Is femininity at risk?

In class we discussed Simone Beauvoir and the question of whether femininity is at risk. Femininity is a natural characteristic of women. It differentiates us from men through our personality and emotions. The idea of femininity has changed overtime not to fit a women’s natural characteristics but to project characteristic of the historical image of the wife, mother, and housekeeper. Femininity has been manipulated to fit stereotype of the ideal women. Femininity is not at risk but the conservative idea of femininity is. The conservative takes the natural characteristics of femininity, nurturing, protective, kind, and has developed it to fit guidelines on how women are suppose to act, think, and dress. The stereotypes of femininity has oppressed women socially, creating a perception that a feminine women is not one who shares the same duties as men as “bread winners”, decision makers, and intellectuals. Stereotypes of women are widely seen in TV, movies, and images that flood are everyday life’s. These images depict the ideal women as wearing “feminine” clothing (dresses, skirts, heels), taking care of certain duties (cleaning, cooking, and parenting), and sometimes depicting the feminine women depending on men to make decisions that they can not comprehend (financial decisions, political decisions, and ideological decisions). I think of a heterosexual women who is opposite of what I believes society depicts, enjoying being single, career oriented, opinionated, financially independent, educated, politically aware and this is the fear of the conservative. But would these actions make this women unfeminine? I agree with Simone Beauvoir that if feminism is a natural characteristic it could not be lost. I do not by any means think that women should not wear dresses or clean their house if she please, but I am just trying to acknowledge that these actions do not make a women feminine. What makes them feminine is those characteristics that can not be lost. Historically we can see a change in how women dress. It is appropriate to wear jeans, which earlier in history would be thought as outrageous, so clothing can not determine if a women is feminine or not. I choose to wear dresses and heels, but although this may be the social idea of femininity, I believe that what makes me feminine is the characteristics that separate me from men (personality, emotion), not by what I wear or what my career is. I believe that the societies understanding of femininity is part of a bigger problem that compromises the acceptance that women are equal to men.