January 26, 2010

Broken Heels

Posted in Feminism and Gender Equality, Political Philosophy, Politics, Society at 8:00 am by Paul Sagar

Inspired by the wonderful Cognitive Biases in Popular Songs festive post at Stumbling and Mumbling, I thought I’d do something similar for Alexandra Burke’s “Broken Heels”. Detractors will claim that it’s “just a song”, and nothing more. However, I’d ask you to keep an open mind before arriving at that conclusion.

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Burke’s “Broken Heels” serves to reinforce pervasive gender inequalities normal in our society. perversely, these inequalities are not simply normalised, but simultaneously turned into sources of supposed pride from the female perspective. This in turn serves to further legitimate the inequalities being normalised.

We’ll get to the main evidence for this thesis – the chorus – shortly. But first it’s worth noting these lines:

“Oh, you know we rock, we control the block/
Whatever’s going down, ladies take the biggest cut”

As far as genuine female empowerment in our society goes, that first claim simply doesn’t map onto reality. Only 5% of Britain’s largest companies have women in top jobs. 15 UK High Court judges are women, compared with 92 men. Less than 20% of MPs are female. In the UK, women do not “control the block”, unless the block is nursing, primary school teaching or secretarial work. And I don’t think Burke has those in mind.

As for ladies taking the biggest cut, well that simply isn’t true either: women working full-time in the UK in 2009 made on average 12.2% (using the median) or 16.4% (using the mean) less than men. Male university professors could expect to make 13.9% more than their equally-qualified female colleagues. Women in the financial sector can expect to make 55% less than their male counterparts.

But these lines just represent falsehood, and nothing more.

Most of the rest of the song is sheer babble, of course. But of what’s actually intelligible there are some instructive remarks about rolling-up sleeves and working hard (“I roll my sleeves up, wrap my hair up/There’s no sign on the road so I never stop”) but also being fun (“we bring the party, yeah yeah yeah/We brough the party ay ay ay”).

Most women who’ve managed to be successful in life will know all about this. The expectation that not only must women work hard, they must also be fun. Like the expectation that not only must a successful woman think for herself, she must also be attractive. That she’s got to keep up with the guys – whilst wearing high heels.

Which brings us to the crux of the song:

“All the ladies tell the fellas we can do what they can do/
We can do it even better in broken heels”
[...]
Anything you can do I can do better/
Boy, I can do it in broken heels/
Anything you can do we can do better/
Boy, I can do it in broken heels”

First, note the fact a “sex war” is being taken for granted. The uncontroversial position for a pop-song to assume is that there is a necessary antagonism between men and women. This is just standard, unquestioned, taken for granted.

Which is hardly surprising. This is, after all, what underpins our collective thinking on gender issues: men versus women, mars contra venus, girls against boys. It’s so hard-wired and internalised, you may think I’m being a nut for even pointing it out. But if so, why do you think it’s normal for men and women to be so often treated as opposing forces, and why does it seem so whacky for me to draw attention to it?

The main message of Burks’s song, however, is of feisty girls able to take the men on at their own game – and do it better. On the surface, it sounds like a message of empowerment and aspiration: “Girls! Don’t accept your place as second best – beat the men!”

But the reference to broken heels is important. It’s not enough for Alexandra and co to simply be better than the guys. She’s going to be better whilst wearing broken (high) heels.

What are high heels? They’re a type of shoe that can be extremely painful for the wearer, induce poor posture and the risk of back problems, and do so in order to make the wearer’s legs and backside look more pert than they otherwise would be. They also encourage the shoulders to be drawn back and the chest pushed outwards, because of the need to balance.

Oh, you thought high heels just came about by accident? And you never thought it strange that men don’t wear them?

Alexandra’s determination to beat the boys means not only that she’ll do it whilst wearing disadvantaging footwear which is a symbol of female sexualisation and objectification (albeit one that many politically aware feminist women choose to continue wearing, as is their prerogative), she will do it in broken heels. Rather than kick of her shoes and get on with it flat-footed like the men do, she’ll power through despite the disadvantage.

Just like we expect women to do, every day.

What’s interesting about this song (because it certainly isn’t the music) is how it normalises gender inequalities whilst lionizing the woman who accepts those inequalities. Indeed, one of the very symbols of inequality – the high heeled shoe – is itself introverted and made to assume the (false) mantle of empowerment. Meanwhile, the woman who says “why should I do it in heels, broken or otherwise? Why don’t you try wearing these things to work and see how far you get?” is nowhere to be seen.

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Appendix

I obviously don’t think that whoever wrote this song consciously planned to embed socially dominant attitudes to gender in order to somehow indoctrinate listeners. Of course not. That’s idiotic.

It’s also not how patriarchy needs to work.

The gender inequalities assumed and underlined in Burke’s song are a stock part of our society. It’s totally normal and expected to find them in a pop song. And thanks to this pop song, it will be even more normal and expected to find such attitudes in people’s heads. Because that’s how the boundaries of social legitimisation and acceptability operate. No white cats are necessary.

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