Changing femininity

I enjoyed the discussion we had in class on Tuesday.  Perhaps (probably) discussing femininity is more engaging to me since I can relate to it as a woman. I was most intrigued by the question of whether or not femininity is changing with time. I think that what we are really seeing is not that girls feel pressured to be "feminine" more early, but that girls are sexualized more early. Femininity does not equal motherhood or fertility anymore, but sexual attraction. For girls to really be women, to really be feminine, the pressure is not to have children, be good cooks, sew nicely, etc. The pressure is to look attractive to men. Obviously there are still behavioral expectations of being a little lady, being demure, etc. But women can escape those feminine behavioral expectations as long as they are sexy. In our society, women can be single, powerful, dominating, as long as they are sexual. A woman who is single, powerful, dominating, and not sexy is just a bitch. Beauty is the ultimate validation, because as long as you are beautiful, no one will question if you are a woman. In line with this thought is the fact that a beautiful lesbian is shocking. People would ask, why are you a lesbian? But an unattractive lesbian is not so shocking; rather, it is what people expect. Ugly women have to prove their femininity, beautiful women get a free pass.