This week, news that Christian Laboutin — designer of his famous red-soled heels– was in Dublin, coupled with the opening of the movie “Sex in the City’ in London, made me think, why do women wear high heels?
I’ve always been intrigued by women’s fascination with high- heeled shoes. Why do so many totally rational, intelligent women become illogical and unstable at the sight of a pair of Jimmy Choos? Even more intriguing is why do women wear high heels at all? It must be hellish to be cantilevered at a most unusual angle by shoes that look as if they are designed to hurt rather than to wear.
As a typical man with a cowardly low pain threshold, I am consistently amazed at what women will put themselves through on a Saturday night. It’s not uncommon to hear our wives or girlfriends say things like, “I hope the restaurant’s not far coz my feet are killing me”.
Why would anyone, willingly, wear a pair of shoes that hurt? We’re not talking about an annoying rubbing sensation here. Orthopedic surgeons regularly refer to the fact that constant wearing of ‘killer’ heels can lead to joint, feet and back problems.
Yet women keep putting themselves through the pain barrier, why? One simple reason is that taller people get laid more. Humans value height, we find it attractive and therefore, women in heels are more likely to be fancied then those in flats. Also, men like what high heels do to a woman’s shape: by forcing girls to arch their backs, high heels push their boobs and bum out, accentuating the positives.
Apparently, this is all Darwinian, in the sense that we like each other to look healthy, fertile and fit because when we are looking for a mate, we want that mate to be as healthy as possible in order to have children. So it is easy to see why women in heels have an immediate advantage over those without. Unfortunately, any advantage that heels can confer will be eliminated if all women wear high heels. When everyone gets heels, women suffer not to stand out but just to keep up!
Now consider the ‘high heels’ dilemma in a greater context. The ‘keeping up’ conundrum affects almost every consumption decision we make. One of the best places to see this process — which US economist Robert Frank likens to an ‘arms race’ in his new book, ‘The Economic Naturalist’ — is to think about the makeover of the Irish kitchen.
In recent years, despite the fact that our families have become smaller, Irish kitchens have become colossal. Irish kitchens are now on steroids, bulked up, pushed out and over-extended. During the boom, because stamp duty made moving house and trading up prohibitive for many, people focused on upgrading their existing houses with an explosion in extensions.
An interesting recent phenomenon has been the emergence of ‘the island’. When we were kids, an island was a geological occurrence, like Lambay or Achill. Today, an island is a stand-alone sink and hob in the centre of these new giant kitchens. But like high heels, it is only a great advantage if no one else has an island. When islands become the norm, the relative advantage and the feel good factor associated with them diminishes. Once this happens, people driving to break away from the herd will pitch for something else, like, for example, a carp pond!
But carp pond envy will set in sooner than they think and, in no time, vast swathes of suburban Ireland will become home to all classes of exotic fish. Interestingly, the exotic fish craze is not that unusual. In ancient Rome, at the height of the Republic’s powers, wealthy Romans became obsessed with exotic fish collections.
Apparently, the type of fish you kept said something about the type of person you were. Unfortunately, all go the same way of the high heels; all advantages are condemned to be wiped out by others trying to keep up.
This might explain why so many studies reveal that when countries get richer, the societies do not appear to get happier. The ‘high heels’ conundrum gets the better of all of us. The data reveals that for poor countries like Ireland in the 1980s, increases in income make people much happier. This is pretty easy to understand: if you never had a car and then you get one, the joy of traveling around where you want and when you want rather than waiting for the bus to take you to a specific place at a specific time, makes you happy. Now that you have a car, the extra happiness you get out of owning a better car falls. It’s the simple idea of having too much of a good thing.
The reason all of this matters is that for many people in wealthy countries, the ‘high heels’ conundrum means they are working harder and longer and yet do not seem to become any happier. So why are we doing it? Why do we keep up these appearances and continue with the rat race?
The slowing economy gives us an opportunity to reassess the values of the society we have created. When things become a little bit less frenetic, maybe we will start to look at happiness, rather than possessions or output per head for the basis upon which to judge whether the society is successful of not.
Such a period of reflection might also be forced upon us by events. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that Ireland’s boom was facilitated by the three Cs — cheap money, cheap energy and cheap labour (in the guise of immigrants). The first two Cs have now disappeared and the third one seems to be leaving of its own accord.
Without these cheap resources, the idea that the rich world can continue to grow and grow doesn’t stack up. We are faced with a Malthusian proposition where the demands of an ever-increasing world population are smashing into the reality of finite resources, making the very idea of limitless spending almost immoral.
As a result, we may be on the cusp of a value change in the western world, where frugality may well become the new extravagance. A greater appreciation of the environmental inconsistencies facing us might cause overspending to be viewed distastefully, like overeating. Such neo-puritanism could easily take hold as the ‘high heels’ dilemma becomes more obvious to everyone. Maybe the lesson from the ‘high heels’ conundrum is: one pair of Manolos good, 30 pairs bad.
Interesting article – neo-frugal is the newest thing. You could say that the German’s and Scandanavian people are pretty frugal – in fact i remember a BBC article on how since Germany wasn’t spending (and indebting) itself as much as Britian, its’ economy was stagnating. However, if there is to be a change in our society – it will have to be a change in our values – bigger, flasher, faster will have to be replaced with something else. Perhaps David’s HiCo’s will lead the way – or maybe we can just let $200 oil force us. P.S. from the… Read more »
Hi David
I’m looking forward to the time when goin “Green” becomes the “high heels” – then we will truely have turned a corner.
Its entirely up to our sisters to, “lose your mentality, wake up to reality” as Frank Sinatra sang. The sooner they leave the workforce and go back to being housewives, the sooner property prices will return to normal levels. They’ll then be having more babies thus allowing our fertility rate to breakthrough the 2.1 children per woman statistic required for maintaining population, meaning there’s less of a pension crisis in the future due to an improved worker/pensioner ratio. Feminism has sold them a pup with many of them realising this now. But most of them I fear still demand “having… Read more »
Where do you begin with that last comment…. Maybe men should be allowed/able to have a more active role in looking after their kids. Better paternity leave etc. It makes sense for a woman rather than a man to spend more time looking after a kid after they are just born but not neccesarily so when they start school and beyond. It should nt be placed on women to do less in one aspect and do more in another. It should be possible for it to be spread amongst both parents where possible. As for women in the workplace. Well… Read more »
I think that John and Colin have raised a very interesting general point. We’ve had a long boom, 10-25 years, depending how you want to look at it. The single greatest social and economic change in that time has centred on women. Along with it, certainly in most of the Europe and N.America, as been a falling marriage rate, rising single occupancy rate, rising divorce rate, rising female employment, falling birthrate, and so forth – all the stuff of developing urban societies, if we are to believe the sociologists. We’ve had a huge increase in state social funding, and indeed… Read more »
Sub
”disappeared and the third one seems to be leaving of its own accord.”
I find this depressing.
Romantic Ireland is dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
Or with O’Leary in Ryanair. No bad thing either, it’s a pity there are not more entrepreneurs in Ireland. Frugality IS a day to day way of life for many celtic tiger cubs and has been for some time as they have to pay the mortgage, car loan, creche etc. and battle rising costs. Many people have ‘good jobs’ but have no life whatsoever with sleepless nights worrying about the bills. We don’t all splash out on jimmy choos and islands in the kitchen. There is a section of society that you have overlooked David in your TV programs/books and… Read more »
I have seen first hand over the last 10 years how the country has changed and the people with it. I have seen just how stressed everything has become and how the effect of ‘too many rats in the box’ has brought about social happenings that before Tiger were as rare as hen’s teeth. People’s wishes stirred up by the advertisers selling them the dream, causing an ‘aspiration inflation’ of epic proportions in the shortest period of time in modern times. At times i have been repulsed, at others entertained by the antics of the auld sod’s people (of which… Read more »
Ah, reassessing our values. This will be, er, interesting, even entertaining — from a distance. What’s the most likely scenario? Probably a return to good old “hard money”, once the masses have first been allowed to find their level after impoverishment by inflation and rising costs. Our value-lite Kommentariat will then pretend to reassess our (ie their) priorites and will solemnly ordain a secular version of sackcloth and ashes for the common good. Then it will be all cutting your cloth, etc, Thatcher-style. The top dogs will continue to enjoy their relative advantage. only discreetly now. The casino mentality they… Read more »
Frugality might not be such a bad thing at all. What happened during the Celtic Tiger (I assume it is officially dead now??) is that there was a glorification in spending in the excess. Not being sexist but women seemed to revel in spending inordinate amounts of cash on….handbags? I could never really figure out why. Much of the chat concerning the ‘latest must-have’ item has seem to have died down and to be honest it was about time. Such habits that we may perceive as ‘frugal’ are in other countries seem as sensible. Many people spend inordinate amounts of… Read more »
I was brought in a frugal farming household, started work in the late 80s and was appalled by the way Celtic Tiger people spent money they didn’t have on consumer goods and took out 100% mortgages. I have my fair share of handbags but a good few of them were got for a song in the Blackrock market at a time when buying vintage wasn’t cool. Funny but the quality of vintage goods was a lot better than and they were a fraction of the price they sell for now. I’m amazed by the poor quality of raw materials in… Read more »
SpinstaSista said, on May 16th, 2008 at 10:12 am I was brought up in a frugal farming household, started work in the late 80s and was appalled by the way Celtic Tiger people spent money they didn’t have on consumer goods and took out 100% mortgages. I have my fair share of handbags but a good few of them were got for a song in the Blackrock market at a time when buying vintage wasn’t cool. Funny but the quality of vintage goods was a lot better then and they were a fraction of the price they sell for now.… Read more »
Spinstasista’s comments about the quality of women’s products got me thinking that “in the old days” we all had less……less choice, less money, less opportunities and less things. Were we less happy though ? Today it’s all about show, it always was of course, but less in your face. The ability to “show” your peer group that you are the top dog (sorry lay-dees) is the aim. Perhaps it’s all about plumage to attract the males/females, i must ask Desmond Morris next time i see him ;-) The images that are flung before the young(er) of the population through the… Read more »
Excellent article David, and thanks for responding comments that might point the way ahead for most of us. Perhaps we are heading towards a new Victorian era, in which it is accepted that bourgeoise housewives organize home economics and raise children, and live-in domestic service is recognized again as a worthy occupation that helps others make ends meet. Shoe, handbag and label obsessions are simply a measure of women’s boredom with the status quo.
Hi David,
I doubt if frugality will become fashionable enough to be noticeable. However, people dont want to waste as is clear with the growing popularity of the eco-green movement and people should/will get more efficient over time in not being the cause of waste, as waste means carbon cost (usually).
A suggestion for an article for you: Which is the best way to vote in the Lisbon Treaty for:
a) The Irish Economy
b) The EU Economy
MK
Are you not setting up a false opposition there, surely (whether we like it or not) the Irish economy is very much interrwined with the EU economy), to try and separate the two is an impossible task. As I see it we are to a large extent reliant on trading with our EU partners. Have we a strong enough economy to in some way go it alone? Given the depressing loss of manufacturing jobs etc. we should be strengthening our ties with the EU bloc not weakening them. Doubtless there are downsides to our being part of the EU, but… Read more »
Frugality is a matter of choice. It is nice if you can be frugal and not pay taxes or have to put up with crap services or be forced have very long commutes. It is nice to to be foot loose and fancy free and not have kids to rear and school etc. Penuary on the other hand is not a matter of choice and is being foisted on the once enthusiastic go getter 30 something who suddenly find they are 40 something, stressed out, un-rehirable and with teenagers hanging off them. This is the reality. These are the people… Read more »
I think that two very good points were made by Rob and Phillip, these being that Ireland ISN”T strong enough to stand on it’s own legs without outside help (EU, GB, USA) and that frugality perhaps isn’t always a choice. Whatever smoke was blown up the backsides of the country these last 10 years or so, the fact remains that some major readjustment is/will be taking place in the near future as the reality of the misplaced confidence will be dawning on the populace. Once a good portion of the American corporate dependancies move on to cheaper/more centralised economies in… Read more »
Correction! Type 1 diabetes should have been Type 2
Regards
Jack
Philip,
The closet minded parochial mindset of the 50s and 60s never really went away. Even at the height of the Celtic Tiger most jobs in Ireland were got through who you knew and/or political connections. Ireland’s parochial self-serving me fein attitude is one of the reasons that only a few people benefited from the Celtic Tiger and the rest of us got shafted.
Frugality? Read this…
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=amm6NEUu5Juk&refer=home
Surely this is hype?
Ps. anyone who puts themselves into debt problems by getting caught up in this kind of BS,
1. deserves their lot and 2. should not be given a public safety net (same could be said for anyone who gets up to their neck in hock). People have to learn that sometimes the pain comes for a reason ie to teach tough love.
I’ve just looked at Nick’s link and – once I’d picked my jaw up off the floor – it occurred to me that a recession will never change these people. They have neither the interest nor the will to be anything other than vulgar, self-absorbed little parasites – and there are an awful lot of them. If this is the calibre of individual manning the decks of SS Ireland then you really are up the proverbial creek without a canoe – never mind a paddle. Sometimes you get what you deserve.
Nick’s link is shocking but not surprising. It puts Brendan Behan’s “The Confirmation Suit” in the shade. Maybe these people are splashing out (albeit very foolishly) because deep down they know this is the last year they can do it.
Ditto on Nick’s link, it has so little to do with religion, in this case the official coming together spiritually with God, but with the coming together of ego and money and the chance to show everyone that ‘you’re not a have-not’…….and have an arse in your trousers. Just 3 weeks ago, I was at the “wedding” of a young male member of the extended family. They’re both in their early 20s and have a young child and not a penny between them. Her parents, who also have no money paid out £25,000 for the wedding that wasn’t even in… Read more »
After such an extended boom, anyone under their mid 30s is going to have trouble really believing that it’s over, even if, intellectually, they can see the signs. After so much easy living, when making reasonable money was just so easy, the adjustment is going to be incredibly difficult for many. They’ve worked hard, done what they thought to be the right thing. Just remember that the mainstream was yelling at them to get into debt, and warning that if they didn’t, they’d live in penury for the rest of their lives. It was a new economy, this time it… Read more »