This article has been one of my hardest to write, but it’s something that’s been on my mind and also something that I think really matters. So, due to the content of this article I want to make a few things clear. First, I do not condemn women for dressing/looking any particular way. I not only hold feminist beliefs but also study academic feminism, and believe that empowering women is important and that as women we should all be empowering each other. Second, I don’t think that there is any one way to “be a woman/girl” and I don’t think that anyone is bad or good at “being a woman/girl.” Lastly, this may at times come off as an angry message, and I guess in part it is, but let’s not get the who I’m mad at part confused, I’ll give you a hint, it’s not women.

Alright now that that’s settled, let’s talk about women exercising their individualism through fashion and/or makeup. We’ve all heard and likely even said a phrase along the lines of, “I wear this to feel good about myself,” or “I’m doing this for me.” That sounds great, doesn’t it? Women empowering themselves and taking control of their bodies, what could the problem potentially be? Well, to start with, you would have no clue what the hell it meant to have “large pores”, or too big of a nose, or breasts that are too small, or eyelashes that are too short if it weren’t for, you guessed it, men.

The history of cosmetics companies is quite clear, women entered the workforce, men who were still running the market saw this as a new business opportunity, men created a market for women and convinced them through advertisements that they wanted makeup to “fix/control” their bodies. I am not claiming that men who created cosmetics companies consciously meant to oppress women, in my humble opinion I think they really just took advantage of an economic opportunity and didn’t stop to think twice what the potential consequences would be (to be clear, I think even if they had they would have chosen the market over equality, as if that needs to be said.) So, over the course of the years, advertisements and the media have bought the images that were sold to them by the cosmetics companies, and women have internalized it and bought it as well. We think that wearing makeup will make us feel better about ourselves, and the truth is it does. But why? It’s not because we are naturally flawed, and I think it’s important that we start thinking about what we call “individualism” and how it differs from accepting an image that was all but forced onto us.

So, to the women, you’re not wrong, but you’re not exercising individualism. Let’s just call it what it is- you’ve succeeded at the game that someone else argued you must play. If wearing makeup and dressing a certain way was truly “for you” then my question is, why is it that you do not dress your body/face the same way in private as you do in public? If this is for you, wouldn’t you be the most concerned when in the company of only yourself? This isn’t to condemn women, this is to shed light on a system that has been accepted as “natural.” It’s not natural to think that parts of your body are somehow shaped “wrong” and that they can be “fixed” by cosmetics or surgery. It’s not natural that women are expected to wear makeup and men are not. If it were natural, if it were for you, changing trends would cease to make sense. Why is blue eye-shadow no longer considered “beautiful?” Because it’s arbitrary, just like contouring, just like drawn in eyebrows. It’s all just a way for beauty companies to make money and convince you not only that you need things you merely want, but further, that you want things you would have never wanted without their influence. I’m not naive

enough to think that there are no real consequences for not adhering to beauty standards, nor am I even arguing that we shouldn’t. All I am saying, and perhaps asking, is stop fooling yourselves. It’s not for you and it doesn’t help you in claiming that it is. And as much as we’d like to pretend that progress has led to equality, the ‘them’ are still actively trying to oppress us, and how easy a job that becomes when we do the work ourselves.