Pocketbooks, Shoes, and Shopping

There must be something in the DNA of most women who become addicted to buying an excessive amount of pocketbooks (purses), shoes, and of shopping, in general.

Isn’t 20, 30, or 40 pairs of shoes enough for the average woman? Is having a pocketbook that matches their every outfit, really that important? The answer by most men is “YES” to the first question and “NO” to the second question. But, to the average woman (or above average woman), the answer to the first question is “NO” and “YES” to the second question. Most men are astonished as to why women must acquire such an array of fashion accessories, whereas one pair of black shoes, and one pair of brown shoes, plus a pair of athletic shoes are more than enough to satisfy a man’s fashion desires. Besides, one wallet is enough to carry their credit cards and important papers. Most men find it really hard to comprehend the fanaticism of women who need to acquire so many pocketbooks, shoes, and a sundry of other fashion items.

Go to any mall, shopping center, or flea market and watch the men tag along following their wives and girlfriends around from store to store. You could say that the men obliging their women are like oxen with rings in their noses being led around from store to store. The malls and stores realize that they must accommodate these put-upon men by providing chairs and benches for these men to rest their tired legs while their women use their credit cards with great abandon buying their “needed” items for survival.

You’ve read in the papers that manufacturers of high-end women’s fashion products like Gucci, Louis Viutton, Coach, Michael Kors, and Chanel are suing some stores, flea markets, and other retail outlets, for selling “knockoff” products (imitations of the real things). Many women compulsive shoppers can’t afford the very expensive fashion goods, so the “knockoff’s” are a very attractive substitute to fuel their addiction, much to the dismay of the above named manufacturers.

I heard a comic once refer to this shopping addiction on the part of women as a precondition that upon death a women’s ashes should be spread around their favorite mall as a fitting climax to a woman’s life. A lot of truth is sometimes said in a jest.

But alas, we men will continue to “schlepp” along with our wives and girlfriends in their quest for the next great shopping bargain, as the men will want to keep peace and harmony in their relationship, and to some extent, try to keep the charges on their credit cards as low as possible.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann