What are you smiling about? The Heelarious baby booties have created a media frenzy in Australia and New Zealand and everyone seems to have an opinion.
Excited Mums, Nanna's and Aunty's are ordering the booties in the hundreds calling them "adorable", "cute" and "just so funny".
For women who adore shoes, it is a race to buy newborn baby girls their very first pair of high heels.
Apparently it is not all fun and cuteness. Pyschologists, professors, journalists and reviewers are all having their say and calling the shoes "sexualising", "ridiculous" and "dangerous for girls self esteem".
Ninemsn had a poll running and 50,000 readers voted on whether they thought the baby booties were "bad for babies".
Our website www.girlygadgets.com.au/ is the only shop selling the shoes in Australia and our website hits have gone crazy. We received hundreds of emails from excited people who love our website and all the fun girly gifts we sell.
A few people sent complaints, asking us to "stop selling the shoes". Some even spent hours preparing carefully drafted emails with footnotes relating to articles on eating disorders, anexoria and the like. I replied with carefully drafted emails including footnotes to articles about the importance of smiling and laughing each day.
And, I am still smiling.
Stay girly!
20 comments:
I think these shoes are adorable. I am expecting a baby and I will definately be buying them for my baby if it is a girl...and if it is a boy some little nikes or something similar. I will not be treating my baby as a doll for dress ups. I simply want my baby to look nice as I have pride in my appearance and will have pride in my baby's appearance. I am sorry but I will not be keeping my baby in the growsuits all day. Growsuits are PJ's and would you leave your house in your PJ's?
These shoes are not detrimental to any development so I do not see the harm in having these booties on my baby.
And to all these critics that are saying they sexulaise the baby...don't you think it is you with the problem if you look at a baby in little booties and think that is "sexy". They are just booties people!!!
Well, as long as the adults are having a good laugh then that's alright then. Personally, I think these booties are vile on a number of levels. Why can't people let babies be babies? There is nothing more unattractive than a baby dressed in adult's clothing. Babygrows are so much better for babies. They are comfortable and soft. And to anonymous - sure, you wouldn't leave your house in PJ's, but then you're not a baby are you! Tacky, fussy clothing is just uncomfortable for babies and they derive no benefit from it. Only the parents do and it seems to me that that is the wrong way around. Babies' comfort should come first - not parents' amusement.
HOW FUNNY ARE THESE SHOES!! I BOUGHT A PAIR FOR MY GIRL FREIND AND SHE LOVES THEM FOR HER DAUGHTER!!
Oh my god people...they are called heelarious shoes...get it. If you dont then maybe you need a dictionary.
If you have'nt bought some or actually seen them in person then your deffinetely not in the know.
Also the booties are exactly like slippers, only they have a soft heel under them.
Last thing l want to say is keep selling them girly gadgets, l might need a pair if l have a beautiful baby girl.
What is this world coming to? These so called "experts" that are releating 6 month old babies with sexualization should have a real hard look at themselves! To me these shoes seem like a bit of fun. Can we compare these to the baby footy boots that you can get for baby boys? come on people. It's a sad day when the first thing that the majority of people think about when they see BABY shoes is sex!
Lighten up and have more fun I say.
Cheers
Again, I come back to this 'fun' issue. Who is it fun for? The baby is too young to understand the significance of wearing grown up things so it must be the parent deriving the 'fun'. I never claimed to be an expert or even mentioned 'sexualisation'. Just that as a mother, my first priority is my baby's comfort, not whether I get a laugh out of it. I just can't understand why anyone would want their baby to look like a mini adult.
That is interesting Sara. Where do you draw the line? Adults where dresses. Adults where jumpsuits. Sometimes Adults where slippers.
I read about these booties in the Herald Sun last week and I have just purchased a pair of the black satin Heelarious booties. My daughter looks very cute when she wears them. They are soft like slippers and very comfortable for her. If they were not comfortable for her I would definately NOT be putting them on her. They are actually softer and more comfortable than all other baby "shoes" on the market. So what, I have her in a pretty little dress with stockings and these booties....does that mean that she is dresses like an adult? I certainly would not wear her pretty little dress as it is a little girls dress, and I certainly would not wear booties which have a little heel attached. I also have a 5 year old who loves playing dress ups. She does not own a pair of high heels as this WOULD be detrimental to her development. She dresses appropriate to her age with proper fitted Clark shoes. She does not have any self esteem issues however she does take pride in her appearance. She likes to have her hair brushed and wear matching clothes.
I actually take offense to all the people who have been critising the buyers of these shoes with personal comments about their ability as mothers as I really do not think they are in the position to criticise when they do not know the people personally. What a lot of comments have been is just plain nasty and obviously these nasty people have nothing better to do than write rubbish on the Herald Sun website. Also, do these people have children? Do they dress them with pride or do you dress them in old tatty clothes or are the the ones that dress their kids in sandles and socks even though they would not wear that themselves??
I am not keen on these booties for my baby but give these people a break.
If you don't like them, just don't buy them!
They are just booties people!!
I can't believe baby "booties" have caused so many people to get excited.
Love them.
Give me three months and I am getting some....
They are way too cute!
Perfect! Heels were designed to elongate women's legs, jut the pelvis forward, and overall enhancing our sexy appearance ... I am so grateful that we can now begin training infants in the crib to know their place as females in the world. It is people like you and companies like yours that guarantee my ongoing employment as a therapist for girls and young women with identity issues, sexual abuse histories and eating disorders. Bravo!!
Well said anonymous. Unfortunately, given the intelligence levels of most of these women, I think our comments are falling on deaf ears!
How funny are you girls....
Babies dont walk, cant talk, are mostly breast/bottle fed, would not know what sexual issues are and identity issues....well I'm sure that wont be a problem for a 0-6 month old either. Wake up girls!!
I feel very sorry for your kids!!
Sorry to get personal but how dare anyone tell me I am sexualising my 4 month old daughter!!
Do you think she walks in these shoes???? Hello
Sorry for ranting but I wanted to thank Girly Gadgets for my beautiful daughters shoes and then saw this blog...and after reading some of the most absurd comments...I felt compelled to say something!!
Did I miss something? They are just little booties for babies?
Love the shoes.......
Cant wait to order some when I have a little girl
Yeah, Belinda. Keep laughing all the way to the bank. Pfft... What do child psychologists and psychiatrists know? After all, you're the fashion retailer... Why should you care whether girls grow up to be psychologically healthy or not? It's all a laugh to you.
Hey Anonymous, Why the nastiness?
Maybe the self esteem issues are from being around negative nasty people like yourself.
Maybe you should take a good hard look at yourself for feeling the need to write nasty things on a blog? Do you need a therapist or are you currently having treatment?????
Those cute booties sure caused a stir at the maternity ward this morning! They made a great keepsake for my newly born niece. (Congrats Paula and Tom on beautiful Elira - a cute bundle!). Much nicer than standard teddies and frilly singlets. A really special first gift. Make sparkly ones please!
Thanks for your searing insight, Catherine,
Of course, the self esteem issues in young girls MUST be coming from people who are working to avoid the propagation of body image issues in young girls. Your logic is dazzling...
Maybe you should take a good hard look at yourself and wonder why you've become desensitised to the sexualisation of young girls.
And why you think it's OK to teach babies that their only worth comes from the ability to meet a narrow definition of sexiness as created and pushed by people like yourself.
Who needs therapy?
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