I have often wondered, what rule in what book ever stipulated that feminists cannot be fashionistas?

I don’t know why the stereotype that exists of feminists are butch, hairy, muscular man-haters who burn bras. FYI also, the bra burning never happened–it was a misconstruing of a protest of the Miss World pageant in the states where feminists threw into a bin items symbolic of patriarchy and control–but there was never any burning, tcah.

But anyway, there is this common idea that feminists are…well…dowdy, for the want of a better word. That feminists cannot be young and beautiful and have nice handbags. That feminists don’t wear makeup (or bras, for that matter) and think high heels are a waste of time.

Nevermind the fact that many non-feminists also think high heels are a waste of time.

But anyway, I suspect it’s the fact that feminists are by and large opposed to patriarchy (no duh, Cap’n Obvious) which is often linked in turn to capitalism, which is often understood as the buy-buy-buying of things we are falsely induced into thinking we need.

Perhaps I am a bit messed up for thinking so, but I have oftentimes felt shamed for calling myself a feminist yet loving the things I do: fashion, makeup, women’s magazines, photography. It’s self-censorship on my part, for consciously avoiding talking about these things for the fear of coming across as vapid and dumb-blondesque, but seriously, I cannot be bothered any longer.

I believe that women’s rights are human rights, and in “feminism: the radical notion that women are people” (I forget who). I also believe that one shouldn’t (emphasis on the shouldn’t) feel the compelling urge to buy anything and everything that comes one’s way fashion-wise, and I don’t believe women should be objectified and made up as sex objects all the time.

I believe in fighting for causes that are bigger than oneself; however, I believe in not losing myself in the process. If pretty shoes or sparkly jewelry makes you happy, why deny yourself if you can afford it? Donations to causes, be it time, money or effort, should come from a heart that is happy and willing to give. For the more altruistic among us, perhaps they are content to give and give and claim that the knowledge that they have contributed to society is enough, but me…I need to be happy meself in order to give to others! And I’m not saying that this is always the case, but I’m made happy by pretty things (so sue me, I like aesthetically-pleasing things).

So I love trawling shops, and looking at pretty pictures of people in beautiful clothes to admire the harmony of all the little things that make up a beautiful photograph: lighting, expression, body movement; I love not wearing the same thing twice in a month (guilty as can be–I haven’t worn the same outfit twice in 10 weeks) and I also love the ideas of gender equality and a society free of violence.

And maybe these things I love do contradict each other on certain levels, but it also brings a new level of consciousness into what I do or enjoy–I adore cuts and materials that skim the human form, be it male or female, and I love seeing people being captured on film, but I am also aware that I do not condone a blatant sexualisation of a person, especially if they are a minor. I know there is a thin line between classy and trashy that is hard to define, but these boundaries are often shifting.

All I know is that these things are a part of me, and are what I love. I’m finding that I can integrate all these things into my life, these little indulgences that make me happy, and couple it with an ideology I love. There is nothing wrong with beauty, or being beautiful, or wanting to be beautiful–of course it depends on whose definition of beauty it is

And there goes my feminist again…