Femininity- for ARTS ILLUSTRATED magazine- feb-Mar 2014

Romance, delicacy, mystery, innocence, slender curves, subtlety, poise, beautiful lines...

As I received the topic from Arts Illustrated, I thought I am a female and therefore this should come naturally to me. It did not. Paintings of women since even before renaissance have always been beautiful, romantic and passionate. The best actresses have all these traits.

'Taking care of yourself' is widely sold by media and people, a constant reminder of wearing the femininity and re-touching it whenever we laugh too hard or even use the washroom. Mystery has to be kept intact.

 Spending some time in introspection and looking at the mirror for the hundredth time, I gave up and concluded, maybe I am a MAN. Being a man is more comfortable since the first thing people recognize you with is a 'character', could be even frivolous for that matter but I am free to exist.

With all the lost confidence I went back to the artwork, which now just 'had' to be done. Once all the romance was lost, the facts came in. Looking around I saw real people. People of all genders and most of them do not fit nowhere completely. But still we all exist and are constantly struggling to be free.Then why do we need definitions?

If we still want definitions, there is one right here straight from Google- Femininity is socially constructed, but made up of both socially-defined and biologically-created factors. This makes it distinct from the definition of the biological female sex as both men and women can exhibit feminine traits. Knowledge liberates and yes it did.

This time I picked the brush and took a long breath and just let myself be.

To sum it up, 'femininity' is a trait of personality, which cannot be defined by any shape, curves or any form. Rather it is the bubble inside each human being aspiring them to live and celebrate life, connecting each to their true self inside.