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That's what one Irish fashion blogger wants to know, and she's willing to call people out on their continued use of the phrase.
When Ellie Goulding tweeted about her new makeup line with MAC saying it was for "real women," blogger Leanne Woodfull let her have it with a series of tweets calling the singer a "lazy feminist." Ellie's tweets have since been deleted, but other Twitter users preserved them in screenshots.
Leanne Woodfull calls Ellie Goulding a 'lazy feminist'...as she tweets some celebrity about make up products. pic.twitter.com/7hqee9mSai
— Rebeccah✨ (@RebeccahLouise) June 4, 2015
"Also think using the term 'real women' is backwards," Leanne wrote. "Makeup usage/taste doesn't dictate your femininity/worth as a woman."
.@elliegoulding Also think using the term "real women" is backwards. Makeup usage/ taste doesn't dictate your femininity/ worth as a woman.
— Leanne Woodfull (@LeanneWoodfull) June 4, 2015
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Ellie tweeted back, saying she agreed, but Leanne continued to call her out, tweeting, "Then please don't fire 'real women' shit at me; it's pure counter-productive, lazy 'feminism.'"
Ellie responded one more time, saying, "Lol what a lovely person you are. Naaaaaat. Hugs! X," before deleting all of her tweets in the conversation.
Even though Ellie backed out of the fight, Leanne continued to tweet about it.
"You can be a 'real woman' regardless of your size, shape, how much makeup you wear, what you wear & what gender you were assigned at birth," she wrote. "Sick of lame attempts at 'feminism' from celebs like Meghan Trainor and Ellie tweeting me there. 'Real women' is a term that needs to GTFO. Ellie Goulding has since deleted those tweets to me so I guess: 'Real Women' 0 — Feminism 1."
You can be a "real woman" regardless of your size, shape, how much makeup you wear, what you wear & what gender you were assigned at birth.
— Leanne Woodfull (@LeanneWoodfull) June 4, 2015
And she has a point. When you think about it, "real women" is a term that just doesn't make any sense, because if some women are "real," what are the rest? Pretend women? All humans have a right to wear makeup from Ellie Goulding's line if that's what they want to do, regardless of their sex or gender identity.
More: Ellie Goulding reveals what frustrates her most about being a female artist
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