The following essay is a train of thought that I had. I asked some of my peers for their opinions on the matter: “Is makeup empowering?” To answer this, I focused on its normalized use by women—though I acknowledge and encourage that others use it.
Makeup has been used for thousands of years; for women, it has become as “essential” to femininity as skirts, long hair, and a soft voice. Despite this, makeup has become a new monster today: with an overwhelming variety of brushes, lipsticks, eyeliners, blushes, powders, eyeshadows, and highlighters to choose from, makeup has integrated itself deeply into women’s daily lives. This has created a unique culture, with impacts both liberating and oppressive. Generally, makeup is seen as artwork, with powders as paints and the face as the canvas. Because of this, feminists market makeup as liberating: women can “choose their look” from a variety of different colors and styles. Thus, they argue, makeup empowers women by enhancing their features and giving them confidence in their own unique appearance. Feminists are not wrong: women choose to wear makeup for all of these reasons. The use of makeup has even helped to destroy gender stereotypes when used by men. Despite this, wearing makeup is not much of a feminist issue for women, as its prevalence in popular culture is hardly revolutionary. In fact, this “choice” seems to have been made up for women long before they actually make it. The roots of makeup come from the value and emphasis placed on women’s looks. Most women wear makeup, and its use has become so normalized that women are expected to wear it all of the time. When they do not, they are viewed as “dressing down” or looking less professional. Likewise, those who choose not wear makeup at all seem to be far more harassed than those who do. My sister, for example, is one of the few at my high school that chooses not to wear any makeup because she does not like it. Despite this, she constantly feels pressure to wear it from friends, social media, and society in general. Her choice is not celebrated but questioned. In today’s society, what is celebrated is using makeup to mask one’s insecurities, and those who stray from this norm are seen as less sane. While women are under scrutiny not wearing makeup, there is an ironic paradox: those who wear “too much” makeup, as well as makeup that strays from the norm, experience similar harassment. For example, bolder or brighter shades, while empowering to some, are highly critiqued as overwhelming. Covering up too much skin is also seen as artificial. While I was at a dinner event with a friend a few years ago, one adult commented that my friend’s face “looked like concrete” and “lathered excessively with thick paint.” Similarly, in the workplace, modest makeup is the tacit “dress code”; those who stray away from this are not taken seriously because of they seem to be placing too much of an emphasis on their appearance. Ironically, this emphasis was originally placed by society long before this, with fixed standards. This culture therefore takes away the very aspect of makeup that makes it empowering: the ability for women to “choose” their own look. Generally, the culture of makeup is colorful, bold—empowering, even! Its use has been normalized beyond women, emboldening men and nonbinary people. However, it is also extremely black and white. There are many tacit rules that come with this culture, and these rules are often not flexible. Social media and the growth of technology have been no help with this: in airbrushed, scenic photos, celebrities show off their skinny bodies while they pose in fully-applied makeup. Snapchat “lenses” alter reality by slimming faces, adding electronic false eyelashes, and airbrushing blemishes. This has only enforced the normality of altering one’s natural features, which have been deemed as unacceptable. Surrounded by this normalized culture, women become pressured to join the movement so that they will not feel left behind. To me, the question still remains: is makeup empowering or belittling? Perhaps it’s subjective—or maybe it is a little bit of both.
18 Comments
|