Heels Up!
A tweet:
On all the mean-girling over Melania Trump's high heels - covert intrasexual competition w/bonus virtue signaling. https://t.co/vki4NCsPQI
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) August 31, 2017
Men are open about competing while women compete covertly, "derogating" (putting down) the competition to men and other women, for example. Like in this case.
If you can't compete in legginess, make legginess some sort of crime against self. That'll do it!
More about female intrasexual competition in this excerpt from my science-based syndicated column.
But while men will sock each other in the bar parking lot (and can sometimes go back in and have a beer), women engage in what anthropologists call "covert aggression" -- attacks that are hard to pinpoint as attacks, like gossip, social exclusion, and stabbing another woman in the self-worth. ("Stabracadabra!" -- you're bleeding out, but nobody but you can tell!)...The tarted-up put-down is a form of psychological manipulation -- a sly way of making a woman feel bad about herself so she'll self-locate lower on the totem pole. And because men have visually driven sexuality, women specialize in knocking other women where it really hurts -- their looks. Like those supposedly minuscule boobs of yours. (Right...you'll have a latte, and she'll just have another mug of your tears.)
Amen! All those knocking the First lady on her choice of footwear are just plain jealous because they cannot pull it off.
They did the same to Palin when she was in the spotlight - "how dare she give birth to a less-than-perfect baby" because they wouldn't be able to be as strong as her to raise a special needs child and be a mother to her other kids, and be a wife, and be in politics. Since they wouldn't be able to do it they had to call her out on it as if *she* were the problem; not them.
charles at August 31, 2017 8:26 AM
A tall, leggy woman who grew up in a communist dictatorship and started as a model at age 5 and who has no claim to an separate identity beyond being a leggy former model (and being a former design student who speaks 6 languages fluently) wore high heels while getting on a plane for a trip with her powerful husband to visit a disaster area. This is a basis on which to castigate her?
It's not like she wore $540 sneakers to a homeless shelter; which is also a silly reason to castigate someone who was doing a nice thing.
Conan the Grammarian at August 31, 2017 8:31 AM
The shimmering moral example of the Trump Administration gleams again to lead the American dawn!
He's such a glory that I can't contain my admiration!
!!
Crid at August 31, 2017 9:44 AM
And if she'd worn rubber rain boots onto the plane, people would have complained about her being too casual. She's not a relief worker.
KateC at August 31, 2017 10:21 AM
Beauty is Truth!
Melania could run track in high heels while the people who criticize her couldn't even walk in them.
There was no flood in D.C.
Snoopy at August 31, 2017 10:31 AM
And this is the level to which the "resistance" has lowered itself.
Shoe criticism.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at August 31, 2017 12:16 PM
And here's another catty hit piece on Melania's shoes:
https://www.vogue.com/article/melania-trump-hurricane-harvey-stilettos
Just keep your eyes off the author of the article though.
Sixclaws at August 31, 2017 12:33 PM
"Just keep your eyes off the author of the article though."
...
I do enjoy the irony of someone wearing a mumu and clown makeup in her professional portrait criticizing someone else's failure to understand "optics."
ahw at August 31, 2017 1:21 PM
She's a model. Those are her work shoes.
Ken R at August 31, 2017 9:51 PM
Y'know, if I hum 'The Baby Elephant Walk' I can almost imagine Hillary in a pair of those.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at August 31, 2017 11:47 PM
HILLARY, right?
Crid at September 1, 2017 2:48 AM
The Left has a bad case of Madonna-whore complex. They expect their hot young supermodels and Hollywood starlets as near to naked in public as they can get away with. But other women -- particularly older women -- have to dress like Chairman Mao in order to avoid being shamed. Hillary figured this out a long time ago. It's one of the few things in politics that she's been smart about.
Cousin Dave at September 1, 2017 7:39 AM
The not-so-hidden Puritans of the reactionary class are getting the vapors over America's hot First Lady.
If Carla Bruni had been an American they'd have lost their minds.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at September 1, 2017 9:29 AM
"The not-so-hidden Puritans of the reactionary class are getting the vapors over America's hot First Lady."
Imagine how they'd react if the *candidate* (Republican candidate) was that hot. Indeed, Sarah Palin's hotness, while not quite on the level of Melania's, was probably one reason for the rage against her.
David Foster at September 1, 2017 2:40 PM
"And because men have visually driven sexuality, women specialize in knocking other women where it really hurts -- their looks."
But if the objective is to reduce the rival's mating value, it probably doesn't really work that well, precisely because men can judge appearance *directly* by looking.
David Foster at September 1, 2017 2:42 PM
"And because men have visually driven sexuality, women specialize in knocking other women where it really hurts -- their looks."
But if the objective is to reduce the rival's mating value, it probably doesn't really work that well, precisely because men can judge appearance *directly* by looking.
David Foster at September 1, 2017 2:42 PM
This is where the women's rumor mill kicks in. If they are better looking than you are, the next tactic is to label them a promiscuous slut.
Isab at September 2, 2017 3:16 AM
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