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Feminists

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Nay

(12,051 posts)
Sun Jul 8, 2012, 12:24 PM Jul 2012

Looking for RW essay about 'women wearing Mary Jane shoes & not heels are not being grownups' -- [View all]

I have kicked myself over and over again for not saving this essay/quote/discussion I read years ago. As far as I remember, one of the RWers (could be Norquist, Horowitz, Pat Robertson) wrote an essay about how women were infantilizing themselves by wearing Mary Jane shoes (which he associated with female children), refused to wear heels (like REAL women wore); he may have also mentioned "babydoll" tops as another indication that women were refusing to 'grow up.'

It was a very weird essay/comment, because it was so blind to women as people - to him, we were all sex objects, and he seemed outraged that some of us stopped caring about whether men like him thought we were sexy (he ALWAYS said 'grown up,' though - as if he could shame women back into the clothing he found attractive).

I remember being pretty outraged, since it was so obvious to me that anything that this jerk found SEXY was what every woman around him should adopt, or those women weren't grown up. It never seemed to occur to him that 1) those shoes/clothes he found sexy were uncomfortable as hell, 2) maybe being a grownup means that women, not just men, can wear what they like and find comfy, and 3) maybe women just didn't give a shit anymore what men found sexy.

I've looked at lots of sites for the 3 RWers above, looking for the essay, but no luck. I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. I want the essay for a post on Savage Death Island (I Blame the Patriarchy). Thanks!

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