Typically, when you think of being a "man," typically the stereotype is buff, football loving, breadwinning husband. Gender stereotypes are massively changing and impacting our everyday lives in today's society and becoming more unique in their own ways.
Typically, when you think of a man with anything makeup related on his face, you probably think of rock 'n roll artists like Prince or KISS, This gender stereotype is being completely knocked out of the park in today's day and age.
In today's day and age, gender roles and stereotypes are becoming a lesser of etiquette as they are no longer as followed as harshly as they may have been a decade ago.
Ultimately, I believe that a very large factor that the beauty community faces as a whole is the power of men in makeup. Beauty as a whole has been believed to be a very woman-dominated area. Times are changing and men are climbing their way into the power of makeup! Society entirely shuts out and looks down upon men who decide to cover their face in cosmetics, but I personally applaud them for taking a stance and destroying gender stereotypes.
I feel like "men in makeup" was only acceptable in drag for quite some time. You were either a guy in drag wearing makeup, or you were a guy who did not wear makeup whatsoever. While the drag community is a huge influence for makeup and beauty lovers everywhere, every day men are more and more empowered to do what they love and love the way they look doing it.
There are tons of beauty influencers out there who are leading the community entirely and believe it or not, they are men. Jeffree Star is known as the ultimate king of makeup, and then you have other influencers like James Charles (my personal favorite), Patrick Starr, Manny Gutierrez, and many more. I believe that men have just enough ability to wear makeup as women, and honestly, they really do OWN it.
"It takes a lot of guts to put on a full face of makeup, being a male in the world where a lot of people still think cosmetics are only for women." - Jeffree Star
YouTube is the core root of the beauty community, as a huge part of their following come from the videos that they produce. Men such as Jeffree Star have 13.5 million subscribers, and James Charles with 15 million, whereas women like Jaclyn Hill have around 6 million subscribers! Men are leading this industry.
Cosmetic companies, too, are starting to come around and realize that men really are dominating the entire community. Beauty brands like CoverGirl and MAC Cosmetics both have male models as their spokesperson for their brand. James Charles was really the first influencer to break through the ceiling with a concept like this. James Charles was the first male spokesperson for the brand Covergirl. This was a breakthrough time for the brand as a whole, as they had done something no other brand before had even considered. Manny Gutierrez has had deals with various mascara brands, and Patrick Starr has his very own line through MAC. Another company is Morphe, and they have also collaborated with these men in beauty, such as releasing the James Charles x Morphe palette, and the Jeffree Star x Morphe brush collection.
Men are wearing more makeup than ever before, even though it is still not considered "acceptable" for them to do so. In a survey conducted by Statistica, when comparing age groups, it was found that skincare overall happened to be the most acceptable among men with 58% of Gen Xers believing that men could use it. The least acceptable was the use of eyeliner, and 2% of baby boomers believing that it was acceptable for men to wear eyeliner. It was found that millennials have the most leniency for acceptance among men to wear any type of makeup, and it was baby boomers who showed the least leniency for the acceptance of men to use any cosmetics, as they trailed practically every category.
According to the 2017 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, there was a total of 214,434 cosmetic surgical procedures done on men. This includes surgeries such as tummy tucks, buttock lift, and rhinoplasty. As for cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures, there was a grand total of 1,113,284 male procedures done in the year. These minimally-invasive procedures include microdermabrasion, Botox, and laser hair removal. In total for the year of 2017, there were a grand total of 1,327,718 procedures done on men.
Gender stereotypes are diminishing in this day and age.
Women do not always stay at home and be the cookie cutter moms anymore, just like men are not always the primary breadwinners of the family. Women are liking women and men are liking men. This is not the 1950's, so why can't we, as a society, stop acting as if times are not entirely different than they once were.
I think we, as a society, are moving in the right direction. Times have changed significantly, but not enough that they should. Not enough that we need! The world is adapting each and every day, and we are learning to accept others around us. If only we can continue to move positively in this direction here in here out. Men are wearing makeup, women are wearing makeup, and it's a pretty good damn time. We are all out here living our best lives as WE SHOULD BE.
To all of the men in makeup, keep doing you. Keep inspiring the world. Keep wearing that makeup and highlighting your face to the GODS! We respect you and will continue to respect you, always.
