Makeup and feminism: pros and cons

Often, after my columns are published, I receive a lot of really good feedback about what I did well and what I could have done better.

I also receive a lot of poorly articulated insults. Sometimes when these insult-lobbers can’t figure out how to criticize what I’ve written, they criticize the way I look.

Following one of these incidents, my mom sent me a very thoughtful email with a picture of me in full makeup with the following caption:

“You know you are beautiful to me everyday, but don’t forget you can pull out your ‘supermodel’ persona anytime you choose to!”

I love my mom and the gesture was sweet, but it made me feel a little bit uncomfortable.  

Do I have to wear makeup to look good? Does looking good even matter?

I almost never wear makeup unless I’m going to some sort of event, like if I’m going to a formal affair and want to look put together, or if I’m going to a party and I want to look bossy.

That I opt not to wear makeup most of the time tells me that when I do wear makeup, it’s not because I want to. Rather, it’s because I feel socially obligated to, or that, given the situation, wearing makeup would be socially advantageous.

This is a weird problem for me as a feminist.

I’m critical of beauty standards while simultaneously adhering to them.

I’ve written a lot of things about beauty both for the IDS and my personal blog, culminating in the conclusion that physical beauty is an arbitrary and oppressive concept that doesn’t mean anything and should be ignored.

Rather, women should be angry about all the pressure we receive to place our value in how we look. This is a conclusion that ignores the reality of social pressures and the value of conformity. Women who recognize the oppressive nature of societal beauty standards have to ask themselves:

What can I accomplish while conforming to beauty standards? What can I accomplish without conforming?

A 2011 New York Times report shows that when women wear makeup, they are perceived to be all-around better individuals than when they don’t. With makeup, women were understood to be more “likable, competent, and trustworthy” (unless they were wearing too much makeup, of course, because these things can never be easy).    

This study shows that as of yet, certain conventions of beauty are still a job requirement for women. We live in a society in which women who don’t shave their armpits or legs, or don’t wear makeup, are looked down upon. This is absolutely unfair.

All workers should be judged on their actual competency rather than how they look.

But changing the way bare-faced women are perceived is not going to happen overnight. The workforce I will enter two years from now will not be markedly different from the workforce studied two years ago in this regard. Beauty will still matter.

How do we escape the grip that beauty has on us if it is necessary in order to get jobs, or promotions, or respect?

I don’t know.

I suppose less conformity in movies and television, less conformity by pop stars and
politicians would be helpful. But how will movies, TV shows, pop artists and politicians get popular without being perceived as “likable” or “competent?”

Balancing the right amount of conformity with the right amount of rebellion seems most appropriate, but I’m not sure I’ve taken enough chemistry to calculate that equilibrium.

So for anyone who wants to give me feedback on how ugly I am, or give me makeup tips, my email is below.

­— casefarr@indiana.edu