High Heels, Low Status
As a feminist who argues that beauty practices are harmful to women’s equality, I have been accused of being a killjoy who spoils the fun women get from crippling shoes, depilation, revealing clothing, makeup, figure-hugging dresses and short skirts. But the wearing of high heels, for instance, is not just a harmless expression of personal choice and creativity. If that were the case, then more men would wear them. There is no evidence, either, to suggest that women have special female brains that cause them to love high heels. Harmful beauty practices serve political purposes. High heels signal women’s subordinate status. They make women look sexy for men, and thus provide endless free sexual entertainment for male observers in the office, in the chambers of government and on the street.
Read full article by Sheila Jeffreys at Conatus News here.