I don't have a problem with the shoes. Shoes has become code for the supposed "frivolity" of female desire, from both genders. Screw that -- if she wanted the shoes, then goddamn, let her want those shoes. If they'd been boots, I'd have been right with her. :) The object of one's desire is often not your o.o.d.... but that doesn't negate the importance of the desire, yes?

My problem is with the complete passivity (and passive/aggressiveness) of every. single. woman. in that scene. -- Except, of course, for the woman who goes crazy with avarice. And the message may seem to be that women are not supposed to want, that we should only be wanted.

But, I'd point out that Sam and Dean are consistently not allowed to want, either. Sam's relationships with women end in tragedy, his independence from his family didn't go so well, Dean's desire for a normal apple-pie life need to be sacrificed for the greater good, his drowning of desire, etc. The more I think about it, the more I'd have to say that the episode was more about the virtue of temperance, regardless of gender.

Doesn't mean there still wasn't some really troubling, dismissive and demeaning shit in there.