Natural's Not In It
This one's been floating around for a long, long time. But, as these posts often do, it takes a specific thing to make me point out, once again, that the game is fucking fixed.
So yeah. Makeup. And this damn thing. Ten "scary celebrity closeups" *cue spooky theremin*. All I'm seeing are nine women who adhere to the standards of beauty and Iggy Pop.
I will forever be irritated by people (okay, 99% straight cis men) who insist that women who adhere to a very male-generated/supported standard of beauty must somehow pretend that that appearance is both totally natural and effortless. Helen Gurley Brown advocated sleeping in your makeup and waking as the asscrack of dawn to touch up your face, so as to make him think lipstick and fake eyelashes are totally what women always look like. And seeing random male complaints about seeing makeup lying around. And always, always the smug insistence that women look better without makeup. (This is my favourite, because the woman they're praising is almost always wearing it. Happens to me a lot as well. Ahem.)
The idea that beauty work is both frivolous, stupid and something that must never, ever be acknowledged is just one more way the game is fucking rigged. Women and other femmes must look absolutely flawless at all points, from all angles, and often in ways that are physically impossible. (Seriously, nobody's eyes look like Zooey Deschanel's, except Katy Perry's. And that's because they do their makeup mostly the same.) Or else they get to be "high-maintence", "shallow", "vain", and varying permutations of stupid, despite that actual skill being displayed. Or if they don't follow, they get to be "ugly", "frumpy", "letting themselves go" and "don't care for themselves". (Can I also complain about how self-care advice for women is generally limited to a bubble bath and more beauty work?)
I also am amused by their sole male example, an attempt maybe to deflect accusations that they're just hating on women's appearances. Seriously, Iggy fucking Pop? I suppose, if you're going for an example unlikely to offend your largely young-male readership. Gotta go to the cartoonish end of things.
I really dislike this insistence on a simultaneous illusion and rebuking for participating in it.
BONUS: While puttering about online, I was linked to this "famous hotties without makeup" gallery I can tell you what specific makeup every single person except Katie Holmes is wearing. This is why I roll my eyes at people who yammer on about how much they prefer women without makeup. Also, I'm just going to point out that most of them have also undergone extensive plastic surgery, so.
So yeah. Makeup. And this damn thing. Ten "scary celebrity closeups" *cue spooky theremin*. All I'm seeing are nine women who adhere to the standards of beauty and Iggy Pop.
I will forever be irritated by people (okay, 99% straight cis men) who insist that women who adhere to a very male-generated/supported standard of beauty must somehow pretend that that appearance is both totally natural and effortless. Helen Gurley Brown advocated sleeping in your makeup and waking as the asscrack of dawn to touch up your face, so as to make him think lipstick and fake eyelashes are totally what women always look like. And seeing random male complaints about seeing makeup lying around. And always, always the smug insistence that women look better without makeup. (This is my favourite, because the woman they're praising is almost always wearing it. Happens to me a lot as well. Ahem.)
The idea that beauty work is both frivolous, stupid and something that must never, ever be acknowledged is just one more way the game is fucking rigged. Women and other femmes must look absolutely flawless at all points, from all angles, and often in ways that are physically impossible. (Seriously, nobody's eyes look like Zooey Deschanel's, except Katy Perry's. And that's because they do their makeup mostly the same.) Or else they get to be "high-maintence", "shallow", "vain", and varying permutations of stupid, despite that actual skill being displayed. Or if they don't follow, they get to be "ugly", "frumpy", "letting themselves go" and "don't care for themselves". (Can I also complain about how self-care advice for women is generally limited to a bubble bath and more beauty work?)
I also am amused by their sole male example, an attempt maybe to deflect accusations that they're just hating on women's appearances. Seriously, Iggy fucking Pop? I suppose, if you're going for an example unlikely to offend your largely young-male readership. Gotta go to the cartoonish end of things.
I really dislike this insistence on a simultaneous illusion and rebuking for participating in it.
BONUS: While puttering about online, I was linked to this "famous hotties without makeup" gallery I can tell you what specific makeup every single person except Katie Holmes is wearing. This is why I roll my eyes at people who yammer on about how much they prefer women without makeup. Also, I'm just going to point out that most of them have also undergone extensive plastic surgery, so.