"femininity" & other genders

I liked Kimberly, the pink power ranger who all the guys liked. Even Lord Zedd kidnapped her so that she may be his queen, but luckily was saved and eventually continued her relationship with Tommythelonghairedhottie. She was a valley girl with a heart that beat as hard as her fists. There was no reason for me to like her, considering I never wore pink, I wasn't hot stuff in elementary school and was more interested in sulking in my room with a pen and paper than kicking ass. Kimberly was the feminine girl, shining brighter than Trini (the yellow power ranger). And yet, Kimberly was feminine and strong...wait, is that possible?

Labeling yourself feminine has its complications as discussed in Serrano's "Putting the Feminine back in Feminism". A lot of the origins of femininity are socially constructed (duh) and, more importantly, man-made. Femininity can also be more than that, but what it definitely isn't is a "package deal of gender expressions, traits, and qualities that are inevitably bundled together" (320). Just because Kimberly was feminine didn't mean she couldn't summon the power of the Pterodactyl at times of trouble. How we discern feminine traits/expressions/qualities from masculine reveals a lot about our cultural, social and even class status. So the idea of femininity shouldn't be ingrained and rigid, but I still ask why femininity isn't seen as strong?

Maybe because masculinity already took that card. Or maybe because it is associated with plush-ness. Soft, fuzzy, satin, lacy, smooth stuff and other nice-feeling things are soooo feminine. But they are also comfy! I'd argue that a lot of people would rather wear soft cotton than rough leather on their "masculinehairynotsoft" or "feminineflowersmelling" or "neutralnotconformingtothebinary" bodies. [See what I did there? I used stereotypical notions of gender, get angry!] Lord (Byron) forbid that anyone be in tune with their bodies and dress it in nice-feeling things, or express how they feel because then its "irrational", and gasp, feminine (326). Why such accusations? That's like saying feminine people all want to coddle babies and gossip about celebrities--oh wait.

Femininity seems to be a mix of both inherent qualities about one's personality and dress, is this right? Going back to Kimberly, even though guys liked her, she still had a life. She still played the guitar and supported environmental issues while saving the world and protecting herself and others, which is supposed to be a "masculine" quality yet obviously can transcend gender (328). Maybe some of these qualities aren't really just masculine or feminine but something within us that makes us who we are. I agree with Serrano that we should empower femininity so that it is equal with masculinity AND other gender expressions, but perhaps we shouldn't gender qualities about ourselves in the first place. Be feminine, masculine, neutral, etc with dress, but why should that also connect with expressions or thoughts? Maybe I am reluctant to agree that some aspects of gender is biological as Serrano suggests, that there are things about us that would be masculine and feminine anyway, but that excludes other forms of gender expression. Gender-bending would be nonexistent if we all were specifically masculine or feminine in our brains and clothing/body, so why exclude it from these conversations?