Thread by @RadfemBlack

Real #BodyPositivity is ditching harmful, patriarchal rituals of femininity that disempower women as individuals & a class & waste our time, energy, money, & health, also getting us to support the status quo by giving money to patriarchal corporations that profit off of sexism.

Imagine how much time and money women waste applying makeup, shaving, dieting, plastic surgery, veiling, etc al, that our brothers don’t even consider! It’s like women are always socially/culturally coerced somehow, someway, into torturing ourselves.

- If men don’t do it, why should we? What positivity do any of these things bring us as women? Why should we indulge double standards?
- If we want an end to oppression, why should we support oppressive systems and standards with our dollars and participation?

You can mouth all the “feminist” and “revolutionary” rhetoric you want, but if you don’t back these words and theories up with action, it’s not going to change anything; material reality will stay the same. Unjust systems will stay intact until we actively destroy them.

- If you want to try to defend these as “choices”, are women born unhappy with our bodies, according to that brilliant “logic”?
- What else other than a fundamentally flawed world would get millions of members of half of the population to “choose” procedures & rituals that are

uncomfortable, painful, degrading, unnecessary, & many times actually dangerous & unhealthy?
- Something is not an actual “choice” if society grooms you into making it and stigmatizes those who refuse to conform. All of these things will only be actual “choices” when there is no

cultural backlash against not doing them. “Choosing” something to avoid shame, whether internal and external, isn’t a free choice. Look at how much of a stir Alicia Keys caused for NOT wearing makeup to the #Grammys a couple years ago.

The first act of violence against women patriarchy demands is us against ourselves, trying to twist our bodies into looking like what we’ve been groomed to see as “normal”. No girl

comes out of the womb thinking her body hair is gross and having any concept of hair removal, or having the idea that she should cover her face with either a piece of fabric or colored chemicals.

Here is a good rule to live by: when you find yourself doing what the status quo already wants you to do, stop and think critically about what you’re doing.

I’m tired of this idea that critiquing “choices” that stem from and contribute to sexism is somehow anti-feminist itself. Feminism isn’t saying that a woman can’t do whatever, that women don’t have any right to do whatever is being criticized, but it’s definitely not hyping up

counterproductive things that essentially amount to self-harm — it’s acknowledging things that harm women, and taking action against them. Collective liberation for women as a sex class from discrimination can’t happen if we don’t self-reflect and see how ourselves and other

women may be playing into upholding these systems. It’s called class consciousness. And no, you don’t need to be “perfect” and avoid all of these things; just see the problems with it.

#NoBeautyDuty #TakeOffTheCorset #EscapeTheCorset #WomenRevolt #ChangeSocietyNotYourBody