feminine loveliness

At a recent conference, I stumbled across a book with this title, and i have since vowed to make it part of my vocabulary as a woman and mother to two girls; Feminine Loveliness. In light of the push for women to “become the men they always wanted,” it may indeed be one of the most important virtues I could possibly teach my daughters.
So, this Sunday, as we were rushing out the door to church, I topped my scrag-a-muffin bun with a satin ribbon. At least three times my husband whispered ”I like your bow,” kissing me on the cheek and twirling the ribbon playfully in his fingers. He really was quite taken.
I used to downplay make-up and dresses. I used to think these things made a little girl superficial and self-absorbed. But as time goes by, and I see how society educates women, (to dress like men and work like men), I am compelled to nurture femininity in all its forms. Why not wear bows and pretty dresses? Why not encourage my daughters to love everything about being woman?
Once, one of my nieces, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, (and said “a mommy,” as all little girls do), was ”redirected” by her aunt to think about “higher things” like being a doctor or a lawyer. It is in these subtle ways that we betray our own kind.
Not long ago in Time magazine, there was an article about women in the military. There were telling statistics showing how, for example, women are more prone to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder than men. Reading the article, I couldn’t help wondering what women are doing in the military to begin with. Why can’t we as a culture accept that God wired men for combat, while creating us for other purposes. Wearing camo and holding a gun just like men doesn’t make us men.
So I’m starting a campaign. In my home. With my audience of two. To bring back feminine loveliness. And if Eden wants to wrestle with her brother in a dress, or turn her baby dolls arm into a gun and shoot me, fine. But at least let her do it with bows in her hair.