Lipstick Feminism is considered to be a type of backlash feminism by women who wanted to reclaim their sexuality after becoming tired of the angry-sexless-feminist stereotype created by second wave feminism.
Where Conservative Feminism rejects furtherance of sexuality…
Lipstick Feminism holds the belief that sexuality is part of women’s gender powerbase in the same way that physicality is part of men’s gender powerbase.
Your powerbase gives you the ability to influence others in social situations, therefore anything that limits that powerbase, is disempowering. Cosmetics, revealing clothes, great shoes and accessories—all therefore enhance a woman’s powerbase.
Extreme views of Lipstick Feminism can be found within Stiletto Feminism—both are a rejection of societal expectations on what makes a ‘good girl’ and promotes the idea that ‘choice’ is power. Choosingto express their sexuality does not make women victims—it puts them in control.
The average Lipstick Feminist would tell you that Celebgate happened because of the stigmatisation of sexuality—that ‘slut-shaming’ and any other societal attempt at making women feel wrong for any expression of their sexuality and sexual desires, is in effect a patriarchal attempt at limiting the female gender powerbase and by association, the power of women. If we eliminated sexual stigmatisation, aside from issues related to the invasion of privacy, no one would care that pictures of the naked female form were released. Would you care if stigma-free pictures of men performing physical tasks were released?
As for the male victims, they’d point at the fact that male sexuality is not stigmatised, it is promoted, and therefore they are not victims. Media promotes bad news over good news, so men don’t get a mention in these scenarios and any mention of them is positive. Who is really going to feel bad for, or look down on, the guy having sex with Kate Upton, regardless of whether or not his pics are released to the public? Kate however is judged for allowing the pictures to be taken.
I personally identify as Gender Equality Agnostic, which means I also identify with some positions promoted by Feminism, particularly Lipstick Feminism. It makes a lot of sense to me, but like all feminism, I find it’s arguements are biased in favor of the female gender.
Which perspective would you like to see next?