Femininity - Say that ten times fast.

I met up with one of my old friends at Barnes and Noble the other day where she works. We were talking about a lot of stuff, specifically about her life and how she was able to drop out of college without caring what people think, especially in our society today. Not only that, but I told her how feministic I've become within the last six months. She is somewhat of a feminist too, espeically when it comes to women artists, since she is one. She asked if I've ever heard of the Guerilla Girls, and I said no, but made a mental note to check it out.

I did, and I am very impressed with what they're doing and have been doing. Despite all the shit they've gotten for their appearances, news letters, and posters, they haven't been discouraged, and I love that.

I was searching around the site and clicked on a link that showed a massive amount of the emails they've recieved. I was scanning through them, and I came upon one written by a women discussing their "masculinity" about the whole thing, saying that they should embrace their femininity with the issue. That really got me thinking.

What exactly describes the word "feminine"? I mean, when you hear the world feminine, what comes to mind is dresses, skirts, heels, nail polish, makeup, etc. But aren't those objects created by men to make women more desirable? Is a woman not as feminine if she choses to wear jeans and t-shirts every day without an ounce of makeup on her face? If you compare two women, one who is done up in a dress, heels, and makeup, then compare her to a woman dressed in pants, flat shoes, a t-shirt, and no makeup, which of the two would you say is more feminine? Of course you would say the first. Hell, even I would say the first.

So what exactly is embracing your femininity? Should we be wearing heels and applying makeup every day and calling it feminine? Or should we refuse to give into what men want women to look like? Earlier today, I went to lunch with my mom and decided to wear a skirt with tights and heels. I can tell you that when I walked into the resturant, I could see men of ALL ages letting their eyes roam, and to be completely honest, that made me uncomfortable.

Perhaps there is a way to embrace it without going so far to reveal more skin than what I feel comfortable with. I could stop wearing makeup, and I could start wearing feminine yet conservative things. But that in itself is difficult because it's very hard to find clothing that is feminine but not revealing. So many shirts are lowcut. I tried on a dress the other day, and it was very cute, but it was extremely lowcut and made me uncomfortable. Having to find something to wear underneath it would have been a pain in the ass, so I just put it back and refused to buy it. It's rare to find a middle ground between conservative and revealing, especially with my body type. 

So the quest begins. Mission: Learn to embrace your femininity without surrendering to the male stereotype.