A lot of people learn that men and women should have different roles in this world in order to create “balance” and, therefore, end up with this idea that feminism is not only “anti-man” but “anti-woman” because it’s “against” femininity (or masculinity). If you think that masculine and feminine gender roles are not only innate but good, then you’re likely to see critiques of those gender roles as attacking actual males and females, rather than attacking those socialized roles and behaviours, as well as the hierarchy that is attached to said roles. This leads women to say things like “No, I’m not a feminist, I love being a woman” because they believe their womanhood is attached to a subordinate gender role which they have been told is not only natural, but empowering.
Tag: femininity
I think the phrases “masculinity is a prison” and “femininity is a weapon” have their metaphors the wrong way around.
The problem with liberal “equality” feminism is that it sees femininity and masculinity as morally neutral, natural alignments. Created equal. Just two sets of behaviors and expectations, and the real problem is just that people are restricted to one of these at a time when they should be free to ~play with gender~.
There’s no acknowledgment that the expectations and trappings of femininity are intended to turn their adherent into an object, while masculinity is about empowerment, grooming an oppressive class. They’re not created equal!
Femininity is about restricting movement, mandatory time and money investments into ever-changing beauty rituals, being small and subservient and accommodating. It’s literally about becoming a decoration. The fact that men don’t have as much access to a clearly oppressive role is not the problem here! The fact that they are being taught violence and to repress their humanity in order to subjugate women, over whom they are told they are inherently superior, is definitely more of a problem!
Essentializing gender as morally neutral instead of the framework through which women’s oppression is carried out is the worst possible thing for feminism.
The ideas of men who choose femininity will never help the women who are forced to comply with it.
The desires of men who want to be feminine do nothing to free the women struggling under the punishing weight of society’s impossible standard of womanhood.
when I hear “shaving is a choice!!” or “make up is a choice!!” I feel like the subtext is “the choice you should be making!!”
The culture of violence has been normalized in modern society. You could credit it to the obsession with glorifying masculinity, where the only way to gain respect or power is by a show of force. Masculinity has always been about aggression- it’s not about some yin/yang energy balance between the sexes. It’s about teaching boys & men to value violence & aggression as a tool of dominance and control. Femininity on the other hand is the complimentary teaching of submissiveness to girls & women. It is mean to hurt us so we are valued for our appearances. We are expected to perform emotional labour, accepting your role as a caretaker and emotional dumping ground- those are strenuous, taxing tasks. We are expected to give up our careers- our independence- to raise families, to have children, to raise these children, as if it is our responsibility, our jobs. We were not born to be mothers, to be care takers. We can take the world for ourselves, and we should not be held down by the expectations of men and our mothers. We are more, we can be more.
Nicola Thorp was sent home without payment on her first day at work because she refused to wear heels. She’s since started a petition to make it illegal for companies to require women to wear high heels. The petition has received over 100,000 signatures.
In 2016…. How embarrassing
WHT kind of flats was she wearing? Cuz alot of jobs make you wear specific types of shoes..
Dude wtf cares it’s not like she rocked up in trainers.. Any flats should be fine for work.. What if she has back problems?? Posture problems? Her fuckin health comes first and they shouldnt have sent her home
Well idk the whole story. I just know I work catering and I have to wear dress shoes with a slight lift. And they have to be black, and they have to be leather and if theyre not im not allowed to be in the eye of the guests.. so I’m just saying it’d be nice to get all the details.
Go do research then. Google is a thing
Good idea honestly, I would if I was more interested
Some jobs will require you to wear heels unless you have a doctors note. Just like how my job won’t let you wear flipflops even if they look good with your outfit and we sell them in the store. Gotta be all about fashion.
I don’t think it’s that deep if they’ve always required heels in the first place.@composedbyhunni it’s deep because heels hurt and cause medical issues and the only reason women have to wear them is because they’re “sexier” which is sexist and no office job performance is enhanced by heels
Well then you get a doctors note.
Are you being purposefully obtuse? The whole point is a woman shouldn’t need a doctors note to not have to wear heels. Heels don’t enhance a woman’s performance, aren’t the only type of professional looking shoes, aren’t practical and are in fact a health hazard in the long run. If a woman chooses to wear them, fine. But there’s nothing confusing about understanding why its nonsensical that a woman could even be ~required~ to wear heels in a work setting, let alone be sent home for it.
Just because you don’t understand why something is a problem, it doesn’t mean you should undermine those who do. If you like wearing heels, fine, you win either way. Nothing of value is lost for you whether heels are required or not.
Pick a more important issue to defend, and let those who do take issue with being forced into performing sexist standards of femininity at work voice their complaints in peace.If anything, jobs in which you have to be on your feet for hours at a time (LIKE CATERING, *COUGH COUGH*) should require you to wear flats for your safety and efficiency- preventing foot and leg and back fatigue will actually improve the quality of your work. You know, just like some manual labor jobs require you to wear boots for safety and efficiency.
If a job requires you to wear heels and you get back or leg or foot damage as a result, you should be able to sue them for violating OSHA, in my opinion. Requiring employees to wear footwear that is scientifically proven to cause long-term damage while providing no known benefits is the very DEFINITION of “creating an unsafe work environment.”
I AM GODDAMN SCREAMING FUCK GENDER FUCK FEMININITY ask yourselves what is the dead end reason for requiring women to wear heels?! Imagine the outrage if neckties literally CHOKED men but they were REQUIRED to wear them for ~professionalism~ I’m just so fucking sick of everything
tbh an employer can ask you to wear anything within reason as long as it keeps your dignity intact, my employer demands i wear special insoles for my feet in a pair of company bought DM’s instead of my black work oxfords so i do it because they put the food in my mouth and the clothes on my back
“within reason” high heels which are proven to be unhealthy do not fall into this category because ~~~~~~~fashion~~~~~~~ fuck off tbh
Anything can be unhealthy, DM’s are unhealthy because they do not support my damaged ankles like my hightops do and it causes me to fall over more often due to my disabilities.
Shoes are within reason, all of them, dont like it dont get paid, men have to wear things they dont like either but i aint seen a single one fucking complain that they are held to the same standards as everybody else, fuck off tbh
You’re comparing high heels to unisex boots lmfao….
It’s not the shoe women don’t like its the pain
Literally fuck off
They only want her to wear them so she looks ‘sexy‘.
i hate things that equate being a girl to wearing makeup and feminine clothes and wanting to be with men because it just makes me feel so alienated from womanhood
asserting that “presenting as female” means wearing lipstick, painting nails, wearing tank tops and jewelry, really makes it sound like you think female babies come out of the womb in lipstick, nail polish, tank tops, and jewelry, and that’s how they get their “sex assignment.”
cut that shit out. do you know how fucking insulting that is? do you know how disconnected from reality that is?
being female, in this universe, is not determined by what you fucking wear. lipstick, nail polish, tank tops, and jewelry are all man-made ways of designating that the body underneath them is of the female sex. it’s important for men to mark out females so they know who to oppress for being female.
if you’re a male passing as female and getting treated like shit, it’s because you’re communicating the (deceptive) message that you are anatomically female, and you’re treated accordingly.
once they see your dick (or learn that you were born with one), you are no longer passing as female. you can call your dick a female penis all you want, but patriarchy doesn’t agree with you and patriarchy made the rules. you may still get attacked or killed – by a dude, btw – but it’s because you have fucked with the all-holy patriarchal system of marking and othering “inferior” (female) bodies.
it’s a goddamn crime when men do that. it’s an offense against humanity and it’s a violation of one’s basic human rights. it shouldn’t happen and it’s a fucking tragedy when it does.
but it’s not misogyny.
“Presenting as feminine” would even be better IMO
Celtyradfem 