Resisting femininity experiment - who's in?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

I was thought-provoked by the 'I'm a feminist but....' thread, particularly Dittany's posts, in which she talked about women who choose not to 'perform femininity'.

I posted on the other thread that I hugely object to all that bikini-line business but do still shave my legs. Am not sure why I do this, so I think I'm going to stop and see how it feels. It felt like a major issue when I was 20 or so but I actually suspect not shaving them now would make me feel more, rather than less, confident.

So I wondered if anyone else was thinking about giving up any beauty practices or other elements of compulsory femininity and would like to do it together and see how it feels.

this is not a competition - if you decide after a day you hate it and can't live without it, fine, but it would be really interesting to hear about, and I think it could advance our understanding of how this all works.

anyone else in?

btw, I am in a vile mood today so if anyone wants to come along to the thread and tell us we are just falling into the trap of thinking all feminists have to have hairy legs, or that actually they wax everything and are a still better feminist than meeeee, I will tell them to fuck off because if you don't 'get' this I can't be bothered explaining, either you get it or you don't

Agreed - just the post about women not handling power well made me cross. Never ceases to amaze me how much some women will do other women down....

"I wouldn't get thigh-toning shoes (fit flops and similar)"

to be fair they don't work so you aren't missing anything.

He he, thanks Libra.

SwallowdAfly - I'm having difficulty understanding your last 2 posts -

If you're talking about sexual attraction lesbians also have 'a type' that they're attracted to - not all lesbians like women with hairy armpits and legs - far from it ime.

hmm, I will definitely not get fitflops or other silly shoes then, will stick to my Crocs.

Am using the extra 5 mins in my bath saved by no longer leg-shaving to play with the Playmobil submarine.

Massively overpriced flip-flops IMO. I will stick to my Birks. Still in great condition and very comfortable after 3 summers.

Ok -.will re-read ( skim reading atm )

Doing this experiment I sacrificed heels and wore flip flops and nearly bloody broke my bloody neck.

LOTM lol! I did flipflops all one summet and ended up with that horrible heel complaint (can't rememeber what its called, but it bloody hurts!) Hate Birks though......

I'm a lurker on this thread and, though I definitely won't join (because I find my "beauty regime" relaxing rather than societal pressures) I am in awe of the women on this thread.

What I don't understand is why other posters feel the need to join the thread to tell the participants they are wrong. What business is it of anyone's? I don't see anyone on the Project Princess thread telling them they are wrong to follow certain beautifying practices or anyone on the Wise and Avid thread telling them how to spend their money?

Can we please leave this thread and the participants alone? They don't need to justify themselves.

Crikey - have just had a skim through the Project Princess thread. Seems like bloody hard work to me! But absolutely, if all that exfoliating floats someone's boat then who am I to tell them otherwise - or even to suggest that it's actually really, really bad for the skin and will make you more spotty, not less (I speak from bitter experience)?

( at the thread title, though... Who wants to be a princess, after all?)

Can you link the said thread? I feel as though I'm missing out on something.

Project Princess

LD - you are quite right - ( I only looked at this thread because I noticed one of my favourite posters was posting) I posted because I agreed with her and somehow got sucked in. It really is none of my business what other women do with their arms and legs.

Apologies.

& swallowedAfly - sorry. still don't really know what you're talking about.

thank you Lackadaisy
and if you ever decide that your beauty regime is not, you know, relaxing, but a tedious chore designed by the patriarchy deliberately to keep you in your place, you will be very welcome to join us

And another thing to possibly not be 'good enough' at - not enough exfoliating, not enough glasses of water a day, not enough dedication to the Shred etc etc... Exhausting and demoralising!

Wow I just read that.

I wear make up (I'm "in" the system I am aware) but I don't go through all that nonsense. Do they really have that much time to play with?

what is 'the Shred'?

Me too, LotM - I even have a daily skincare routine, but that's because I have properly awful cystic acne if I don't take very, very good care of my skin. But I draw the line at 20 rules a day!

But if other women want to do it - and it makes them happy to do so - then, horses for courses, imo. (I think, probably, maybe, not really, but, you know... )