Feminists in High Heels : The Role of Femininity in Second-Wave Feminists' Dress in Finland, 1973-1990

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the politics of self–presentation was a contentious issue among feminists. This article, which is based primarily on oral histories, addresses how Finnish second– wave feminists viewed the meanings of dress and appearance for their identity. The focus is on those who believed that feminist ideology liberated them to embrace their femininity and argues that Finnish feminist views about dress liberated women from the orthodox Marxist, pro–Russian Soviet political ideology of the Taistoist movement that was popular among young people in the 1970s, yet also from traditional, conservative female education at home and in school.