At the 2016 MTV Music Video Awards this past week, Alicia Keys received intense backlash yet again from critics of her No Makeup Movement. She recently made a personal commitment to being makeup free, and upheld her vow at the VMAs, and unfortunately was greatly criticized again.
She began her No Makeup Movement back in May, when she posted an essay on Lenny, Lena Dunham's newsletter, explaining the struggles she and other women go through to look a certain way. She admitted that she has felt the same way that so many other girls and women do. She said, "Every time I left the house, I would be worried if I didn't put on makeup: What if someone wanted a picture?? What if they POSTED it??? These were the insecure, superficial, but honest thoughts I was thinking. And all of it, one way or another, was based too much on what other people thought of me."
Alicia Keys then vowed in the letter that she would break free from these pressures she felt by going makeup-free. She vowed to cover nothing up. “Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing,” she said.
From then on, Alicia Keys has stayed true to her vow. She has appeared makeup-free in magazine spreads in Fault magazine, on the red carpet of the BET Awards, in her recent performances, and at the very recent MTV awards show.
Through the unnecessary backlash that Alicia Keys has faced, she has stayed true to herself and to her No Makeup mission. While a lot of people stand behind her and support her movement, she still has faced a lot of criticism. For example, after appearing at the VMAs makeup-free, many people had opinions that they just had to express on Twitter-saying how she does not look beautiful at all, how her movement is fake, or if they had the chance, what specific makeup products they would use on her.
After the VMA criticism, Alicia Keys herself took to Twitter to give a response, tweeting, "Y'all, me choosing to be makeup free doesn't mean I'm anti-makeup. Do you?" If Alicia Keys still supports other women for wearing makeup, then why can't we support her for her No Makeup movement?
As women, we need to stand together. We need to support each other for doing whatever makes us feel strong and empowered, whether we agree or not. Tearing each other down for their decision to wear makeup or not hurts everyone involved, and leaves us women divided.
Haven't read Alicia Keys' Lenny essay yet? Read it HERE.
