I think that the real sexism is in it being the norm that women have to paint their faces in order to be able to partake in society, lest they are deemed ‘unkept’.
This is largely dependent on what society you belong to. I’m a woman and I go out bare-faced all the time. There’s nothing wrong with that. And when I choose to wear makeup, I have fun with it, because I’m doing it for self-expression, not to be socially accepted. A lot of women are like me in this way.
However you can’t go and criticize men for having an aesthetical preference, whilst championing the women’s right to that preference, that’s hypocritical.
Both of these still pertain to women’s aesthetics. Men having an opinion about women’s appearances is not the same as women having an an opinion about their own appearance. There’s no hypocrisy here.
Basically men’s opinions on what women choose to do with their makeup are largely irrelevant and unwanted. Our faces, our choice. Men can have opinions about their own faces and aesthetics.
Exactly, living in a culture where makeup is expected on women, I refuse to wear it in professional contexts as a feminist choice. When I go out I may throw on a dark red lip and a smokey eye with no foundation because I feel like it looks great on me.
I think it’s all fine and good for men to have their own opinions on women’s styles, and vice versa. But opinions on styles one doesn’t wear should be kept to oneself unless asked for. And when it’s related to the balancing acts women do to be perceived as socially acceptable it’s a tightrope.
This is largely dependent on what society you belong to. I’m a woman and I go out bare-faced all the time. There’s nothing wrong with that. And when I choose to wear makeup, I have fun with it, because I’m doing it for self-expression, not to be socially accepted. A lot of women are like me in this way.
Both of these still pertain to women’s aesthetics. Men having an opinion about women’s appearances is not the same as women having an an opinion about their own appearance. There’s no hypocrisy here.
Basically men’s opinions on what women choose to do with their makeup are largely irrelevant and unwanted. Our faces, our choice. Men can have opinions about their own faces and aesthetics.
Exactly, living in a culture where makeup is expected on women, I refuse to wear it in professional contexts as a feminist choice. When I go out I may throw on a dark red lip and a smokey eye with no foundation because I feel like it looks great on me.
I think it’s all fine and good for men to have their own opinions on women’s styles, and vice versa. But opinions on styles one doesn’t wear should be kept to oneself unless asked for. And when it’s related to the balancing acts women do to be perceived as socially acceptable it’s a tightrope.