Reply #1: Depends

[geniph]

If you feel women are deserving of equal treatment, rights, and responsibilities, then you're a feminist whether you paint your stomach blue and stand on your head or not.

If you wear paint and pretty things only to appeal to men, and feel you must compete with other women for men, then that still doesn't necessarily disqualify you from believing the above. However, I personally think most femme feminists are doing it for themselves, not for men. It's fun to dress up and paint yourself sometimes. It's the ones that think they can't appear publicly without that stuff that I wonder about.

I don't hear many men calling neckties tools of female oppression, but most men hate 'em. Not every loathsome thing like pantyhose and heels is imposed on us from outside - some women actually like them. If you like that stuff for yourself, more power to ya. I like dressing up sometimes, but it's costume play for me, not everyday. Then again, I shave, and there've been women in the past who've insisted to me that I was appealing to male pedophilia by doing so.