I hate the fact that people instantly (and often harshly) judge women on their looks – even other women. Making huge assumptions about wether a stranger is gay or straight or bi, wether or not to even bother acknowledging their presence or listening to their opinions. Ultimately judging their value based purely on appearance in an instant.
I’m lucky to have got to know a diverse range of people over the years who are compelling, imaginative, kind and supportive, precisely because I’ve withheld judgment and made the effort to get to know them – properly.
I’ve always been inspired by women like Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, Patti Smith, Karen O, Juliette Lewis and Skin from Skunk Anansie. These are all strong, intelligent women who have their own very individual style, who are attractive precisely for those reasons.
Massively famous celebrities like Beyonce, Angelina and Drew Barrymore are all naturally pretty but they are also inspiring for their charity efforts, their support of other women and the fact they are amazingly canny business women. This often comes across in glossy magazine interviews but those interviews are often bookended by impossibly perfect, airbrushed photo shoots and advertisements.
So it’s not surprising that the supportive feminist message isn’t quite getting through to our subconscious on a daily basis.
Most days I look like a uni-student, an emo, a rock chick, a bit of a slob even. I have long wild hair, I’m not obsessively arsed about the exact amount of hours my foundation stays in place for and my eye liner is permanently smudged.
I love playing COD, chatting about fantasy and sci-fi series and watching extreme sports rather than fashion vloggers on You Tube. I say ‘dude’ and ‘awesome’ way too much and you will never catch me describing something as ‘amaze’ or ‘totes fabs’. I don’t gush over cupcake designs on Pinterest or give a crap about who designed which medieval torture devise pair of high heels.
According to the opinions of a vast majority of society all of the above must mean women like me are a) Too laddish and not interested in being feminine b) Therefor a lesbian, or c) A clueless girl to be pitied and patronisingly taken on as someone’s project d) Fine to be the butt of a snide comment.
Ok so it’s not the end of the world and we all know to ignore strangers idle or rude opinions on our appearance. But if one chooses to calmly walk down the street wearing their shirt as a skirt and their trousers as a top whilst wearing a cat on their head – it shouldn’t matter!
It’s ridiculous that women are required to look perfectly preened in order to be taken seriously by other women. When we do this to each other, we are really only doing it to ourselves. The notion that we must constantly act and dress overtly femininely to be worthy of male attention is also ridiculous. If I’m nipping to the shops, I’m most likely going in my tracky bottoms and The Blokes jumper, to be honest. However a person chooses to look does not give passing groups of men or bitchy women a license to judge harshly – or at all.
So next time we catch ourselves making lazy assumptions, lets stop and try to see with more than just our eyes.
Vamp It Up 