"Feminity" as a means of Oppression
"Feminity" is what men expect from a woman and they set THEIR standards to define it.
"Socially , femaleness means feminity, which means attractiveness to men; which means sexual avaibility on male terms. What defines women as such is what turn men on". Catharine Mac Kinnon.
All the females who don't correspond to the body "feminine" standards are "mannish". Other executive women have "masculine" traits because they evolve in a men's world.
Since powerful women have "masculine" traits it shows that POWER REPRESENT MEN.
Women have to be careful not to lose their "feminity" when they are executive women . Alexandre Dumas father already used to say at the time of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800's : "A woman would lose her feminity if she steps in an office" but he wasn't embarrassed at the millions of women obliged to "step in" factories at that time ; it is of course a less powerful job. Some today even wonder how women who work could be good mother(!).
Magazines (again) will report the feminity degree of politician women, their clothes,
their stylists, their haircut; it's belittling them but depriving women of their credit is a characteristic of the consumer's society.
"Feminity" doesn't exist , it was created by Patriarchy and it maintains women oppressed by pejoratively labelling them.
When women prove they can do without men , like lesbians -that is to say women who don't need them- they are labelled as "badly fucked" , "frustrated", "tomboy"... Some are also attacked on their general appearance because they don't correspond to (male) attractiveness standards.
On another side, men who have females physical or behavioral features are not well considered too since they evolve in a male heterosexual society (like women).
FEMINITY IS OPPRESSION because it suppose a kind of behavior on women and those who go beyond are socially banned.
Men don't want to see their powerful position and their order challenged and will always try to weaken and attack all those who try to .
When men would no longer represent power, equality would have been gained.