I decided to sell my shoes. I bought it a couple of years ago in a fit of shopaholism (that’s a different story), but I never wore it even once. So they stood brand new in the box. I write to my friend: “Do you know any beauties with 40m foot size? I want to sell new, beautiful, high-heeled shoes.” Friend: “Yes. Are you size 40? I didn’t know.” Me: “Don’t you see this?” Friend: “No.” I’m sitting, blinking my eyes in surprise, amazement. How did you not know this? How can you not see this? It’s obvious! It seemed to me that the size of my feet catches everyone’s eye, everyone sees it and looks at it. Because of him, I am not so graceful and feminine, my gait is not light enough and generally does not fit well into the generally accepted standard. For a long time I was embarrassed about my foot size; choosing shoes was a real torment, often ending in a bad mood, anger and tears. And not so much because I didn’t choose the shoes, but because every time I had to say to the salesperson, “Can these be in size 40?” and burn with embarrassment and shame. It seemed to me that they immediately looked at me with ridicule, disdain, or sympathy. And the shoes were not served correctly and were served with reluctance. Scientists conducted an experiment to find out how external characteristics influence what people think about themselves and what expectations they have in social interaction. Participants in the experiment had makeup applied to their faces in the form They were allowed to look at themselves in the mirror. Their task was to communicate with strangers in this way. Before the meeting with strangers, under the pretext of correcting the makeup of the participants in the experiment, the scars were removed and they were not informed about this. full confidence that there were visible scars on his face. After the experiment, the subjects said that they found in the behavior of their interlocutor a reaction to the scars. Some said that strangers interacted with them in a dismissive or even insulting manner. Why am I saying this? Often. a person focuses attention on some feature of his appearance, paints it as “terrible, ugly, conspicuous” (we’ll talk about the reasons another time) and it seems to him that everyone is just looking at his nose, ears, hips, foot size and only because of this they somehow talk to him or treat him differently. It’s as if he takes a special lens and looks at the world through it. It’s as if all of him, his entire personality is concentrated in a separate area of ​​the body, or its features. But I am not only the size of my feet.