make up is misogynistic oppression

[sixtyandsomething]

I hate make up, because of the devastating damage it does to the lives of women and girls

Obviously I don't wear any, so it doesn't damage my life.

But I am a teacher, and see its devastating impact on the lives of literally thousands of girls

It is ridiculous to think it makes women look "beautiful". Women without make up are beautiful. Women with make up look like they have a load of chemical crap smeared on their face to cover up their natural features. Which is what they do.

Thinking this looks "better" than a face without make up is just misogynistic programming and conditioning.

Girls are literally taught and programmed and schooled and conditioned to believe they can't go out without their faces covered. I speak to girls who tell me they will kill themselves if they have to take it off. They are surrounded by media images of women smeared in the crap, and are conditioned to think this is what a normal female face looks like.

It is expensive, time consuming and bad for your skin, but worst of all it is oppressive.

Just look at this picture and compare the natural look of the men, who just have the minimum make up required for the lighting, and the massively overexaggerated, false, completely covered up look of the women, who apparently need to cover their lips with an unnatural colour, paint extra circles around their eyes, change their eyelashes and eyebrows, and cake all the skin on their face in gunk in order to be fit to be seen.

And if you look at this picture and think "what is she on about - those women just look normal" then PLEASE stop for a moment and ask yourself WHY you think gunk-smeared to the point that no natural skin can be seen is "normal" for a woman!

I am not expecting much agreement, as I think so many women are so tightly in the grip of the (mostly male run) cosmetics industry, that they can't even see how brainwashed they are

But please think twice before passing this oppression on to your daughters.

Wouldn't it be amazing if the next generation of female BBC news readers grow up in a society where they feel free to show their actual natural faces in public.

One thing I hate is when men say 'women look better without make up on.' I used to know a few men who didn't like their women wearing make up. Couldn't bear the thought of them being attractive to other men. They were usually the same men who tried to keep their woman fat/tried to make her fat.

And I'm sorry, but yeah many women DO look better with make up on. Absolutely fine and lovely without it, but better WITH it. (Even just a little, like a bit of eyeliner and eyeshadow and mascara, and a bit of lippy - just to enhance her features. JMO but I do think that.)

Also, who gives a shit what men think about us wearing make up or not anyway? I don't!

It feels like a good time to post THIS!

.

The majority of us are in a haze and just refuse to accept the reality of these things. OP, you are right.

Bollocks. I understand it perfectly but I still enjoy wearing make up.

Women are not stupid.

Surely we can choose. As a young girl I had dreadful acne and only make up covered the spots. I am very pale and without make up look tired and washed out and asked if I am ill. Now my eyebrows and lips are disappearing I choose to use small amounts of lip and eye pencils. My daughters both have good skin and good skin tone with naturally thick eye brows and eye lashes. They really don’t have a need for make up. I genuinely think most women look better with some make up, if done well. Foundation stops my skin getting too dry and has sun protection.
surely feminism was about our being able to choose for ourselves what we do to our bodies

I haven't read other posts from OP. I don't see this as bullying at all. Am I the only one who sees the sense and truth in what she's saying.

I think the problem is that the influence of society and peers, advertising etc etc will possibly have a far greater influence in many cases than mums can. We've gone way too far for this to change anytime soon. Despite agreeing with your observations OP, I'd still wear make up to enhance my appearance for health reasons now and again and I'd definitely wear it often if I was young again.

Christ what a fun sponge!!
Make up isn't a new concept, it's been around since humanity began!!

You're not the only one who agrees, and the PP who mentioned something about and old cow should give their head a wobble.
To say they kill themselves if they have to take it off, that's something I never heard before.😢
However, showing my natural face full of rosacea is not what I choose to do, at 45.
Everyone is different!

If you understand and accept what is meant by a patriarchal society, and the manipulation of choice to serve its interests, then you would surely have to also accept that your own grooming choices dont exempt you from being part of that. Picking on one of its most blatant manifestations, standards around women's appearance, and making a lot of noise about rejecting them, doesn't make you especially enlightened and immune to being a tool of the patriarchy, any more than the rest of us.
Honestly, before lecturing other women, a little humility and self reflection wouldn't go amiss. Because I guarantee that you will make countless 'free choices' that prop up patriarchal systems in your own life every day, some of which make wearing lipstick seem very harmless indeed.

yes this is true. Men out of sight decide, not individually, but in a system of both Patriarchy and Capitalism. Just break it, break it where you can. Some of us can't quite give up makeup or high heels or "tidying the house more than DH does". Just do what you can in the knowledge that none of these things we are told we need to do are in our best interests.

It is creative to put on makeup but I personally can't enjoy that creativity as it's too connected to stuff I find oppressive and bad news. I'm also gutted I don't love the work of Morrissey as I did when I was a teenager, for the same reasons, but we learn about stuff and we change.

Nailed it. Make-up is my armour. Without it I would have no real life outside of my home.

I do agree with you, unfortunately now I'm middle aged I spend less time thinking I can change the world and more time thinking how to fit in and be socially acceptable. Wearing makeup makes me feel more confident, groomed and professional in the workplace and more attractive when I go out (and at 48 I do feel the loss of being automatically attractive as I used to be, and any pathetic sop to that is welcome to my fragile ego). I wore only mascara for going out until I was about 35 and worked for a US company, and realised I would have to get groomed up to the standard. Since then I have used it every day.

My DD is 15 and like most girls her age has a ridiculous elaborate skin care and makeup routine, mostly learned off tiktok. It is alien to me as in my day it was not expected to go to school in makeup (only two girls in the year did and they were seen as mysterious beings). However there is absolutely no way to wean her off this, it would be pointless to try to convince her. I would rather focus on setting a good example to her by being a kind, hardworking, happy person, and hope that the makeup thing does not damage her too much.

I love wearing makeup. The same way I like experimenting with hair and buying nice clothes.l and having my nails and lashes done.

I do it for me.

I'm quite happy not to wear makeup. I hate not having my nails done because I live looking down when I'm typing and seeing the beautiful colours and patterns I've chosen. It makes me happy and smile.

A bright bit of red lipstick, or some sparkly eyeshadow makes me smile. I like the way it looks. I don't care if someone else likes it or doesn't like it.

I have a young daughter and i think she's the most beautiful creature on the planet. She absolutely doesn't ever need to wear makeup but if she wants to, that's her choice.

I think we are conditioned that e.g. we need foundation in order to "even out our skin tones" and protect our skin, as though both of those things are necessary. Also, it's a fashion thing, of course. Women are saying that they do it for themselves, but they follow today's trends rather than wearing the blue eyeshadow and really thin plucked brows that were everywhere in the 60s. So yes, we are conditioned that wearing makeup makes us look more polished, and feel better.
If you really look into it, red enhanced lips are to show that we're sexually available.

I've mostly given up with it. I hate seeing lipstick on cups and glasses so don't wear it when I go for coffee or drinks. Hate the feeling of mascara clogging my lashes. I know I look better with it, but mostly don't care whether or not I look my best. I get a better feeling these days from putting my clothes together so they look stylish.
I also hate it when TV presenters are caked in slap, e.g Naga Manchetty always looks as if someone has really trowelled it on her. It should be more subtle, otherwise we get the situation the OP describes where girls feel this is how they should look.

I don't wear makeup as I don't like the feeling of gunk over my face plus I don't enjoy paying through the nose for the privilege.

I also hate looking at beautiful young women inches deep in powder and paint. How can that be healthy?

My DD was the same in her teens. She would never be without a full face of makeup. I am amazed that now (late 20s) she will go out with a bare face!

I have a skin condition (rosacea) which makes my skin look awful, like I have permanent sunburn/a rash on my face.
Some days I am so self conscious I don't want to leave the house or look at myself in a mirror.

With make up I am able to look and feel normal, even if all I do is colour correction and a bit of foundation with nothing else. No one comments on my face when I have make up on, unless it's positive, where I've had LOTS of nasty comments and unsolicited advice without it.

That isn't 'misogyny', 'oppression' or anything else. I haven't been 'conditioned' to think I look ugly without it, I never wore make up as a teenager or young adult because I didn't have the skin condition then.

Feel fortunate that your normal, natural face is something people don't comment on and you don't feel embarrassed by.

To be honest I don't think most men realise if women are wearing makeup or not unless it is really obvious red lipstick and dark eyes!

I see absolutely nothing wrong with the photos you posted and I think its far more oppressive, nasty and misogynistic to be posting photos of other women and ridiculing them.

Frankly, your attitude revolts me and thats due to your personality and nothing whatsoever to do with your appearance.

You are lucky, aren't you? 😊😜

Are we allowed earrings?

This. ^ The OP (and the handful of posters supporting her) can't see the breath-taking irony in what they're saying on here. (And how spectacularly rude they're being!)

I think we should all be made to wear a plain beige dress and nothing else.

And a chastity belt!

My mother taught me that makeup protects our skin. She really wasn’t that interested in her looks.

Turns out she was right, more men die of melanoma than women.

https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/skin-cancer/types/common/melanoma/men-50#:~:text=Melanoma%2C%20the%20most%2Dserious%20skin,is%20true%20at%20any%20age.

People saying dumb shit and attacking young women they are supposed to teach and care for should be called out.
Imo there ia nothing wrong telling people what they are.

Killed someonw? Murderer
Stole somethimg? Thief
Attacking your students bcs you don't like they way they look and not knowing basics od history? Dumb old cow. And judgemental too.
Life is too short to tiptoe around nasty people 🤣

I work in the arts. These men are covered in makeup for HD TV cameras, studio lighting etc. Those are not natural naked male faces. Absence of noticeable coloured lipstick doesn't mean they aren't wearing any makeup.

But yes - some young girls do look ridiculous in overdone makeup - it's not new. And filters give a totally unrealistic impression of what features and skin truly looks like.

And I love makeup. 🤷‍♀️