Breaking Social Norms Project (or How I Almost Got Fired)

For my Breaking Norm project, I crammed my feet into a pair of my wife’s Vince Camuto high heeled shoes and went about my day at work.

It should be noted that I am the assistant director at a childcare facility that is completely comprised of women, aside from me that is. It should be obvious then, the chagrin that I received for being a man wearing women’s shoes around children in a female dominated environment. People are closed minded and like to take hops, skips, and jumps from a small, innocuous activity and snowball that into something awful and degrading. What I thought would be a fun and interesting experiment, quickly turned into a day of ridicule and of loudly voiced displeasure by both fathers and mothers. I am at work starting at 6:30 in the morning to around 2:30 in the afternoon; having said this, it was somewhere around 11 that I realized that it was in my best interest to abandon this project and put the heels up and go back to wearing my boots like a man should wear in the Texas Panhandle.

The burn of judgmental eyes and whispered slurs was more than I thought those heels were deserving of. It was reflected poorly on the childcare center, my wearing heels, and I was approached by my boss and told that if I didn't change my shoes that I would be asked to leave. There was awkward staring and I felt like I was naked every time someone looked at my feet. This project has shown me that gender bias is thick and smothering in this region. You can’t help but wonder why everyone is so afraid of different; so afraid to embrace new and unique. After this all went down, I was glad that I listened to my wife and that I did not go on ahead and wear her lipstick in tandem with the heels.