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+--- Thread: Social Media Ovarit post on o/Lesbians: "Where have we all gone?" (/showthread.php?tid=448)
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RE: Ovarit post on o/Lesbians: "Where have we all gone?" - komorebi - Dec 19 2024
Sorry, had a busy day! Finally got around to picking this back up. XD
(Dec 17 2024, 12:36 PM)Elsacat Until now, I'd have insisted women (unless maybe some TIFs) don't experience "gender euphoria." But what else is it when I'm in a nice feminine outfit, hair and makeup done, looking at myself in the mirror and feeling "pretty"?
Would I feel the same way if I were in a clean pressed button-down dress shirt, pressed trousers, shined flat dress shoes, hair short and neatly slicked back, face clean but no trace of makeup?
Or does the traditional gender presentation make me feel some kind of way, not sexual like with so many TIMs, but still an "I feel pretty" buzz? Is that not some kind of gender euphoria?
I do think enjoying "looking pretty" is a kind of gender euphoria, yeah. Like you said, not the sexual kind, but in my experience I see my gender friends using this term mostly in relation to being dressed in explicitly gendered ways (e.g. your very twee "lil ghei boi" aesthetic for TIFs, with suspenders and bow ties; or NBs who switch between very baggy hoodies and jeans with baseball cap and no makeup on one day vs. mini skirt, frilled blouse, cute accessories and makeup on another).
But it makes sense that people would feel this way, and I don't think women need to flagellate ourselves over it. Most people like feeling desirable, but society and culture dictate what's considered attractive, and furthermore, society wants to push gender on us. Because of all that, it makes sense that we end up parsing attractiveness through the lens of gender. We should just acknowledge where the feelings stem from and what they mean, so that we can work towards freeing ourselves from those expectations.