This is so true. I ride motorcycles and worked in the motorsports industry, I always made a point of not dressing "girly" or wearing the kinds of riding gear that accentuated the fact that I was female. I'm so happy that the newest generation of female riders have amazing skills, no fear, and some dress like girls while others are more comfortable in guys gear. Things are slowly getting better, but they're still far from equal.

Yeah, I hear you. I didn't start wearing pink until I was in my 20's and admitted to myself that it's a nice color and there's nothing about it that inherently signifies weakness.

Over here we had some discussions about using the male and female terms when talking about people or continuing to only use the male version for (nearly) everything. There was one woman who said that she had struggled to get respect and recognition in her field so she saw it as the best compliment ever to, well, never being mentioned and e.g. being called a male programmer instead of a female programmer. This led her to hate feminists because they apparently wanted to take the respect away she earned so hard. I was quite devastated when I read this. It always makes me furious and sad when women learned that everything woman is bad and try to be "the cool girl who is not like the others" to please some idiot dudes and get a minimum of respect.

wow I share the same feminity=inferiority mentality growing up too! I hated playing with "girly" toys or associate myself with anything remotely feminine. still I can't see myself as one of the boys because they never want to play with a "girl" like me. I grew up without friends and a whole lot of self-loathing. having my first period made me an extremely angry person too because it pretty much "confirms" that I have a uterus thus is a woman. thankfully I grew adulthood when internet is easily within reach and I have read, learn, and reset myself. though I still don't like to call myself as a female, I'm not as negative towards feminity as I did before.

Same here. Except I was already adult when I decided to avoid all feminine things and only play male characters in video games (I still do play mostly male characters, though in many games' case it's because of the hypersexualization of the female characters)... I even had a point where I just didn't want to be female AT ALL, even considered a sex change seriously... but I grew out of it realizing that I am not alone in feeling like this, I met many women on MMORPGs who play male characters and women who , and with the internet giving better access to information on feminism (as opposed to pre-internet where I was told the "feminism = misandry" myth, and family never even mentioned it), I learned that there is hope for the future and future generations of the world to improve, for everyone of all gender/sexuality/etc.

Me too. I didn't even allow myself to like pink until I was 31 because I wanted to prove I wasn't inferior. I disliked everything stereotypically feminine. Now I embrace it!

I completely relate. I’m 62 and have been a hard assed women all my life because I didn’t want to be a “typical girly girl”, weak and ground under the feet of men. Yet, I too came to realize I was working against my gender really. Not wanting to be a girly girl was objectifying women even worse. We can be strong, feminist & feminine, cry at sad movies & plumb the kitchen too. In order to move ahead we have to quit demonizing our own sex, have each other’s backs prove we’re made up of all these magnificent traits. I still hate pink though. Damn.

OMG I relate to this a lot. I think that's why I have gotten the idea that if I wear makeup or short shorts or crop tops doanything that accentuates the fact that I was a girl, I will just be a girly-girl. Basic. Ordinary. I'm a smart girl and I thought that being feminine would somehow remove that. Now, I understand that this isn't how feminine expression works, but sometimes I wonder who is a certain person beyond their appearance and self-expression. Now I understand I often only see one side of some people. But I'm still uncomfortable with the idea of wearing crop tops, short shorts, or makeup.

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as a man, f**k off pretty please. Maybe your feminity is b******t, but for us, masculinity is not b******t. You have no right to expect us to be like you want or need. We dont exist for you, or your society.

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"Now I accept that femininity and masculinity are b******t" Yeah...Good luck with that.