It is commonplace that as humans we strive for perfection. Arguably especially as women. So there’s no surprise really that so few of us feel ‘perfect’ enough to consider ourselves true feminists. However, the truth is that when it comes to feminism the more the merrier, whether you choose to remove your body hair or not. Because that’s just what feminism is all about; having a choice, creating a world in which everybody is equal and women can choose to look however they would like and still have access to all opportunities that befall men. I like to feel like a dolphin from the eyebrows down, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to smash the patriarchy.
Quite often I do what I used to consider to be really un-feminist-y things like;
- Hurtle into the shower and at full speed shave my entire body ahead of a bootycall.
- Spend in excess of an hour doing my nails.
- Get sad when my roots reveal me as a not natural blonde.
- Get sad when a man rejects me.
- Get anxious waiting for a text after any contact with a male whatsoever.
- I mean, you get the picture…
The reality is though, that all of these things are choices I make as a woman, whether or not every woman or feminist would agree with it is really irrelevant because feminism needs every woman going. We need diversity, differing opinions, strength in numbers. Feminism won’t reject you for caring about superficial things, because feminism doesn’t care what you look like, only that you make your own choices for you and not because of outdated patriarchal standards of beauty. If you want massive surgically enhanced boobs just cos – GET.IT. I honestly find myself more impressed that women can afford them, rather than judge them for it. If I’m honest though, I think personally if I had that money I would rather spend it on a house deposit, even if only to finally be able to have a puppy and not worry about my security deposit going down the drain with my long vanquished love life. But then again perhaps that’s also because society has ingrained in me that as I approach the latter part of my 20s, I should be putting becoming a homemaker to the top of my priorities list – who knows. All I do know is that I am a feminist, however imperfect I am, however flawed my actions or emotions are at times; that’s being human and as women we are still humans. We are not and never will be perfect.
So men and women reading this, accept your inner feminism, strive for equality and be proud of every choice you make being yours.
We Only Get One Body 