You Can Be Feminine AND Feminist

I'm in the middle of Googling Mulan images for a post about the up-coming live-action adaptation, and I came across this image:

PC: Rebloggy

YAAAAAS.

This. All this.

One of the major criticisms thrown at Disney is that there are a lot of pretty, delicate, feminine heroines. This is true. Nobody is denying this.

But the implication -- or, sometimes, the overt, explicit, statement -- is that this BAD. That being feminine is somehow bad. Or weak. Or "less."

And I do see some of the counter-arguments: that Disney princesses are always feminine and that can lead to the assumption that only feminine girls can be princesses/heroines. That strong females are often the villains and that can imply that strong, powerful women are threatening and evil.

But the thing is...I'm not sure where "feminine" and "weak" became synonymous. Cinderella was basically living in a household where everyone hated her and heaped at least emotional abuse on her, and girl still got up every morning with a smile and a song. That is not weakness.

You can be kind and "girly" and wear pink poofy dresses (or more form-fitting blue dresses with a thigh-high slit) and like glitter and make-up and romantic-comedies and it doesn't make you weak. You can do/like all of those things and still be strong.