The Feminism of Hyper Femininity - More Than a Style

WATCH MORE - Barbie core was one of the most prominent fashion waves to kick off this trend. Here's our TAKE on how hot pink became empowering again: https://youtu.be/W8n9LOyAa1M

I love that being hyper feminine isn't as degraded nowadays. Elle Woods taught me to be proud of myself and my girliness.

"Legally Blonde" was all about hyper-feminine feminism... wearing pink, heels, and pursuing a prestigious law degree

Masculinity and femininity aren’t and shouldn’t be treated as total opposites or enemies to assert dominance, but rather lifestyles that can and should complement each other.

A big part of feminism is being allowed to have choice

I'll never be a hyper feminine type of person myself but it's a relief to see people embracing femininity, instead of accusing it of weakness or vapidness.

I use to be a tomboy when I was younger but when I got older I wanted to be more feminine. Also I was tired of being masculinized as a black woman so I started doing my makeup more, wearing more “ girly “ colors like pink, trying out different hair styles. and dressing up more.

Can I just say that I’m happy to see the Barbie girlies being given what they’ve been asking for years? Also, Margot Robbie has been killing it in look after look. Good for her. It’s her ‘Legally Blonde’ Era.

For me, the Barbie movie marks the epitome of hyperfemininity, and I'm very happy about that, because for many years pop culture saw the feminine as something less, but now being feminine is something to be proud of.

I was a "tomboy" as a kid, grew up on a little farm, so was more into my animals and running around in the woods with the neighbor boys than barbies. But I also wore dresses with petticoats when I was 8. But I hated pink. Fashion was always a thing for me, but being weird. I wore men's suits and ties, polyester 70s womens disco pant suits, and sparkly minidresses in middle school, goth, punk, whatever. Never in a box, just not pink. Lol. Now? I look good in pink. Why did I hate it so much? Because I'm 37, and the 90s hated femme women.

It seems like a big portion of this revolves around identity simply being a pattern of consumption If anything this compliment the "Girl Boss" era by creating a complete female economic agent, the worker-consumer. The Girl Boss is the worker generating value and receiving a wage. The Hyper Feminine is the consumer consuming value and generating company revenue I don't know if the creation of the female economic agent (Girl Boss - Hyperfem) is liberating or simply converting cultural gender roles to economic gender roles. I am leaning towards the latter given neoliberalism has slowly redefined all institutions (companies, government, education, dating, and democracy) into markets. I see no reason why gender would not be next

Hi! April J here! Thank you so much for mentioning the Shabby Princess Aesthetic! To address some of the comments about consumerism: the hallmarks of Shabby Princess are DIYs (no need to buy new clothes), size inclusivity, and historical leaning fashion influences! This aesthetic is inspired by Edwardian and 1970s silhouettes with loads of lace and ribbon details. For most aesthetics, I noticed there was a need for perfect hair and makeup. I decided to be a Shabby Princess there's no need for any of that. This requires no special shoes, I encourage sneakers and boots! Comfort is prioritized. It's for all genders and can be easily modified in the workplace. Overall, I wanted to create (or reinspire) a style choice that is financially, physically, and happily accessible to as many people as possible. To be mentioned in this video is truly an honor! I hope for anyone who decides to find refuge in style, that you find what your heart desires <3

I just worry that eventually consumerism will overtake this very soon. I hope not but it happens so often. Also I hope this doesn't push down women who don't identify with the feminine aesthetic. More gender expression not less.

I’m a pretty high-femme person, but I think we’re accepting the ‘Barbie Girl-Power’ stuff extremely uncritically. The aesthetic is fun but it’s just repackaged consumerism. Dressing like a fairy is cool, (I do it all the time!) but I don’t think people’s individual choice to dress high femme is actually making conditions better for marginalised women in dire living conditions, or for the sweatshop workers producing the clothes. It’s not even subverting what is already expected from women in our society! “What if women could work extremely hard and be ultra-competent while never looking less than beautiful and perfect?” It’s the exact ideal that is already imposed on us! How is that subversive? We are punished for looking too masculine or unsexy or tired or flawed or imperfect. Nobody is getting disadvantaged for being too competent and beautiful. I feel like the actual goals of intersectional feminism are about improving quality of life, freedom of choice and living conditions for everyone. I don’t think being high-femme is bad or wrong, (I find it artistic & joyful!) but I worry that it’s being sold as something subversive and politically active when it’s not. There is definitely a level of subversion in women of colour, disabled, queer and fat women’s inclusion in hyperfeminine spaces! So credit where it’s due there. That’s progress! But consumerism isn’t feminism. Feeling sexy or beautiful when you buy things isn’t feminism. They can all be fun! But they don’t do anything to challenge/improve the systemic issues women face around the world, or dissolve the standards of femininity we are punished for deviating from. What you can do is things like advocating for your friends if they get discriminated against, sourcing your clothes more sustainably, unionising if you can, attending protests, doing mutual aid, community work, voting, learning more about intersectionality, supporting small businesses, etc. It’s not as easy as just having a fun outfit, but it actually does contribute to improving people’s living conditions beyond your own.

As a queer hyperfemme myself I’m certainly full of joy seeing the identity blossom. What is less joyous to me is that, as it happens with anything becoming a prominent aesthetics in our age, embracing femininity is now more and more associated with buying more and more goods, and such odes to consumption can be seen even in the tiktoks quoted in this video. It would probably not hurt to mention also that thrifting, sharing goods you already have with friends, making your own clothes and, well, not buying an additional eyeshadow palette just because it’s in a cute pink box do not make you any less hyperfemme, maybe even more so, taken into account the traditional women’s crafts and historically often having to run a home responsibly. All in all, hyperfemininity really can be both inspiring and helping to form a supporting community, but it seems important not to fall into the trap that girlboss agenda once fell into — the one of confusing female agency for engaging in late-capitalist ploys

It's really beautiful to be a part of a huge group of girls who felt the need to tone down or masculinize ourselves for validation finally trying to own our joy

I grew up in the 90's so I was very much a part of that group of girls who rejected anything feminin. I was a tomboy and always wanted to hang out with the guys. I wanted nothing to do with girly stuff. In college, I met quite a few mean girls in my major and in one of my clubs. Because of that, combined with my hobbies being male-dominated, I actively stayed away from other women and embraced male friendships. It took me too long to realize that becoming "one of the guys" means you aren't really female to your guy friends. Today, I still have far more male friends than female one and my hobbies are still male-dominated, but I'm actively looking for more female friendships. It really takes friendships from all types of people to fully grow and develop as a person. It's also great to have that support network. My guy friends are great, but there are just some things that they won't get, but my girl friends will. I'm still not into traditionally "girly" pursuits, but I know longer see them as bad things. I'm glad they are being re-claimed by people all over the world, even if they aren't for me, specifically. 🙂

Not a single word of feminist theory was read for this video and it shows. Maybe jut question for one second whether something is really an ~empowering choice~ when it's pretty much only women doing it. Women who will get mocked when they choose not to conform to things like wearing make up

I love this and want more, but let's also appreciate the girls and others who wanna go another way. T-shirts, jeans and muddy doc martens? That's good too.

Just something for The Take to think about for a future video essay, basically although they already covered the Madonna, Whore Complex, &did videos where they discussed The Tomboy &The Girly-girl trope; basically I feel that at some point they could at least go into full length about what is it with The Tomboy vs. The Girly-girl rivalry narratives; essentially it's like a subtext of wealth differences for women, 1 example, that only rich girls could afford to be Girly& the price of "Girly" items (makeup, clothes& hair products) backs that up, whereas the Tomboy is portraited as from a working class background, &then there's the narrative of when their backgrounds are reversed, basically how only rich/noble women where allowed the privilege to practice masculine "hobbies" whereas if women wanted to advance in life, they needed to incorporate their femininity for it, let alone which woman gets the "preferential treatment" is because of some jerk's whims, &finally for the complexity of it, that there really needs to be more narratives made about a girl whose miserable at being forced into hyperfemininity, befriending a girl whose as miserable at being forced into masculinity,