(no subject)
29/4/14 15:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlectomyIt's always deeply weird when a double standard flips from 'invisible' to 'visible.'
I have been wearing men's shoes pretty much full-time for five or six years, after deciding that trying to get comfortable women's shoes in my size was a slow process of hitting my head against a brick wall. (This is no longer necessarily true, because Shoes of Prey, but I actually see no reason not to wear men's shoes unless there is a wedding, funeral, job interview, ball, or awards dinner.)
Now, if you are a young person in library school, it is impossible not to be hit with a full dose of self-congratulatory stuff about 'New librarians are not like stereotypical librarians with buns and sensible shoes!' and I was always rather anxious about that, because I am not a hip person, and I still have not entirely gotten over the feeling that I am not a good YA librarian if I am not hipper than I am, and 'sensible shoes' still has a bit of a sting for me, a measure that I fail at even if I'm the best librarian that I can be, and --
It never occurred to me that 'sensible shoes' are what a lot of men wear a lot of the time without failing at being sufficiently ornamental.
And, you know, I like adorable shoes, and if I could wear these or these and still feel equipped to outwalk a zombie invasion, that is a thing that I would do.
But it's also okay that I'm not going to.
I have been wearing men's shoes pretty much full-time for five or six years, after deciding that trying to get comfortable women's shoes in my size was a slow process of hitting my head against a brick wall. (This is no longer necessarily true, because Shoes of Prey, but I actually see no reason not to wear men's shoes unless there is a wedding, funeral, job interview, ball, or awards dinner.)
Now, if you are a young person in library school, it is impossible not to be hit with a full dose of self-congratulatory stuff about 'New librarians are not like stereotypical librarians with buns and sensible shoes!' and I was always rather anxious about that, because I am not a hip person, and I still have not entirely gotten over the feeling that I am not a good YA librarian if I am not hipper than I am, and 'sensible shoes' still has a bit of a sting for me, a measure that I fail at even if I'm the best librarian that I can be, and --
It never occurred to me that 'sensible shoes' are what a lot of men wear a lot of the time without failing at being sufficiently ornamental.
And, you know, I like adorable shoes, and if I could wear these or these and still feel equipped to outwalk a zombie invasion, that is a thing that I would do.
But it's also okay that I'm not going to.
(no subject)
29/4/14 23:06 (UTC)You get a weird double bind where even if you assert that the patriarchy's standards are wrong and silly, they can just say back "You only feel that way because you can't win by those standards, and are therefore bitter!" -- and thus the only way to be an acceptable feminist is to be conventionally pretty and feminine, and then the patriarchy gets to say "You say that patriarchy's standards are wrong and silly, but then why are you still wearing high heels?"
So I'm better off cheerfully being one of those scary feminists, instead of getting defensive about it!