speaking as a femme lesbian the whole girl dinner girl math girl logic coquette ironic spirituality thing is such a bummer cus like. proponents of it talk about ‘reclaiming girlhood’ and ‘embracing femininity’ but their definition of girlhood/femininity is bioessentialist, misogynistic, infantilizing, etc etc. as a femme and a dyke, my entire identity is grounded in the power of femininity (my own gender) and womanhood (who/how i love), and on the surface i don’t look or sound that different from many who i’m criticizing here. i think that’s why it bothers me so much to see people disguise their reductive, conservative values under the guise of celebrating womanhood. because for me, love and community among women is the greatest source of empowerment in my life, and it’s helped me strengthen my views as an activist and a radical. the femmes i know are some of the most capable, self-assured, strong people i know, and they do it while embracing a femininity that’s expansive, not reductive. contrast this with the ‘girl math is using your boyfriend’s credit card so it doesn’t count,’ with the ‘women are naturally soft and fragile,’ with any of the other sexist bullshit that these so-called lovers of womanhood espouse. also, no discussion of this trend would be complete without mentioning the racism, transphobia, and perhaps pedophilia that undermines it. have you noticed that it’s skinny cis white girls who mostly embrace coquette girl blogger lolita girl dinner aesthetics? have you noticed that their assigning of things that women inherently do is designed to exclude trans women? have you noticed that fetishizing childlike behavior and dress is a common piece of this subculture? i’m sorry if i just don’t think that ‘women are naturally small and helpless and stupid’ is an empowering message. except i’m not sorry at all. i think it’s toxic, reductive, exclusionary, often bigoted, and a direct step backwards in the liberation of everyone who’s gender-marginalized. i think it’s privileged and irresponsible, and counterintuitive to everything that i love about being a woman who loves women. imo, womanhood is about strength within softness, passionate commitment to loving yourself and your community, embracing beauty in the world and in your life, and, most importantly, fighting viciously for the inclusion and safety of all women - especially those who are left out by white bioessentialist notions of gender. it’s about interdependence among people, not total dependence on a man. i can only hope you people with your tradwife in disguise act come around one day.
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I'm obsessed with my taste in everything ...
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