Decoding the Object of Desire

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer states that she has noticed something curious about one item of clothing worn by the women who study in the university library, which is conscientiously worn as a badge of their status. Specifically, the writer maintains that the women's shoes are almost a badge of their status. At the college library, the women wearing casual shoes by and large wear canvas sneakers. The writer points out that this style is so commonplace that it is almost a uniform for the women in the library, although everything else about them suggests that these are not uniform people. By contrast, the writer notes that at a local gymnasium, women generally come and go wearing running shoes of one sort or another, the popular brands being Nike, Reebok, and Saucony. The writer then discusses what these women's images and dress codes portray.

From the Paper:

"Given this, I believe that the preference of the library women for sneakers reflects a cultural orientation rather than any practical need.
"The library women call their shoes "sneakers." I find this a very apt term, because it has a bit of a sinister connotation, and while these women are university students, they bear a sense of being rebels, of cutting against the grain. They have an air of breaking the stereotype that a university student is male. Their bearing suggests a firm intention not to have their career paths limited to being merely secretaries, teachers, nurses, or any other sort of subservient role, particularly not that of a traditional housewife."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Woolf, Virginia. "Shakespeare's Sister." A Room of One's Own. New York, New York: Harcourt Brace & Janinivich, 1929. Retrieved from online edition, February 3, 2007. Available at <http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/psych214/woolf.room.html>. Internet.
• "Converse shoe advertisement." Zappos.com. Retrieved February 4, 2005. Available at <http://www.zappos.com/n/br?brand_id=36&>. Internet.
• Also consulted: various issue of Cosmopolitan, YM [Young and Modern], and Teen Self.

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