Ballet Pink Nail Polish

I think that baby pink nail polish, that shade reminiscent of pointe shoes, is symbolic of a lot of things that women should be. Not in a stereotypical way, not like every woman should be doing ballet or figuratively floating around with graceful arm movements. But a woman should be polished and tasteful- pretty in the more intricate senses of the word. With the re-emergence of 90s fashion like some bat out of a plaid hell, these disturbing images of grungy young women are incessantly parading about in my head. I am reminded of my pet peeve (if you can still call it a pet after it has expanded to three times the size of my makeup collection), possibly an idea I hate more than that of being uncontrollably fat: the ill-kempt woman.

I don't know when certain women got it into their heads that they no longer needed to posess a sense of femininity, but could someone take a large stick to these women's viscera? Women through all (mentionable) centuries have been symbols of grace and refinement, so what exactly lead to the invention of fishnets? I grimace when I see a young woman who has seemingly let go of her sense of girliness. You lose a part of your feminine self when you dye your hair an ungodly chartreuse color and don a pair of carpenter jeans. You do nothing for the name of women when you put on a sweatshirt and track pants and go about your business as though no one else will view you all day (unless that truly is the case). Don't we want to inspire people? Don't we want people to be impressed by us, stunned and taken aback by us? That has been the (okay, a) role of women throughout history. Shouldn't a girl be proud of that?

So many college freshman take their new sense of independence too far (as in, they are independent all over your face). They rebel from "the establishment" because it is finally legal for them to do so in ways they never could. They choose to, then, use their bodies as canvases for their statements, and end up a mess of tattoos and dyed hair, zip-up hoodies with hand-sewn patches, puce cordury pants held up with drawstrings... It is a pile of college excreta. What happened to the feeling of freshly-shaved calves rubbing against each other under the clean sheets? Of moisturized hands running serum through your hair? What happened to the satisfying click of high heels and the soft feeling of a silk-lined skirt? Do these girls miss these things?

These rituals that define our femininity need to be upheld! This is what makes us women, and what is so alluring about us: the act of spraying perfume, the buffing of fingernails, hands clasping a pair of earrings at a jawline, the quick swoop in which we tie our hair into a bun before washing our faces. These things are part of what makes us girls, in every decade previously and hopefully in many decades to come. Perfume pulls people toward us and makes them want to stay. A woman's scent will stay with someone and make a very lasting impression. Soft, glowing skin is asking to be touched, and white teeth are more often exposed in a welcoming smile.

I hope that the sense of femininity does not dwindle as the world falls from natural beauty. I want women to inspire and create art and color in this world, to be walking paintings of detail and grace. A good start is a baby pink fingernail.


An addendum: Protest and speak out! Be sassy and strong and braver than the men. Bitch at people for treating you like scum, and do so with the idea of a large and possibly rabid bear in the back of your head. I am not advocating that women give up their voices, I am just saying... You'll run errands anyway, so why not look pretty doing so? And more people will notice your protest sign if it is being held up by a hand of red fingernails.