Can we start an anti "nail" campaign?

[2rebecca]

As a GP who frequently washes her hands, allotment owner and instrument player I really hate the trend for women to have immaculate nails that cost a fortune, scratch people and mean women can't do anything useful. Where t f did this horrible trend come from and how do we give women back the use of their wonderful hands?

I always fund myself wondering if people are wiping their bums and washing their hands properly when they have the really OTT talons.

Then I realise fuck it let people wear they want... be it burkas or bonkers nails

Why are you making it about me? I'm talking about women in general, whose money and time supports the cosmetic industry.

Of course individual women can resist particular adverts, but there's a cumulative effect. A creation of a culture where women are expected to be decorated and decorative. Hence the explosion in the number of beauty salons.

I was talking about the environment in which we exist where women are sent regular messages about our appearance and what it's supposed to be. Why you feel the need to individualise that is a bit strange.

Bollocks, women are not idiots. Women wanting these nails drove the rise in nail bars, not vice versa.

I don't need nanny telling me
-what to wear
-what to say
-I'm too thick to resist advertising.

Radical feminism recognizes that women are oppressed AS A CLASS. This means individual women cannot be expected to do everything counterculturally because doing so can disadvantage them in numerous ways.

If you put emphasis on the individual and their choices, feminism becomes more about browbeating women than recognizing and fighting the structures that exist to oppress women.

That's not the kind of feminism I signed up for.

I want to go shoulder to shoulder with women who care about women's rights and are ready to protect women and girls in any way they can. and I don't give a SINGLE FUCK what their nails look like.

Why are you making it about me?

You made it about you. You posted

Erythronium
I certainly feel the expectation to paint my nails, have manicures

Posters asked where this expectation is coming from. You then posted a whole load of links about advertising.

NameChangedNoImagination
I am totally with you on that one which is why I cringe at the poorly paid women working in nail bars whilst they wear their pointless ill fitting, non particle or fume filtering face masks whilst painting toxic chemicals onto other women's nails that are then absorbed into their blood streams via the nail bed.

Yes I feel the expectation, not only feel it but observe it. It's reality, it's there. I didn't say anything about resisting it or not. Clearly some women don't resist it which is why nail beautification is such a popular and profitable business.

I believe we can discuss the patriarchal implications of fashion without judging the people that partake in it.

Although personally I feel the expectation to wear fake nails is less than any other sexist fashion idea/item. For example, I do feel some people may judge me for not being very thin, not wearing expensive/very fashionable clothes and maybe even not wearing heels. But I've never felt anyone has even noticed that I've never had a manicure in my life. As pp said above, if anything, these days long fake nails are associated with the working class - so depending on the type you have you may be more likely to judged for wearing them.

I agree with some of OPs points but the idea of a "campaign" against them is a bit silly and I think has put people offside here. Maybe campaign is the wrong word. What about keeping it positive, say a hash tag #naturalnailbeauty or something, where people post nice photos of themselves that show their normal nails.

The links weren't just about advertising of course, they were also about celebrity PR, the cosmetic industry itself which sells nail varnish, and about beauty businesses. All creating the atmosphere where women are expected to beautify themselves and providing the means for women to do it.

I keep my short but always painted. It's my business what I do with my nails. The feminist issue here is choice. We have free choice.
Thank fuck.

And as I loathe washing up and most other housework, it stays on for a week at a time. So, nerr!

Justnotsureanymore we use toxic things every single day and it's the woman's choice as to whether to get it or not.

The trafficking of women And men who work in these places is another matter.

Also, not putting the onus on the individual doesn't mean we can't recognize the nail trend is anti feminist. It's the same with all types of beautification. We can recognize they're damaging and the messages around them are toxic but we can't expect individuals to live their daily lives in protest. It puts more pressure on women.

Yes radical feminisn is a class analysis. It analyses male power structures and how they affect the lives of women. The beauty industry is a patriarchal power structure which oppresses women by making us believe that our natural bodies are inadequate and need to be improved or changed. It needs to be overthrown.

Yes but you can't put pressure on individual women not to partake

Re nail shaming - I have had two friends and a teen daughter of another friend comment. As 'done' nails become more of a thing, bare nails stand out more.

One friend who always had long talons told me she thought plain short nails looked grubby. Sigh. So the criticism goes both ways I guess.

Also can we stop talking about choice feminism please? We all know how many holes it has in it.

Hear hear Eryth,,,,

I'll do as I please with my nails.

Thank you for your concern. 🙄

Also can we stop talking about choice feminism please? We all know how many holes it has in it.

Are you being ironic?

People can talk about what they like.

If you have cogent arguments against what they say, then you should relish the chance to air them. Not just tell people to shut up.

I find it weird/confronting/off putting when I see women with inch long talons (it’s usually ethnic minorities to be perfectly frank though I’ll get strung up for saying so). My impression is that it’s intended to look threatening - and it is.

Can we start an anti "nail" campaign?

Amen to that!

I think it’s very unprofessional in some professions and hate seeing them on childminders and teachers etc

Wouldn’t be impressed by a doctor or someone making sandwiches.

I suppose it comes with the Barbie doll image of grooming and preening and just looks wrong on woman wearing jeans and a T-shirt - fine if they are dressed up to go out but not on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the ballpark.

MrsMaisel

I find it weird/confronting/off putting when I see women with inch long talons (it’s usually ethnic minorities to be perfectly frank though I’ll get strung up for saying so). My impression is that it’s intended to look threatening - and it is.

Breathtaking.

Ethnic minorities trying to intimidate people with their fingernails. So much to unpick with that one!

Wow when I thought this thread couldn't get any lower.

Round here it’s all white women with the nails, usually the ethnic minority painting them!! Never felt threatened by someone’s nails! How odd!!