Pink and Proud!

OK, regular readers - you thought I was just comic relief - I'm about to get...gulp...controversial.

I've come across an interesting trend within my professional/personal relationships lately, so of course I have to spill my guts about it here - what exactly is wrong with girls/women enjoying feminine things like the color pink, lace, bows, feminine clothes, etc.?

I dunno - maybe it's my Southern Belle tendencies, but I unabashedly and unashamedly love pink, love feminine clothes, love my curves, and love being a woman. I've also unabashedly and unashamedly nurtured those tendencies in my girls - Princess Elizabeth refuses to wear anything but dresses and skirts, loves dressing up in the frilliest outfits possible and loves, seriously LOVES, pink. When presented with a choice of outfits, Princess Grace will go for the girliest things every time.

I don't see this as a problem. I don't think this means they'll be rejected from top universities, denied access to the executive suites in their jobs or treated as bimbos simply because they wear feminine things. In fact, I know a number of extremely feminine women executives who won't hesitate to rip your head off and shove it down your neck if need be - while retaining their good manners, poise and a charming smile, of course.

I kinda thought we'd left this thinking in the 80s along with big shoulder pads and even bigger hair. Apparently not - I know mothers who will do anything to keep their female children out of ruffles and bows, and I also know moms who deliberately named their girls "gender neutral" names to theoretically avoid saddling them with female stereotypes later in life.

Huh?

Look, if you name your child "Bambi" or "Candi" or some other pseudo-hooker-hoochie-mama name, maybe I buy that. But otherwise - are you kidding me? Do you honestly think a gender neutral name is going to give them a leg up on their female buddies somewhere in life?

Here's the deal - I'm female and dang proud of it. I've got (fairly) perky (for nursing two babies, heck yeah!) breasts, I've got a name no one would ever assign to a male and I like wearing feminine, but appropriate, clothes. (You will never find me out without my drawers.) Yes, ladies, even - gasp! - feminine business clothes. What I also have is a pretty dang sharp mind, a great education, even greater experience in my field, and a slew of male and female clients and colleagues who actively seek my counsel. I'm also tough as nails with hardcore determination, a competitive streak a mile wide and a pain tolerance to surpass most NFL players (all natural, no drug childbirth, baby - did it and LOVED it!) If you think that whole "Steel Magnolias" thing is a bunch of Hollywood hooey, you have obviously never spent any time with Southern women.

If you don't buy into my theory (which I guess is the theory that being a girl is okay?!), fine - go do your gender neutral thing and love it - whatever works for you. But, don't be looking down your nose thinking you and your young'uns are intellectually superior to my Queenly self and my pretty Princesses just because we're female and we like it. My girls may take dance classes and play dress up with frilly costumes, but I haven't yet found an intellectual or athletic challenge they won't take. They're all girls, I'm all woman, and we're all proud as punch about it.

If we're working so hard to squelch femininity, what does that teach the next generation of girls about themselves? And if this is what we're teaching them, why are we surprised that eating disorders, depression, etc. are running rampant with our young women? When did being a girl become a bad thing?