What's feminism?

The other day I was scrolling down on Tumblr and I stumbled upon a post talking about feminism. It was a long article telling about how girls should stop taking care of what they look like and instead just stop shaving their legs, keep on wearing skirts, and be strong like men. Well, it is one (wo)man's point of view. And so I started to ask myself what was mine, what was feminism. Actually it is a complicated question. Many girls seem to think that to be feminist is to stop shaving, wear short skirts and be proud of it. But I don't really agree with that. Do you really think that it is all about appearance? Feminism tends to be a lot more. You actually should be able to still shave, still wear make up, still try to look pretty, but to ourselves, and not for boys. This is not even what's feminism should be about, actually feminism shouldn't exist since sex equality should be a thing. Anyways, that's another problem. 

Feminism in my view is defined the best by two books, Homme et Femme by Annie Leclerc and La Femme gelée by Annie Ernaux. Those two French writers explain their points of views on this question that is feminism, and it is a lot about the acceptance of being a woman and how to be proud of it. It is not because we like to care about our appearance, because we love to look pretty, to carefully choose our clothes and looks, that we have to be ashamed. It is neither because a woman wants to stay at home to take care of her kids that she has to feel bad about her situation. This two French writers see feminism the right way: you have to be proud to be a woman, whatever you want to be. You can be a soldier in the national army, a mother at home, a girl who loves to wear make up, a gril who prefers to stop wearing it and stop shaving her legs, you can actually make all the choices that you want. You don't ahem to change anything, you don't have to wait for a men's approbation. 

So what's feminism? Feminism is being the woman you want to be without caring for what men think, feminism should actually be about us like Annie Leclerc explains it in her book: men should just stop considering what's feminine as a bad thing. It is the only step which needs to be taken. Men, change your minds, and leave women do whatever they want. This is feminism.

xo

Amy