Some background info: From a very young age I was very tomboyish, and absolutely hated femininity. A few months ago, I began to notice that when I dress like a man I don't feel like I'm being myself. It feels like I'm putting on an act and I hate it. I really want to embrace my femininity. I'm not interested in wearing make-up, heels, a purse. Nothing too shapely. I still want to retain some of my androgynity. From my perspective at least, I seem to have a lot of feminine mannerisms already. I really want to try wearing long skirts and jewellery. I plan on getting my more masculine pants converted to a skirt(s). Most of my tops look very masculine but, I intend to keep them and wear them with skirts. Any suggestions?
Simple things like the way you walk, talk, or eat can have major influences of how people see you. Still, if you want to seem feminine yet gender-neutral at the same time, I suggest just a bit of make-up, in the right areas. For example, contouring works for both genders, and darker make-ups can give you a masculine or feminine look, depending on what part of your face you're highlighting. For example, if you wanted a masculine look, penciling in your eyebrows often helps, but for feminine looks, contouring with mascara or medium to dark level lipstick (depending on your complexion) can really give you that feminine look. I know you said make-up wasn't your thing, but it really is worth a try! Besides that, I would again say the way you walk is very important- guys often keep their legs more of a distance apart when they walk, thus seeming to walk straighter. Women, on the other hand, keep little distance between their legs, so their walk becomes more... swishy. If you have long hair, putting it in different styles can change it quite a bit, though even short hair with a different style or hair accessories can make a huge difference! As a last resort, scarves always seem to do the trick...
I relate to this a lot! I love my more masculine side of my wardrobe, but sometimes it feels like I'm forcing it. My recommendation is to try not to shy away from feminine things that appeal to you! I've gradually been working more feminine clothes into my outfit repertoire (often combining feminine tops with my mens' jeans) and if I feel like dressing in all "girls'" clothes, going with it rather than rejecting it. I may or may not bind under feminine clothes (I don't know if you bind, though). Go ahead and mix up masculine/feminine items of clothing! If any part of feminine presentation gets too uncomfortable, you can always dial it back to a place you're more comfortable with.
I feel the same way. I've always struggled against the idea that masculinity is "cool" and femininity is "silly". That's how I felt growing up, even though I'm feminine in many ways. As a result I started being ashamed of my femininity, and I think I need to continue working against these harmful, misogynistic, bullshit ideas that make me feel lesser-than just because of my gender identity/expression. I feel like many of us tomboys probably have a lot of internalized misogyny in us, because as children we just wanted to be ourselves; what we miss by buying into heteronormative sexism is that there's a way to embrace the tomboy gender while embracing femininity and femaleness in ways that feel authentic to us. I'll always be jeans-and-tshirts girl, I'll always hate high heels, and I'll always prefer blue and green to pink; but I'll also always love skinny jeans, mascara, and floral Dr. Martens.
