who are short who WANT to be taller really loving heels. I have plenty of friends that are in the 5' range that wouldn't be caught dead without heels on. Makes sense.

It also makes sense to wear converse and be 5' if you so choose.

I, for one, just don't subscribe to any sort of empowerment or reason beyond looking sexy as fuck to wear heels.
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tscheese
12/15/08

@veronykah: I'm not crazy about heels--I don't see them as empowering or whatever--but I'm about 5'11" too, and I can't STAND being so much taller than friends at a loud party that I have to constantly bend down to hear them. It's awkward, I miss out on conversations, and it's really stilted and uncomfortable to keep bouncing up and down and being like "WUT!?"

I like being tall--I like my height. But I wouldn't wear heels in a situation like that because 1) they hurt and 2) it's bad enough as it is.
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