Spring is sprung in earnest, and we’re putting away our sweaters and jeans in favor of shorts, tank tops, and open shoes and sundresses. Well, we’re trying. Women and female-identifying people face difficulties in the ways we are expected to dress, look, and self-present. Why are our decisions about our bodies so problematic?

These are some of the expectations of women and female-bodied people: shave all body hair except that on your head, which should be beautiful; wear a bra at all times, so no one can see the natural shape of your breasts or (horror!) the hint of a nipple; don’t show too much of your body, like too much upper thigh or lower back, because that’s a sign of sexual lasciviousness; show a lot of your body, like your legs and shoulders, because that’s attractive; put on makeup so you don’t look tired; don’t wear too much makeup or you’ll look fake; wear dresses and skirts because they’re pretty; don’t wear dresses or skirts that look too good, because that’s too sexy.

Obviously, these are only a few of the social constraints imposed on female bodies. We take these social “rules” for granted. They’re pervasive, restrictive, and coercive. They encourage everyone to look at women’s bodies as though women construct and present their physical identities for the sole purpose of other people’s visual pleasure. These rules about women regulate the “naturalness” of female bodies: their bodies are supposed to be natural, but only as natural as they can be so that they still look “good.”

For example, it’s acceptable to wear a low-cut shirt in many situations – to lunch, to class, to a party. It is less acceptable in the same scenarios to wear a shirt without a bra that makes the lack of a bra obvious. This is despite the fact that typical bras conceal the actual shape of female breasts with a generic “cup” shape. “Natural,” acceptable breasts are actually unnatural, modified through a piece of clothing made of wire and stuffing.

So, women are supposed to be “natural” – authentic, unvarnished, genuine, real – but they are also supposed to look a certain way that has nothing to do with natural bodies. The entirety of female bodies must be shaven, hairless – even the hint of body hair is enough for derision – and female faces must be pretty, touched with makeup to hide their “flaws,” but if you can see the makeup, the faces are flawed.

Women are already flawed in the way we look at them: too natural or not natural enough. Women have to be “natural” in a deeply unnatural way. Women are criticized for looking “too natural” – with unshaven legs, with un-made up faces – at the same time they are criticized for looking “too unnatural” – with too much makeup, with clothes that emphasize their sexuality too much. Women and female bodies are regulated through this “ideology of the natural,” which simultaneously condemns and idolizes them.