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.

I see what you're getting at that we don't allow women to have flushed skin, pale lashes et cetera but we do allow men to have ruddy skin.....

But the vast majority of women wear very light make up though.

I agree that the extreme made up look (katie price) is not doing women any favours but it's not the look that most women want.

If make up were BANNED I would deal with it.

Nothing to do with "misogyny". Women put the stuff on themselves and men don't care (or even notice). The use of it is driven by peer pressure from other women.

Or the women enjoy using makeup and how they look in it. You naked him sound like a prize that his poor ex has missed out on, not like the leggings loving lucky girl he's chosen.

I went out to a local carvery yesterday for my sister's (late 60's) birthday, we took my GC. It isn't the sort of place were you have to dress up. I did, because I enjoy it and I wore full face makeup. Day to day I've stopped bothering. I sometimes wear under eye concealer. I'm late 50's. I used to love Ruby and Mille because of their colours. When I bought clothes, I'd buy the makeup to go with them. My nails aren't great anymore, but I still like painting them. It's about what I like, no-one else.

I should add none of my young adult DDs/dsd wear much makeup day to day either, they go to work without makeup, so it's not a young/old thing, it's a confidence thing, mine all have the ability to know the difference between work and dressing up for a night out. One of them didn't wear makeup even with her wedding dress!

I think most of us are already well aware there are different standards for women's appearance than men's and different norms around the grooming norms of the respective sexes. It goes very deep as you say. You're here lecturing on the topic, yet are still sufficiently in thrall to it as to tell us 'women are beautiful without make up', as though their beauty matters. I note you didn't comment on the 'beauty' of the men's faces without minimal make up to support your argument. You don't even think of it, but you do with women.
Perhaps reflect on that. Because the absolute worst argument you can put forward to support your case is women are beautiful without make up.
For one thing, a tiny minority of women are beautiful and we know this. We know people including people like you, comment on our beauty. So many of us take steps to enhance our looks. If you want us to stop then a good place to start would be to stop concentrating on our appearance yourself and judging our beauty, and instead of focusing on what we look like, try listening to the words we are saying, our talents and abilities and what we contribute to the world. Because its no more or less dependent on whether we have lipstick on.

Of course make up is something that is about making women look "prettier" etc.

I can accept that and still continue to wear it.

Young girls and their crazy make up isn't something i like. But I also think teenagers (girls and boys) have always pushed boundaries and gone further and harder on what they wear. Let's not forget there are still teenage boys wearing their trousers BELOW their bums.....possibly the most ridiculous fashion choice since the invention of stilettos.

As a rule, that level of make up disappears in the mid 20s. Thank god

Ps I have long felt that it's pity men and boys aren't "allowed" to.west make up.

yep, and the price is utterly shocking - no, a bag of chemicals to smear of my face to cover myself up and make sure noone can see me is NOT worth £170 pounds

This just makes my point - women are pouring hundreds of pounds into this - and over a life time many women spend tens of thousands of pounds.

For what exactly? they would look better without it, and have healthier skin and more time for themselves.

It's not a new thing, women wore make up in Ancient Egypt. We've had centuries of social conditioning.

Simone de Beauvoir argued that women are complicit in their own unfreedom, and our choices to wear high heels and false eyelashes and have plastic surgery maybe back that up.

There's also an argument that Muslim women who choose to wear the burqa are complicit in their own oppression. Similarly for 'tradwives', those women who choose what is obviously an oppressive lifestyle.

Take those choices away though, and is that oppression in itself?

Yanbu. It's amazing how completely normalised it is.

I've posted before about my friends encouraging me to wear make up at my wedding even though I never wear it otherwise. No one nagged the groom to wear any!

I'm so glad I didn't. I love my wedding photos and I look exactly like myself in them.

It's just astonishing that we routinely expect women to wear it, at least to special occasions, but don't have that expectation on men

I agree with you OP. I have posted about this before and you get the inevitable defensiveness from the posters who are quick to declare make up is fun and art form (I do agree with both of those by the way) it’s not make up that’s the problem it’s the way it’s been marketed and the subtle manipulation of women.

Everyone is beautiful in their own way and it’s bullshit that a lot of women end up conditioned into disliking their own face.

Everyone missing the point when they say its oppressive to stop women wearing make up.

I (and op, I presume) am not suggesting outlawing make up!!

Just because you don't like it...
Women and men have worn make since the beginning of time.
You do you.

This.
I bloody love make up and I use it to express myself, just like I do with my hair colour.

I choose my make up based on my mood and the occasion and I enjoy the process of designing and executing a particular look.

It's never been about men, it's about me.

YABU.

You sound quite deluded.

Sounds like it has damaged you though?

You’re overflowing with contempt for other women. That’s damage.

yep, and the price is utterly shocking - no, a bag of chemicals to smear of my face to cover myself up and make sure noone can see me is NOT worth £170 pounds

Most (all?) of that bag is skincare stuff so I'm not sure where your getting the 'noone can see me' thing?

For what exactly? they would look better without it, and have healthier skin and more time for themselves.

I'm not sure that's true either, women (who often regularly cleanse and moisturise their skin) have much better skin than men who are not encouraged to do such things. Not that they need to spend a fortune to do it, agreed.

Anyway, I'd already bought the bag and was delighted with it, so you're too late lecturing me. But we all spend our money on things that aren't strictly necessary.

This just makes my point - women are pouring hundreds of pounds into this - and over a life time many women spend tens of thousands of pounds.

Who are you to tell women how to spend their money?

For what exactly? they would look better without it, and have healthier skin and more time for themselves.

Again, why are you bothered about how women spend their time?

Sometimes my make up takes 5 mins.
Today I'll spend around an hour, but that's my choice and I enjoy it.

The irony is that the OP screams of misogyny. How offensive - we are all "conditioned, brainwashed, programmed".

You sound weirdly over-invested in what other women do with their time and money, OP.

This, talking about women smearing gunk on their faces is just showing your contempt for other women.

I literally don’t give a shiny shit if it’s oppression. I have a stunning face so if my beautiful makeup, which enhances my gorgeous features, is oppressive, then let me be oppressed.

I love your attitude! And I love wearing make up!

How do you feel about sunscreen OP?

that is a good point about the language I use, but I do mean it- women look better without make up, but you are right, it shouldn't matter what they look like at all.

I think they look better without, but beyond that, I think they give a better impression of themselves without. They don't look like victims of brainwashing and conditioning, they look like they are more confident and independent. They look like they can think for themselves.

I feel empowered with make up on. You’d probably cry if you knew I had a face full of Botox too.

make up is also a form of artistry. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it bad

fwiw, Dh is in the public eye and men on tv wear alot of makeup.

As others have said, everyone on tv will be wearing makeup.

I do understand there’s something in there being higher expectations of women in many ways, to be groomed and perfect in xyz ways. But a lot of people like wearing makeup. Some men have chosen to risk social stigma in order to wear makeup too - because they feel it is away for expressing themselves amongst other reasons i imagine.

I think the best thing is if we stopped having such fixed and differing experiences for women and men, and let everyone be themselves. But it’ll take a few generations to work on that one.