Toddling in High Heels...Literally

I wrote an article for the New York Times about the new trend of wedges and heels for little girls. As a kid the closest thing I owned to heels was a pair of red patent leather clogs. They were hand-me-downs from my sister and matched a white dress with a high neck and organza overlay that was embroidered with tiny red cherries. Boy did I ever love those shoes. I wore them every chance I got, but that was mostly at home and for special occasions.

There's no doubt little girls love to put on heels and experiment with the accouterments of adult life--any mother whose found her makeup drawer ravaged by her toddler-aged daughter can attest to that--but where should we as a society (or me as one lone and well-meaning mom) draw the line? Dr. Shari Miles-Cohen, a research psychologist I interviewed for the piece, spoke to me about the fine line between girls playing dress up and allowing girls to wear adult accessories in real life.

Dr. Shari E. Miles-Cohen, a senior director of the Women’s Programs Office at the American Psychological Association in Washington, said that while young girls who wear their mother’s heels around the house are only pretending to be adults, the “line gets blurry” (and the message confusing) when they are given the “accouterments of adult clothing” to wear in real life. 

“The research suggests that the bombardment of sexualized images tell girls that popularity and social standing are based on looking like a sex object,” Dr. Miles-Cohen wrote in an e-mail.

Besides the obvious concerns about sexualization, Dr. Miles-Cohen said during our interview that putting girls in shoes that limit their movement inhibits them from experiencing the full agency of their body. We know from copious research that doing sports helps boost young girls self-esteem, so it follows that any shoe (or clothing, for that matter) that impairs their ability to move and feel free and powerful would diminish their self confidence. I can't think of one mother who wants that for her child.

You can read the whole article HERE.