2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

So.............for me, it was my Fire Engine red lipstick. That was the actual name of the lipstick color. I don't know what brand it was, but I would walk to the Pak-a-Sak store and it was in a bright gold tube and it was hanging in a plastic holder. It was probably only $2 or maybe $3, but it was the most beautiful shade of red ever. I was forbidden to wear lipstick, but I would save my allowance for that lipstick. On Sunday afternoons, I would be dropped at the picture show to meet my friend for a movie. I'd go to the restroom and spread on my bright Fire Engine Red lipstick. I thought I looked so very pretty. It had a wonderful smell and it was smooth on your lips and had a really good taste. I'd sit in the dark and purse my upper lip to my nose so I could smell it and lavish in the joy. It had to be wiped off, with no trace, before my Daddy picked me up. I got caught with it many a time and it would be taken away. But there was always an allowance to be saved to buy another tube. I still love to buy lipsticks, but I've found that red is not my best color even though I still grab for that color first.

-Eileen

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

I was a tomboy for quite awhile and after that was quite awkward. My first pair of high heeled shoes broke this. They were a black pair, size 7 1/2 , fairly low heel (although at the time I thought they were really high) strappy sandal type of shoe that I wore with every dress. That began my obsession with shoes that no run the gamut in size, shape, color and so on. Something about being in high heel shoes makes me feel powerful, feminine and beautiful. I still have my first pair of high heels. They still fit. Even though I rarely wear them, I don’t have the heart to let them go.

-Felicia

A pair of red and white, vinyl, open toed, high heeled shoes. I was 17 and saw them in a store and fell in love with them on the spot. I was raised primarily by my father, so girly things never happened unless I could choose a colour (always pink or red) so when I found myself wandering through a store (I can't remember why) and saw these shoes, and realised that I had the money in my pocket to buy them, I did. I marched those babies to the woman at the counter, paid for them and parked myself on the floor outside of the store and replaced my sneakers with these gorgeous heels. They probably didn't match my outfit at all, but I didn't care because those shoes made me feel like a woman. A real, live human woman. A random dog stole one of those shoes when I was 20 years old. I cried for those shoes. I lived in those shoes. Four years later I have a new pair of red heels, and while they make me feel giddy and girly, it's not the same as the first time. It never is...

-Leanne

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

My Grandmother playing the piano: Her dark red nail polish was chipped on the thumbs, from fishing and her pointer fingers from playing cards. But her fingers still looked long and graceful while she played. Her huge rings would nearly blind you as they caught the light of the piano lamp. It always smelled like burning firewood, fresh flowers, her perfume, sometimes gin and cigarette smoke.

-Salyntha

My REAL girl is my toes and feet. I think a pretty set of feet can define you as feminine or not. When my feet are pretty I feel pretty, when my toes are painted I feel feminine. I can see little girls toes painted pink with sparkles. A young woman with toe rings and anklets. A woman with her red toes wrapped in her husbands feet.

If you were to only see the feet of two people you would immediately know which was the woman because we ALL decorate our feet. It defines us for what we are. Lovers of beauty.

-Cannwin

It’s colorless, but its odor was and is always so potent. Clear nail polish, the top-coat stuff, is my defining moment. When I was a little girl, I watched my mother paint her perfectly manicured nails a deep shade of red every Sunday before church. I would always ask her if she could paint my nails that color. But because I was too young, I wasn’t allowed, and was always rejected. One Sunday, my mother had asked me to go into the medicine cabinet to grab her the signature red color nail polish and a clear one. I had never seen her use the clear one. I brought them both over to her and asked her about the clear polish. She explained to me that it is normally used to make the color stay shiny. But today, she was putting it on my nails so I could have them painted but not with an obnoxious color for a little girl. I was ecstatic. I remember attending church and being very aware of how shiny my nails were with all the lights shining down and also walking with my hands in front of me so not to mess up the polish. It was at that moment when I felt like a grown little girl.

-Olivia

Red nail polish is what did it for me. I was raised as a tomboy by a tomboy. It wasn't until the last 4-5 years that I figured it was okay to be a girl and that, gasp, I kind of liked it. And it all started with painting my toenails Hollywood scarlet. Imagine that.

-Deb

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

Flavored lip gloss. Now and days you can buy this stuff at every store, but when I was young that wasn't the case. My Dad's Mom, MawMaw Winnie was an Avon lady. She always got me those. Not only did my lips shine, but tasted good too. I don't remember the exact flavor. I want to say that it was watermelon. I flaunted that stuff daily at school.

-Nichola

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

Jessie, hon. I have my answer and I bet you could guess if you thought real hard but good girls don't talk about pleasuring themselves in polite company (oops).

The other thing would be a chapter in a book that I first read when I was maybe 11 or 12. The book was "Many Waters" by Madeline L'Engle.

The scene that struck me was about a woman in immensely difficult labor. It was a strange thing to read during a strange time in my life. Moving from tomboyish girlhood and into hyper-hormonal adolescence. It really cemented it into my head that I was a woman. I remember reading it over and over, struggling through it with her...bonding with my understanding of self. Don't know how you're going to catalogue this but if you'd rather you could certainly chalk me up to '1st time I shaved my legs' or 'my easy bake oven'. :P

-Jo

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

I heart my eyelash curler!!!!!!!

-Ashley

Mascara I longed, for ages, to be able to wear blackest black mascara - thick on my long eyelashes. I didn't care about anything else make-up. Just to be able to curl my eyelashes and coat them. I felt it made me look So different. Boy to girl different. pretty.

-Des

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

My mother, grandmother, and great aunt controlled what went on my body up until I left for college. Even in high school when I started to buy my own baggy, ill fitting, thrift store clothes, my mother would throw fits and say I couldn't leave the house looking like "that". When most parents were worried about their teen aged girls revealing too much skin, mine were more concerned that I was swimming in gigantic patterned shirts and high water pants. In my earlier youth I was often squeezed into dresses with bows, uncomfortable shoes, sweaters with kittens, and turtle necks. My teenage grunge rebellion was partly a financial necessity, a way to hide marks from my boy friend, and a stand against sweatshirts with Winnie the Pooh. 

In college things changed.

I had made a few experimental videos with the family's old VHS camcorder while in high school, and in college it started to become my passion. My work became more experimental, and I started to use my body more and more. One day I was making a piece where I was entering myself in a local beauty pageant, and I needed a dress. Which was actually really exciting. My mother had basically picked out my prom dress, and I didn't normally wear skirts or dresses for a host of neurotic reasons. This was my big chance to pick out something that I loved and had no practical purpose other than to make me stand out in a crowd. Then, that's when I found it. It had no straps (scandalous!), it was kind of old (mid 1980's), and was covered in sparkley gold sequins (hello, world!). Something no one in my family would like, but that I had to have. 

It was the first dress I bought with no one else's input, and felt like I totally owned it when I slipped it on. 10 years later, I still feel like a completely magnificent female creature in it. I love the way it catches the light and screams "I AM A GOD DAMN DRESS, DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?" It's a dress that makes no bones about what it is, and I really identify with that. When I put it on I feel like I can take over the world, and look like an extra from Pretty in Pink while doing it.  

While I'm still mostly a jeans and tee shirt kind of girl, it has given me the confidence to wear other feminine attire in an everyday context (there will be no more pageants for me, thanks). This sequined monster of a dress was in some ways a gateway drug. It helped set me on the path to creating and embracing my own brand of girlie-ness. One that I cherish and continue to incorporate in my work as a performance artist.

-Alyissa

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

Here's what makes me feel girly: Being able to bat my eyelashes and get anything I want, special smiles from members of the opposite sex, and little girls telling me that I look like a princess. Also, the ability to bake a killer batch of lemon bars, a timeless dress that goes from day to evening, and, of course, those once-a-monthly cravings for random food groups.

-Sarah

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

When my tomboy mother didn't know what to do with my hair for a wedding she decided to throw foamy curlers on me and hours later see what would happen. I was about 10-years-old and had no idea what the crap was on my head but all I know is that when those curlers came out I felt so womanly. My hair was luscious and full of body and I would just skip about. I felt like I glowed. After that I wore curlers in my hair for a while and would just go to bed giddy with anticipation hardly able to sleep because I was so excited about how my hair was going to look the next day. That's the first time I felt really really girly :)

-Rebecca

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

Mine is definitely my wedding dress. And matching accessories. Don't get me wrong, the day he proposed was pretty amazing too but the day I first stepped into that heavy satin gown was the day I felt womanly. It's perfect... Imagine the heaviest satin -modest- with beads around the hem on the skirt and across the neckline and sleeves. Fitted perfectly to my size 8 waist with a full skirt and train. That my friends is the best feeling in the world.

-Nicole

My Nanna had a drawer full of old clothes that I would use for dress ups when I went to stay with her as a little girl. Among these things was a beautiful beaded wedding dress from the '40s. It was fabulous, and whenever I would put it on I would dance around and dream about being a bride (usually of the princess variety). That made me feel girly.

-Sarah

I think the first time I truly felt like a woman was when I chose my wedding dress. I had tried on several different dresses that were all beautiful, but none that really spoke to me or made me feel especially gorgeous. I wanted fireworks to boom, you know? Sparkles and stuff. Then I tried on THE dress. Looking at myself in the mirror of that tiny, closet-size room I thought, "Well this is nice." Then I walked out of the room to show my mom and sister and... TADA!! I saw that excessively long train with all the detailed embroidering and when I looked in the big mirror I realized the puff it had from the waste down. It was totally a princess dress... a Cinderella dress... tight around the waste with a halter top and then POOF from the waste down. I was like a giant, beautiful cupcake with a LONG train. I felt like a WOMAN! :)

-Erin

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

There was my engagement ring. He slipped it on my finger and suddenly I was the epitome of femininity, oozing a ferocious womanhood, with a physical reminder on my hand that I had a man that loved me. Wearing that ring I found my inner tiger. That is pretty old school of me to say. But also delicious, isn't it?

-Natalie

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

I don’t know if this what you are looking for…but here is my take…

I don’t know if there is one thing that makes me feel feminine…but it can all be summed up by something as silly as a sharp number 2 lead pencil, my reading glasses, or my book collection… I loved my real school desk that my parents bought for me when I was little…the extra worksheets that my teacher would let me bring home to practice my work during the summer….and the book shelves that helped my sister card catalog our books as we played library….stay with me here….

I love school, I love learning, it is the accomplishment for which I am most proud…Maybe its because I have never been married or had kids…but some many of those traditional feminine things…though I love them…THEY do not make me feel like a woman…

I think that it goes back to this…You know growing up…all of the influential men in my life, my dad, my grandfathers, my uncles, they didn’t dote about how pretty I was or how cute I looked in a dress (which is pretty cute by the way). The way that I got positive male attention was by showing off how smart I was, reading a book to them, making a good grade on a test, beating them at a strategic game, or coming back the smartest, wittiest remark. Now…I’m most girly and most powerful when I am using my wits…Being a good girl, for me at least, was showing that I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for just anything. Sassy yes, Stupid no!!! That was how I was taught to be a “girl”!

I flirt with my brain….not with a tube of lipstick….and if any guy wants to know how to get me to fall in love with him, it is to appeal to that… I flirt by winning a trivia contest…Wow men by my knowledge of fantasy football stats (because that’s just research …right?)…and do a flirtatious intellectual dance with informed political debates…these things make me feel like a fun girly girl…I know weird right????

I’ve chosen a typically feminine career, teaching… Unlike many of my coworkers, I’m not here because the job allows me the spend time with my kids, or summers off. Definitely not here for the pay…I’m here because school, learning, education makes me sit up straighter, walk a little taller, sway more…. and act a little sassier! I love the smell of school! I dig the feeling of a sharp pencil in my hand oh and that smell!!!! and the oooooh how I love bubbling in a scan tron!!! Maybe this is really why teaching is female dominated profession…School/academics/learning yes these are girlie traits…While the neighbor boys were outside…sweaty and dirty and smelling bad!!! Yuck! So yes a number 2 lead pencil (though phallic in design) can be way girlie!!!

-Julie

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

Hairpins were such a huge part of the feminine mystique to me as a child. They held a ballerina's hair, could open a locked door, and flew out of Witch Hazel's hair on Looney Toons when she took flight. They were magical! When I did finally manage to make my hands master these tiny things, and use them in a way that couldn't even be seen, I felt like I had womanhood all figured out. To this day I hoard them, and I have pins from my childhood to my wedding. Even when I have short hair, I always feel like everything can be managed as long as I have bobby pins in my bag.

-Jessie

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

When I finally got my ears pierced. All of my friends were getting their ears pierced, but my dad said I couldn't until I was 16. My mom took me for my 13th birthday to have them pierced. She was always quite strict, and I realized she must have known how important it was for her daughter to have earrings, to go against what my dad had said. I felt special.

-Kelly

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

Well, I'm daddy's little girl. I have 2 older sisters and they basically forced girl stuff onto me. I was a tom-boy! But the first time I wore makeup, I felt like the most prettiest girl alive. :)

-Naomi

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

I have an antique pearl necklace an ex-boyfriend's mother gave me. They are classic, timeless and elegant. Whenever I wear them I feel the same way, even if I'm wearing them with blue jeans :) The womanly feeling doubles when I find myself cooking or cleaning when I wear them, like a 50's housewife might have done.

-Katie

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 29" x 29"

When I first decided to actually wear girl clothes. I used to bury myself in baggy boy clothes because I developed WAY too fast and kids in my elementary school would make fun of me. It wasn't till about 7h grade that I finally decided to suck it up and wear those damn girl clothes.

Late on I decided that I LOVE them. They fit so much better and look better. I would never go back to wearing those baggy boy clothes again.

-Zoey 

I finally felt...pretty. Curvy. WOMANLY. Like I wanted to keep looking at my silhouette in the mirror. Not in a self-absorbed way, but in a holy-crap-that's-me sort of way.

-Molly

2010, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

Kindergarten: the white, lace dress I wore for school pictures with my black paten mary janes and a red headband my brother got me. I never felt so pretty. It's my best school picture ever.

Sixth grade: a purple plaid jumper that made the boys realize I had breasts. Amazing.

-Sunshine

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

I hate to admit it, but making it through my first gyno appointment :) I had been terrified to go for years and felt strangely victorious when it was all said and done. Kinda like a rite of passage.

-Kourtney

2011, inkjet print from object scan, 21" x 21"

A bun, tucked tiny-ly and neatly at the nape of my neck--simple, smart, and uber-sexy ;)

-Erin

Gettin' my hair did. Just joking, but seriously, I love getting my hair done.

-Jennifer