June 14, 2008

• Yuck.
• I think it's aimed at those parents who pierce the ears of their three-month-old.
• So so so wrong. Ick.
• Look a bit like the shoes they used to make for women with bound feet. Which possibly tells us something.
• Pity we can't run cars on human stupidity, it's a resource we will never run out of.
• What could possibly go wrong?
• Yea, stupid. Overdone consumer consumption. The damn things cost a minor fortune, and we have children going hungry in this country. Some value system. On the one hand, I'm tempted to think it's just way over on the spectrum of parents that put a little pink bow on the bald baby's head because it's so cute. But really. High heels? There's a difference between "a painted baby, a sexualized toddler beauty queen." and an infant girl in an innocent pink bow. Too bad people don't know where to draw the line.
• High heels? Criminy, projecting onto your infants much, ladies?
• new bumper sticker: my baby kicked yr baby's eye out with her manolo's ????
• Can hyper-absorbent bejewelled thongs be far behind?
• I think they're funny and harmless (and I'm not a S&TC fan by any means). It's not like they're for babies who are walking age, right? If I had a kid I wouldn't hesitate to dress her up in silly shoes. They look like Miss Piggy's shoes, actually.
• To play devil's advocate, when my son was < 3 months old we took him to a party in a onesie that looked like a tuxedo. The footies were made to look like tux shoes, and the front zipper pull was a little bow tie. We were not trying to make him look like a playboy; it was a costume, and it was funny. He was adorable. I would tend to see these things as a similar deal. They're not teaching the babies to WALK in heels...yet. Just dressing up for novelty. When I was a kid my parents bought me an "arrow through the head" novelty thing, but I don't think they really wanted to shoot arrows through my head.
• Coming soon: Thong diapers. Breast and back-enhanced onesies. The problem is that yes, they look cute, they look funny, but that's conditioning their own self-image. From the cradle.
• I think my issue with them are that high-heels are a somewhat sexually charged object (but not exclusively so), in the way that a tux or arrow-through-the-head aren't. That a baby is made to participate in that sexual presentation -- ick.
• The company name is "Heelarious" and they're described as "just a fun, novelty, dress-up item". That should say it all right there.
• I'm with the Cap'n on this one. Of course they're going to call it "a fun, novelty, dress-up item" and not "sexualize your baby," and they probably even believe it. But the connotation is there whether they intend it to be or not.