High Heeled Empowerment
The latest women’s shoe trend features five, six, and even seven-inched heels. According to an article in my morning paper, top designer Christian Louboutin has lauded the trend of super high heels as a sign of women “empowering themselves.”
I don’t get it. How is a woman wobbling down the boulevard with sore feet and a pained expression on her face a symbol of empowerment? Women can barely stand their ground, let alone walk in these new sky-scraping, ankle-breaking stilettos. Catwalk models have been doing spectacular face plants.
Louboutin calls the super stilettos “limo shoes” because women need a limo to get anywhere if they wear them. Hmm… doesn’t this sound vaguely reminiscent of the ancient trend of women being carted around in litters by male servants because they couldn’t walk on their tiny and tightly bound feet?
I stand at 5 foot 11and a half inches tall in my stocking feet. If I were to don a seven inch pair of heels, I would reach a staggering 6′7″! Even the thought leaves me feeling dizzy and gasping for air. Call me unenlightened, but quite frankly, even for short girls, I see seven inch pencil heeled stilettos as extremely skanky and silly. I am astounded that any man could, with a straight face, say that they “empower” women. But I’m even more astonished that any woman would suspect it true and “fall for” this trendy idea.
If skanky stilettos are the best “empowerment” the world has to offer women, I think I’ll pass.
Power is the ability to do things, by virtue of strength, skill, resources, or authorization. The Bible teaches that God is almighty and all power is derived from him and subject to him.
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 (ESV)
Modern shoe designers would like me to believe that I’m “empowered” as a woman by putting on a pair of high heels to look taller and sexier. But the Bible refutes this fallacy. True empowerment comes by bowing my knee to the source of true power. When I submit to the Lord, He empowers me with “divine power” to destroy spiritual strongholds, arguments, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:4) His power helps me, strengthens me, preserves me, delivers me, and exalts me. His power in me accomplishes abundantly more than all I can ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20).
So sorry Mr. Louboutin, I don’t think I’ll be dropping any money on your stiletto brand of women’s empowerment anytime soon. When it comes to empowerment, the Lord has a much better, more beautiful, and lasting design.
Copyright 2009, Mary Kassian
I like heels but not huge heels-they would be uncomfortable.
However you said in your article “I see seven inch pencil heeled stilettos as extremely skanky and silly”.
Should we as Christians be calling things skanky?Isn’t that like calling a woman a slut?Even if we don’t agree with something isn’t using words like that judgmental?
I dont know,please correct me if i’m wrong but it just makes me feel uncomfortable.
I agree Mery. I understand where Mary Kassian is coming from. There is a tremendous decline in self respect in ladies (esp. young ladies) today. Walking around with their bra strap showing under a sundress or tank top (and that’s @ chuch) however, I did feel and sometimes do feel that how we word things to others is a reflection of our inner self. Just because it is normal language amongst our youth today – we as leaders/parents/adults do not need to participate. Again, I appreciate her stance. Just a little more care in wording would be nice.
The Bible says that only a perfect man will have perfect speech (James 3). None of us is perfect, minister or not. While this is certainly not a license to use our words however we please, it does speak of the imperfection of human words, even of Christians. Dear sisters, let us not be so nit picky as to allow one word to offend us and upset us. Our culture is way too concerned with tolerance and with not offending anyone. The gospel is offensive. Christ is offensive. He tells people they’re wrong and calls them out. He called the Pharisees a brood of vipers (Matt. 12:34). Our generation probably would have told him that he wasn’t loving enough and that he was judgmental. But God is love! Jesus was the perfect display of love even, if not especially, when he was brutally honest. God is not a teddy bear. How much are we to tip toe? How much are we to protect the feelings of those around us when truly they need to be called out and broken and humbled by the reality of their sin. Paul says that before we come to know Christ we are dead, 100% dead (Eph.2). I think it would be more offensive to be told I was essentially dead and that my life was empty and pointless than to be told I wore skanky shoes. Besides, in some circles “skanky” is a compliment (I’m on a college campus. I hear girls complementing each other with such terms all the time). A shoe whose sole (haha get it) intention is to have the person wearing it be overtly noticed can’t possibly have good intentions in mind. Peter’s idea of modesty didn’t have to do with how much of their body they were covering, but rather with how much attention they were drawing to themselves with adornments such as braided hair, fine clothing, and expensive jewelry (1 Peter 3). Who cares how Mary called it out? I LIVE on a college campus in a girls dorm. I witness every day the great need for the truth about femininity to be revealed. I don’t believe that Mary was specifically addressing the issue of immodest shoes, but rather the lie that our strength comes from how many heads we can turn, how many friends was can impress, or how many different outfits we can buy. The Lord is our king! He is our beauty, our righteousness! This is the focal point of her message! If a girl buys these shoes, there is a strong chance that her motives will be in pleasing or being accepted by the world. Let’s be honest, all Christian women struggle with this. Thank God for women like Mary who desire to get the word out that there is a better way, an everlasting way that will be our hope long after our heels are dusty and rotted from decay. Mercy and grace be to Mary and to us all as we strive to live our lives at peace with one another sharing truth to set all the captives free!
This whole article (and subsequent comments) make me sad. By focusing on the shoes and not the motives behind wearing clothing/fashions, we are missing the point entirely. Impurity, indecency, lasciviousness, and manipulation are matters of the heart and mind. They very well lead to actions(and that certainly includes fashion choices) but speak to a bigger problem: Identity, worth and purpose.
While I certainly agree that empowerment for Christian women comes not from our outer appearance but from God, I see a bigger problem. Fashion obssession is a symptom of bigger problems—a lack of biblical understanding about true beauty, holiness, purity, femininity, and our identity in Christ. Physical beauty is not something to be ashamed of, but balance is key, as it is not something to be idolized, as it is fleeting. Just because it’s wrong to get trapped in the beauty race and become a fashion zombie, it is just as wrong to stop taking care of your physical body and appearance.
Do I agree that Mr. Louboutin’s shoes are excessive? Yes, but only in terms of practicality and daily comfort. I must add, however, that one does NOT have forgo any sense of style or expression to wear comfortable shoes. I unfortunately see two extremes in regards to Christian women and fashions; either women wrapping themselves in shrouds of fabric and not making any effor to take care of themselves under the guise of “nurturing inner beauty”, or they are a fashion clone, thinking of how much they can stay in the boundaries of their notion of modesty and still keep up with their peers in the fashion department.
Elaine,
I may be wrong, but I thought this article was precisely about the motives behind wearing uncomfortable, dangerous, super-expensive designer shoes. The points you made about identity, worth, and purpose are great and I think they align with Mary’s. Using fashion to feel empowered is another wrong motive to add to the list.
Mery: Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrits 7 times in one chapter. As well as blind, damned, murdering serpents who were the unrighteous children of hell. (See Matt. 23) Isn’t that judgmental? And yet that’s what Christ called them… hmmm… Not that I’m condoning calling someone a slut/skank, I wouldn’t say that’s judgmental so much as just plain mean. But then again, what would you call them then? Prostitute shoes? Sometimes bad words need to be used for bad things. We shouldn’t (though we do) say that a man who’s been unfaithful to his wife had an affair. We should call him an adulterer. Sometimes that’s not nice, but it’s true. Truth hurts no matter how lovingly we say it. And people will always hate us for it.
I do, to a degree, agree that those shoes are skanky. Heels like that aren’t normally worn with pants, but with mini skirts and their sole purpose is to accentuate your legs so men will lust over them. Because, NEWS FLASH, MEN made heels, NOT women. Besides, until recently only prostitutes and whores wore shoes like these. Doesn’t that kind of send a wrong message to the world what Christians are about?
But that wasn’t the point of the article, the point was our empowerment should come from God alone, not some stupid pair of shoes. And I totally agree.