According to a recent study ladies, the higher your heels are, the more power you have over men. This means I should be very powerful. (Friendly smirk)
This reminds me of a patient I once treated. She was a very tall, thin women and very mousy. She was a lawyer and not a behind the scenes research type attorney. She represented hard-core dead row murderers. This woman’s whole appearance and personality looked more like she belonged in a library not a maximum-security penitentiary. But this is where she would go to consult with her clients.
I asked, after I got to know her a bit, based on her very quiet unassuming personality how she gathered the courage to face potentially very hostile situations in both the courtroom and in prisons. She told me should would but on her very tall designer shoes, she called it “packing her penis” and walk into the courtroom and put on the ‘show’. “I’m another person when I put on my big girl shoes.” Amazing! Of course in heels she was likely 6’ 5” the height alone would garner some power.
I can’t tell you how much I loved her phasing and honesty; I still am amused by her story.
Ironically, I understand this. I am pathological shy- oh I know—I know how can a comedian – speaker very public platform persona be introverted, well it is more common than you think.
When I first started doing comedy I was terrified, but I wanted to do it anyhow (because there is something inherently wrong with me;).
When I started performing I would dress to the nines, I may be terrified but my clothes had it going on! I still dress up, but not like I did when I first started, and the only thing that really stuck was the shoes. I always wear fancy shoes. My philosophy is that if you don’t like the jokes you can always look at the shoes. But I must stay I understand the power of big girl shoes. I put them on and I do feel more powerful. Are women more powerful in high heeled shoes? Is it the actual heel that increased the power shift or our attitude changes when we put them on? This might be the next research study. I know for me, the power is in the shoe. Michael Jordan was right- it’s the shoes.
Laura 