Poetessed: "Sugar and spice and all things nice ..."

*WARNING: The following message is brought to you by a jaded feminist.

I strongly detest shopping. Ok that's not true; if I'm at Amoeba or most used bookstores, or most adult stores, I'm having a great time. However, if I'm at the Adidas outlet looking for a pair of running shoes, as I was on Monday, I am not a happy camper.

Anyone who knows me on a personal level will be saying, "Well, I didn't think you were athletic; what were you doing in a sports shop anyway?"

And they'd be right. I am not athletic. I lack endurance of any kind, I don't get involved in sports by any means, nor do I plan to. My partner, though, is extremely athletic; he fences, telemarks, sails, and runs. He runs on a daily basis and was in the market for a new pair of running shoes. Hence, the trip to Adidas.

I don't own a pair of running shoes so I thought this could be a good oppurtunity to get a pair. And you see where this rant is going.

(This is where the rant really begins folks, so thank you for your patience in getting this far.)

We were at an Adidas outlet. Let me emphasize outlet. In my mind, as wierd and screwed up as it is, I imagine an outlet as the ultimate source for a variety in whatever it is that I want to purchase. Such an array did not exist. For women's running shoes.

The men's section of shoes offers up many choices: different colors, styles, textures, heel depths, a plethora, if you will.

These same options were available for women with one gaping difference: black or grey were not color choices available. Oh sure my running shoes could be white with pink stripes, baby blue stripes, silver stripes, or seafoam green stripes. Hell, I could even get light pink shoes with white stripes or black stripes. But a solid black shoe did not exist. We are living in the 21st century right? The color choices for my sex should not remain the same as they were 20, 30 years ago. Women shouldn't be relegated to pastels as our defining color scheme.

And you're saying,"Why didn't you get a pair of men's shoes in your size?"

They didn't have my size in men's shoes, except for a pair of all white shoes.

I live in the mountains. The dirty, muddy mountains. We don't even have sidewalks. I have no use for a white shoe.

I am not ranting just to bitch about my shopping experiences. I am ranting to convey the point that because men and women are equal, they should have the same options. This includes pastel colors for men. We need to rid our society, and the world, of color stereotypes (blue for boys, pink for girls; bold colors for men, pastels for women). Because our economy is so infused with our society, what we buy as a society dictates who we are as a society. (Not that I think that's how it should be.) Until everyone's choices are the same, we will still buy into psychological stereotypes.