A recent Republican debate stirred up an age-old discussion about high heels: Who is allowed to wear them, how high they can be, and what they can tell us about gender politics in 2023. In this episode, Jess & Susie unravel the long history of high-heeled shoes (originally designed for men!) and how they’ve been used as a political insult and weapon.

FOR MORE:
Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Those Stilettos (Jessica Bennett, The New York Times)
Penis Politics, a podcast from The Waves (Slate)

A recent Republican debate stirred up an age-old discussion about high heels: Who is allowed to wear them, how high they can be, and what they can tell us about gender politics in 2023. In this episode, Jess &amp; Susie unravel the long history of high-heeled shoes (originally designed for men!) and how they’ve been used as a political insult and weapon.
FOR MORE:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/opinion/nikki-haley-high-heels.html">Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Those Stilettos</a> (Jessica Bennett, The New York Times)</li>
<li><a href="https://slate.com/podcasts/the-waves/2023/11/politics-how-donald-trump-ronald-regan-josh-hawley-teddy-roosevelt-tradition-of-macho-man-politics-campaigns">Penis Politics, a podcast from The Waves</a> (Slate)</li>
</ul>

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.

Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.
Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

The Secret Politics of High Heels

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/afc18bef-d353-4069-9d83-b0bc0157e29e/transcript