What Does a Feminist Look Like?
“You don’t LOOK like a feminist”. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard this particular adage. Mostly it comes from men, but you might be surprised how often it comes from other women. The most recent occurrence got me thinking - in this day and age, what exactly does a feminist look like? Feminism and conventional femininity have long had a tenuous relationship and for good reason. During the second wave of feminism in the 1960s, women largely rejected “traditional” femininity. Such a reaction was understandable given the restrictive morals governing women’s behaviour in the decades prior. These morals continued the age-old trend of placing high value on rigid standards of personal appearance. What a woman looked like was more important than who she was and what she was capable of. Feminism, quite rightly, reacted strongly to these standards, resulting in the much-pared-down fashion styles of the sixties and seventies. With the rise of third-wav...