Flip-Flop Flap
Some things too informal even for Dems
IN the history of public service, there have been many memorable political flip-flops — Donald Trump on abortion, Hillary Clinton on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, John Kerry on almost everything. But until now, to my knowledge, a politician has never flip-flopped . . . on flip-flops.
Enter Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, who was a delegate at the recent Democratic National Convention. On July 28, dismayed by the fashion choices of her fellow delegates and their minions in Philadelphia, Pressley dispatched a midday tweet:
“PSA: #Ladies, you Cannot get into #formation or lead the #revolution in flip flops. It is tacky and dangerous. Cease and desist.”
It was one of the wisest proclamations to come out of Philadelphia, but it received little notice — only 27 likes and seven retweets. Then a Boston Globe reporter, Astead Herndon, realized Pressley wasn’t speaking in parables, but actually did not like flip-flops, the kind you wear on your feet.
As he noted, not quite eloquently, in the story he then felt motivated to write: “Wait. What?”
If this sort of moralizing had come out of Cleveland, it would have made sense. But when tweeted by a Democrat, it evidently required further investigation by a major newspaper. A phone call was placed. Questions were asked. And Pressley, for a while at least, stuck to her guns.
“This is something I had been percolating on for a while,” she told Herndon. “This week, we’ve been talking about political revolutions and getting into formation, but then I look around at all the flip-flops and thought, ‘We’re in trouble.’ ”
People, as they are wont to do these days, took offense — especially if they like to wear flipflops. “If the revolution has a dress code, count me out. We’re only free when our choice of attire is ours alone,” @saralang fired back. Another woman tweeted, “If I want to show up and get into formation wearing a paper bag, who are you to tell me I can’t?”
And thus, the flip-flop on flipflops had begun. “I just want you to wear something with traction. It’s muddy out here in the trenches,” Pressley responded on Twitter.
She later backtracked to assuage the anger of Globe readers. People were dressed nicely at the beginning of the week, she observed, but then for some reason, as the week progressed, convention attendees devolved into beachwear, she told the Globe.
Moreover, the Globe noted, “Pressley has gotten older, is now a mother, and wants others to wear shoes with more support.” That said, Pressley confessed to being “very sensitive to the ‘outdated cultural norms’ to which women are held.” Well, yes, we all are these days. Absolutely, let’s get rid of outdated cultural norms, like the ones that say a woman can’t drive, show her face in public or travel without an older male’s permission. Also, let’s get rid of the outdated cultural norm that says every part of us has to be sexy and exposed, even if that part of us is prone to fungus and bunions. Yeah, flip-flops, I’m talking about you.
To be fair to Ms. Pressley’s Twitter critics, flip-flops — the shoes, not the political stance — aren’t the worst thing for a woman to defend. That would be high heels, which women still wear — despite years of evidence that they hobble us, cause bunions and hammertoes, shorten muscles and impair balance — because they make us taller and signal social status.
But flip-flops signal something, too. They signal a society that no longer has use for a special occasion. Our ability to wear flip-flops to work, to church or to historic political conventions without shame shows that the switch from Casual Friday to Casual Everyday is complete. There are evidently no boundaries between a wedding at a cathedral or a stroll on the beach.
Open-toed shoes, whether sandals or flip-flops, used to be the last enforceable standard for formality in a land where famous women attend award ceremonies in lingerie. Reasonable people can argue over whether they are appropriate in courtrooms. (Two years ago, a woman in the suburbs of Atlanta was thrown out when she wore sandals to court.)
But we should all be able to agree that they convey a casualness that is not appropriate under a white robe of an altar server at church (which I see frequently) or, say, at a historic political convention.
Besides being bad for your feet (which Cosmopolitan magazine explained last year in “10 Reasons You Should Never, Ever Wear Flip-Flops”), flip-flops are nearly as disabling as high heels, which is why you won’t see athletes wearing them to compete in Rio, and why how-to-stay-alive-in-a-planecrash articles always advise wearing sneakers on a flight.
In short, Councilwoman Pressley was right. Leaders and other serious people may engage in political flip-flops, but they don’t wear them. Neither should you, unless you’re at the beach.