On Femininity: Frances Goodman, artist

ON FEMININITY | Frances Goodman, she/her, 46,

“I think the idea previously was that women were feminine and men were masculine. I’ve always wondered if that is so deeply engrained — what a woman should be — that it isn’t necessarily what a woman is. That it’s something that’s been piled onto us for years and years with religion and culture and class and patriarchy, [to such an extent] that it’s very hard to form a pure idea of who we are as women.

I think femininity is a guise that we wear. I have very mixed feelings about it, because I’m drawn to it personally and I love the accoutrements and trappings of femininity — I love dressing up and wearing makeup. But I’m also deeply critical of where and how I make those decisions and why I make those decisions and where those decisions I make come from and whether that is something that’s been put onto me or if that’s inherently who I am.”