It is so annoying to see girls share memes that say stuff like, "I'm not a normal girl. I don't wear a lot of makeup and I'm always wearing sweatpants and a messy bun. I guess that makes me more of a guy."
First off: No.
Second, why does having a laid-back look or liking football and beer make you less of a girl?
It really doesn't, so why keep pushing that idea?
I can't begin to explain the number of girls I follow on Twitter or Instagram who've posted pictures of them all dressed up for the day or getting ready to go out with captions like, "I finally wore something other than Nike shorts and t-shirt," but every week they're posting pictures with a full face of makeup and a cute, feminine outfit on.
There are girls who love to talk about how "boyish" they are because they never wear makeup, but you'll never catch them in public without some on.
Now, ladies, I don't know about you, but I don't lounge around in my house with a beat face and an Insta-worthy outfit on. I'm bare-faced—maybe some mascara—and in a tee with comfy pants.
This doesn't make me less feminine. Wearing this in public doesn't mean I'm not girly. Wearing this means I'm comfortable and not any less of a woman.
Girls are taught that being a girl means being dressed up and pretty, which can severely affect their body image. This eventually leads to girls not feeling "girly enough" when they don't dress up all the time.
It's such a toxic thing to enforce on women and girls, and only damages people.
Don't get me wrong, I love to dress up, do a full face and feel like a goddess. Looking good makes me feel good, but not being dressed to the nines doesn't make me feel any less confident in myself.
This is the way every woman should be.
You shouldn't have to be done up all the time to be seen as or feel like a woman.
If you identify as one, you are one—it's as simple as that.
There is no need to put pressure on yourself to always have a perfect outfit or a flawless face. You are a woman no matter what you wear or what you look like.
Whether you wear Nike shorts to class every day or show up like you just got back from NYFW, you're still a girl.
Wearing jerseys, sweatpants, oversized shirts, and hoodies don't make you "boyish," they make you comfortable.
Having a big messy bun and only a swipe of mascara doesn't mean you're not girly, it just means you took the simplistic route getting ready.
We need to stop enforcing the idea that the only way to be a "real girl" is to be done up all the time.
Feel like a girl and feel comfortable doing it.
