What is Femininity?

I just posted this over at Twisty's place, because that's where I got inspired to make it, but I thought I'd post it here too. It's a collage I whipped up last night (I was in a funky depressed-manic mood, mostly from reading too many news stories that involved women being killed, maimed, or otherwise assaulted) in response to the question: What is femininity?

Femininity is one of those prettyful (and lately, empowerful) labels that society (a.k.a the patriarchy) uses to otherwise strip women of their status as humans. Some women cling to this label to be otherwise validated by men and women (as I used to be, in my insecure teenage days). Honestly, I'm not a great writer, so the collage below is meant to represent what I see when I hear the word "femininity".



(Here is the bigger version).

Take from that what you will.

I added the dumb fantasy part at the top, because to me femininity (as society sees it) is not only a stupid fantasy, but it's a fantasy where the feminine one is stupid (we're supposed to know more about the science of fashion, babies, and relationships, versus actual lab science, because our fragile feminine minds just aren't built for all those complicated concepts). On a side note, my dad told me he used to go to college with a guy who wanted to marry a "stupid woman", because then he would be able to tell her what to think and what to do. (I think he succeeded, and then they divorced just a few years later, unsurprisingly.)

For that "disinfected" feeling

I was on one of my rambling internet searches the other day (you know, the one where you start searching for a recipe using blackberries and somehow you end up reading all about american flag bikinis?) when I found this gem:

(Yanked from the Museum of Menstruation.)

Charming, huh? That was an ad for alternative uses of Lysol in 1948. I'm not too shocked that the medical profession view douching as "necessary" for a woman to retain her "youthfulness", but the website mentions that douching with Lysol was recommended "several times a week". I wouldn't even wash my most calloused skin with Lysol, never mind my more delicate regions.

Modern medicine has changed, but age old practices like douching still exist, especially in regions where people don't have access to good healthcare. Even women who don't douche on a regular basis, or at all, are still told that the douche is for "cleansing," and the US Dept. of Health and Human Services estimates that 20-40 percent of women still practice douching (which is absurd, considering the fact that the vagina, like the nose, is a self-cleaning organ), with at least half of those doing it once or more a week. The region inside the vagina is actually acidic (to prevent infections), and the best way to clean the vulva* is actually to use a more acidic soap (like Nature's Plus Natural Cleansing Bar, which also works great for the rest of your skin because the acidity helps slough off dead skin).

*Note that I said "vulva," not "vagina." The vulva is the external female genitalia, often confused with the vagina, which is actually just the region inside between the hymen and the cervix. It's best not to use any sort of cleaner on the sensitive membrane inside the vagina, but for the vulva, the acidic soap works the best. It's a bit of a peeve of mine that "vagina" is such a mainstream word people use when they actually mean the "vulva," but I'll save that discussion for later.