I see a lot of Tumblr users who don't know their feminist history attributing the fact that women* are "allowed" to be masculine under the patriarchy as some sort of facet of the patriarchy universally accepting masculinity over femininity and that shit pisses me off so bad.
The reason why women* are "allowed" to be masculine when men* "aren't" allowed to be feminine under patriarchy is because DYKES and BUTCHES and other masculine women* SPENT DECADES FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS TO EXIST PUBLICLY.
The fact that women* can wear pants and suits etc. and are not constantly forced to be hyper feminine/in adherence with strict gendered dress codes without punishment (AND ONLY IN SOME COUNTRIES!) is a win on behalf of feminist political action NOT because of some baseline acceptance of masculinity in everybody by the patriarchy.
(*and people forcibly socially classed as women and men)
Like oh my lord some of you need to shut the fuck up and learn what it was like to be socially classed as a woman before the sexual revolution and what it continues to be like outside of the imperial core.
You are reaping the benefits of the activists who have come before you but because you do not know your history you are treating it like the boons of the oppressor classes and you are blind for it.
It's also worth noting that while women* can be masculine it's not accepted, just tolerated. Ro Mooknee has a very good video related to this in which she discusses a trope of the masculine or tomboyish woman being "rescued" back into feminity in media. Wether that be through the actions of a male love interest or the result of growing out of a phase.
The patriarchy would still prefer to "fix" you but have learned actually arguing that point gets them nowhere. It doesn't mean they won't try other methods to bring you back to "womanhood".
Here the video for anyone interested:
Respect the history that came before, and don't let the fight end there.













