girlanarchy:

Femininity is an invented performance ideal to keep women systematically second-class and perpetually adherent to the male gaze. You cannot reclaim it without conforming to what’s already expected of you by patriarchy and you cannot empower yourself by “choosing” to adhere to feminine standards because women have never been offered a valued alternative to femininity.

Femininity was literally created as a way of restricting those not born into the male power structure and segregating them from the empowered, liberated male ideal. Anyone who continues to associate male ideals of femininity with womanhood is actively contributing to the continuation of patriarchy and continued oppression of women.