Put these on.

July 7, 2012 3:48 PM

Are high-heeled shoes sexist?

I was raised by both parents to think that high-heeled shoes are a patriarchal exertion of power for a blatantly sexual purpose of forcing women to walk unnaturally while also enhancing the view lines enjoyed by the male gaze. Are we wrong?

posted by laconic skeuomorph to Society & Culture (9 answers total)

I am going to go so far as to say that no item of clothing is *inherently* sexist
posted by RustyBrooks at 3:50 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Welcome to Feminism 2.0. The only thing that's sexist is when women don't have full autonomy and are treated differently due to being women. This has nothing to do with what they wear. Women can wear whatever they want. It's up to men to not treat them like crap.
posted by bleep at 3:51 PM on July 7, 2012 [10 favorites]

Well, I was raised to think of them as nothing more nor less than a style choice. It's not a style I choose to wear --- personally I'm a bit of a schlub and prefer comfort over fashion --- but that doesn't make it right or wrong.
posted by easily confused at 3:52 PM on July 7, 2012

I seem to be going out on a limb here but...

Fashion is sexist, in addition to being uncomfortable/ridiculous/chilly.

Fashion in general is there to tell women (and men) how they are supposed to look. And tied up in that, is how they should make themselves more attractive to the hetero-normative society we inhabit.
posted by keeo at 3:54 PM on July 7, 2012

So, no. I think you are right on.
posted by keeo at 3:55 PM on July 7, 2012

I think this may be viewed as a generational thing. In some decades, high heeled shoes were practically required for women, which made them a sexist garment in that if you avoided them, you called attention to yourself and "caused problems." Currently, women can wear them or avoid them as they wish, except maybe if you're a cocktail waitress or some other job that already has loads of sexist trappings.

Take note, high heels were originally men's footwear. Women began to wear them, and like the name Kim, status contamination caused them to fall out of favor for people expressing male gender norms. This alone makes me vote, yes, sexist.
posted by bilabial at 3:57 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I hear often that "women dress for other women, not for men." There is no definitive answer to your question, as different people have different views. I'm going to share my own. Women often look at what other women are wearing and compare themselves. When going to an occasion where other women are going to be dressed up, women often wear heels to match. As a woman, I most certainly compare myself to others (fashion-wise) and when I don't feel up to standard, I feel embarrassed -- but not because of what men are going to think of me. I don't really dress for men because what I've learned from my boyfriends is that men don't much care.

So heels perhaps have a certain "culture norm" and "standard" ingrained in them, but I don't think that sexism is part of that.

(Also as a note on the historical bit: something that derives from sexism does not make it sexist today. For example, my father always said tattoos are bad because they come from the prison system -- even if that were true, what society thinks about tattoos does not carry the weight of their origin.)
posted by DoubleLune at 4:01 PM on July 7, 2012

Wear clothes that you like. If men like them, so be it. To me, feminism means a woman gets to choose for herself. You can be a feminist and wear high heels, short skirts, whatever. I can understand your parents' point of view -- they may have grown up in a time when women were expected to dress and behave in ways that would attract men. You do what you want, and if it has an effect that you don't want to deal with, then you can change your choice.
posted by wryly at 4:01 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Take note, high heels were originally men's footwear. Women began to wear them, and like the name Kim, status contamination caused them to fall out of favor for people expressing male gender norms. This alone makes me vote, yes, sexist.

Are you sure about that? If so, could you present a citation?

I don't know anything about the history of high heels, but at least according to Wikipedia, they were worn by both sexes, and then they fell out of favor with both sexes due to association with the aristocracy, and when they later started to be worn again, primarily women wore them. So the assertion that they were uniquely menswear, and that men stopped wearing them because women started, doesn't seem to jibe with that.
posted by Flunkie at 4:05 PM on July 7, 2012 [1 favorite]