A Foreward, then Fashion and Feminism

I haven't updated in a long time, and I am sorry. I am still political, and I am still a feminist, but I'm not as loud as I used to be. What it comes down to is the fact that I've had no one who cares about my socio-political ragefits, and that I've been completely wrapped up in the shallower aspects of my life - Boys, Men, Sex, Illicit Substances and Getting An "A" in [School Subject].

I miss how much I used to care about the world. I feel like I should come back to this blog with my collegiate experience and inject my newer knowledge into these here pixels.

Some of this newer knowledge comes from my recent introduction into the traditionally "feminine". I'm wearing makeup, pretty clothes and generally embracing my womanly figure, which is far from the willowy form I maintained at 15. I am starting to care about fashion. I am becoming vain.

I feel contradictory every time I put on mascara, and rouge my cheeks and lips. When I wear my flowing skirts I feel like I'm aiding in my oppression rather than subverting the ideology of What A Woman Should Be. This is possibly due to my horrible self esteem and the fact that during this feminization, I've become quieter about my feminism. It's odd, but true.

Why do I continue these activities? Because when I look in the mirror I like my big, bold eyes. When I move around campus, I love the swish swish swish of my skirts around my stockinged knees. I feel like a five year old again, playing in my mother's paint pots and pretending I'm a princess, adjusting my skirts to the exact princess-ly specifications a la Disney.

I know I'm not the only feminist who enjoys playing femme. And I definitely I'm not the only young feminist who adores dressing girly (and weird).

Style Rookie is one of my new favorite blogs. It's my first fashion blog, and the best part it is by a young girl who started blogging about fashion when she was 10.

Ten years old.

She is currently 14, just in her first year of high school, and reading her entries encouraged me to start writing in this here blog again. She has gained some acclaim in the blogsphere and fashion world for her age, writing ability, and sheer-awesome style (At one point she sought to strongly emulate the stylings of Courtney Love, to which I loveloveloved). I look at how she dressed and her wonderful clothes and I just think to myself that I want to dress like her (which I am nearly at all by myself) and how I want to have children like her (we can only hope) and finally, how I want to continue writing.

She is the first prodigy I'm not insanely jealous of. Maybe because she and I have similar view on purity rings and Taylor Swift. I love me some intelligent 14 year olds, I want to meet her one day and exclaim how she's amazing, an inspiration, and how I wish I had continued blogging like she obviously has.

Now, if I hadn't made it clear about the purity ring-Taylor Swift comment, this pretty little thing is a feminist. An open feminist. Who obviously has answered the "how can you care about fashion and feminism at the same time" question, which makes me glow from the inside with sheer love and joy.

She thinks of fashion as art, wearable art, which makes her wardrobe choices that much more coherent and also explains her wonderful writing abilities. Because a child at ten who writes about fashion and is easily mistaken for someone twice that is stunning, and a child at ten that grows to be a young woman of fourteen and is still writing is twice as much miraculous.

This is pretty much a gush-fest for a real figure in female empowerment. Not going to be but actually is. Adults should look up to this girl. I know I certainly do, even if my nineteen years barely qualifies me as an adult.

**Edit: I'm a liar, she was like 12 when she started her blogging win BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE SHE'S STILL AWESOME, I WISH I WAS THAT COOL AT 12 OSJGBNAGHFUBGAIFGOA