You see something stupid. You hear something stupid. You read something stupid = Yeah,TNTG. Posts tagged femininity.
“ Being feminine is being desired and hated at the same time. A feminine body or mind is expected to be open and receiving to everything from others’ emotional baggage to sexual fantasies of total strangers. At the same time, receptivity (not that this defines femininity by any means) is considered weak and inferior. The result of this is often violence. Femininity is to be present for other’s needs and then destroyed for its perceived weaknesses.
Being feminine and of color is especially dangerous. Not just because we are a walking target for racist, stereotyped sexual fantasies but because so often we are blamed for being that. I am Latina so I shouldn’t press my luck by acting and dressing too “spicy” too provocative. I can’t be a femme as I want to be because then I am acting out my own stereotype and perpetuating it further and drawing in potential violence. I cannot act, speak, dress or think feminine on my own accord or because I am being myself. Being a woman of color means that whatever I do, I do on account of being Latina. If I am femme, it’s because that’s how I was raised to be in that culture.
Being feminine and of color is especially dangerous. Not just because we are a walking target for racist, stereotyped sexual fantasies but because so often we are blamed for being that. I am Latina so I shouldn’t press my luck by acting and dressing too “spicy” too provocative. I can’t be a femme as I want to be because then I am acting out my own stereotype and perpetuating it further and drawing in potential violence. I cannot act, speak, dress or think feminine on my own accord or because I am being myself. Being a woman of color means that whatever I do, I do on account of being Latina. If I am femme, it’s because that’s how I was raised to be in that culture.
—
Womanist Musings: Processes of Feminization: Becoming Myself (via biyuti)
On. Point.
(via quelola)
“
Media sexualization of women and the pressure on women involved in sports to appear as “real women” means wearing make-up, appearing and acting feminine. Some researchers blame homophobia in sports for the need to present heterosexual images. Driven by fears of being labelled as lesbians, women athletes seek to project an over-emphasized heterosexual, feminine image.
But the (hetero)sexualization of women athletes keeps women in their place, whether they are playing or coaching in “male” sports or ones considered more “feminine appropriate.” Compulsory heterosexuality and the sexualization of women are very effective tools in the treatment of women athletes as second-class citizens and they also diminish women’s talents as athletes and coaches.
“ It’s also important to note that punishing women for complying with cultural demands for performative femininity is a key component of women’s oppression. Our culture insists that women conform to a certain conventional beauty standards, and concern themselves with “girl things” like fashion and hair and makeup, in order to be acceptable as women. Yet when women like Kim do this, they are derided – called stupid, shallow, and vapid. As feminists, we must never stand by while women are called derogatory names for engaging in socially coded feminine activities. Even if we don’t like those women.
“ The need for Black feminism is written on the bodies of Trayvon Martin and his mother and his girlfriend on the phone. It is written on the bodies of the Black trans women who are murdered in the street in urban and rural areas in our country. It is written on the bodies of all the missing and disappeared Black girls. It is written on the bodies of effeminate Black men who are beaten within our communities for daring to be feminine. The need for Black feminism and it’s relationship to Black feminine embodiment are brutally clear in the present moment.
—
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
from http://thefeministwire.com/2012/03/we-be-black-feminism-and-embodiment-part-3-of-can-black-feminism-be-quantified/
(via blackfeminismlives)
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Anti-femme culture (and feminists aren’t immune to this) thinks the effort put into femme presentation is a waste of time and energy – or, at the very least, time and energy that could have been spent doing something more important. Anti-femme culture thinks “pretty” probably means “dumb” even when struggling against a culture obsessed with an impossibly narrow beauty standard. Anti-femme culture thinks you can’t do math AND do your nails.
We are humans! We contain multitudes! I do not think it is a problem that teenaged girls are interested in experimenting with presentation via fashion; I think it’s ridiculous and misogynist that they are ONLY encouraged to do that – and that boys don’t have the same freedom of expression.
— The Rotund by Marianne Kirby (via ellielamothe)
Femme vs Feminine
Majestic and I answer a question about femme identity, femininity and masculine privilege in queer communities and I check my hair more times than probably necessary.
“You might have observed, also, that the costumes aren’t called “men’s” and “women’s.” They’re all just “adult.” So women could, if they wanted to, buy and wear the non-sexy version of the costume, and vice versa for men. And we might imagine a woman doing that. But would a guy do that? Probably only as a joke (unless they’re in a queer-safe space). This pattern — women can dress like men, but men don’t dress like women — suggests that there is, in fact, something demeaning, ridiculous, or subordinating about presenting oneself to the male gaze. Most men feel stupid, gross, or vulnerable when they do it. This isn’t just about conformity to different gendered expectations. If it were just about difference women would feel equally weird dressing in men’s clothes. Instead, when women adopt masculine ways of dressing and moving, they often feel empowered. So, when men do femininity they feel ridiculous and when women do masculinity they feel awesome. This is what gender inequality looks like.”
— Lisa Wade, for Sociological Images.
Link: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/10/29/sexy-femininity-and-gender-inequality/
Daria lols.
“So where have you girls been all our lives?”
“Waiting here for you. We are born in this room, we gre up in this room and we thought we would die here alone. But now you’ve arrived and our lives can truly begin.”
“ Rowling wrote Hermione to eschew stereotypes. She doesn’t end up with the hero; she is never there to function as Harry’s love interest. She prefers Arithmancy to Divination in school. Hermione is also a total badass, despite her prim and proper reputation. (…) So often, female characters are allowed to be aggressive or rebellious, but in exchange are stripped of any traditionally feminine qualities and instead are forced to pick up traditionally masculine traits. However, Hermione is never made to do that. Most notably, she is written to be highly logical AND emotionally expressive, a combination not commonly afforded to most of today’s leading ladies.
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Liz Feuerbach, The Women of The Harry Potter Universe (via writingadvice)
Every woman Rowling writes is a badass of the highest order. The entire theatre cheered at everything Molly Weasley and Professor McGonagall did. HBsIC, I tell ya.
(via film-schooled)
“Remember, chew like you have a secret”
