Everybody who is connected have already heard or read something about feminism. Some people disagree with the ideology and live their lives following the old-fashioned ideas of chauvinism, other ones agree with the idea and try to read and search more about it to have something to say with their friends, or to know different opinions. No matter how you see or apply the ideas of feminism, this girls came to show how this 8 letters word can change your way of living.
“I slowly started to see myself as a feminist and change things that I figure out I wasn’t happy for doing”, said Alice Camargo, a girl that decided not to follow what the society wants to see. “I stopped shaving and I realized how much time I have lost doing it and that I was doing it to the society, not to myself”. The student told that at the beginning it was hard to convince her mom that she doesn’t have to shave, but with the pass of time she understood and support her idea.
About the stares that she receives while walking or taking a bus, Alice said that it was a bit hard to get used to, but nowadays she does not see this as a bad thing, but as a good one. “Sometimes, even if the person looks at me with an ugly face, I like that she or he is looking, because as soon as they look, they start thinking about it”. With 18 years-old, Alice doesn’t shave, neither wear bras and have really short hair. She reinvented the society vision of a girl and see herself “free”, “light” and “with bigger self-steam”.
When we talk about feminism, it is common to create an image in our heads of how a feminist should look like, an ideia that is similar to Alice’s: shaved head, not shaved legs and some piercings and tattoos. However, by living in a society that cares more about how people look than what they think, we end up forgetting that more than just appearance, feminism is an ideology.
Looking for girls that don’t follow the rules that society wants them to follow, we talked to Luiza Porto, a 16 years old that has a lot to say, although she doesn’t consider herself to be out of the beauty standards saying that she has “always been skinny and had straight hair, nothing different”. Porto claims to be a feminist and isn’t ashamed to admit that, even if it end up pushing some people away. “If your feminism is repealing people from your life, than it´s repealing the right ones”. She thinks that nowadays our society is going through a very difficult and delicate moment regarding to prejudice in general. “If we stop and think, nowadays chauvinism is mostly formed by small attitudes that some people don’t even see, due to this, feminism is as important today as it was a few decades ago.”
These two women have different appearances, but same way of thinking. Not agreeing with the way that the society influences us, both of them try to live in different ways. Having different behaviors or changing their look, these girls show us that no matter what people tell, we have the right – and the power – to be who we want and to look like the way we wish. Strong women like those should been taken as the new model of the society, after all, the perfect pattern is to be whoever you are.