On Degendering Makeup

During the class discussion following Sandra Lee Bartky’s Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power reading, at one point, the topic of discussion turned to whether women could potentially feel empowered/liberated by wearing makeup or solely use it to appeal to the opposite sex and adhere to the standard of beauty in our society. At one point, a statement was made by a student that was basically along the lines of women wear makeup only to be accepted by the opposite sex, and to be honest with you, this statement made me cringe.

I love makeup. While so many makeup products break my bank, I can’t deny that I love the versatility of makeup. I love the fact that I can wake up and apply red lipstick to wear one day, and dark brown lipstick the next. I tend to believe that incorporating makeup is just a part of my style; I love to be creative and quirky at times. And during application of this makeup, I am not thinking about whether the opposite sex will enjoy what eyeliner or lipstick color I am wearing that day. Because it’s not for him and his opinion doesn’t matter to me. It is solely for my happiness and creative expression. I am sure I am not the only woman who feels this way, hence, I completely disagree with the whole idea that women cannot feel some empowerment by wearing makeup.

But while makeup may help myself, and others, say “This is who I am”, it is still seen as part of conforming to the ideal body of femininity, as Bartky explains that “...especially in the application of makeup and the selection of clothes, art and discipline converge, though I shall argue, there is less art involved than one might suppose…” (Bartky, 83). While internally, I may feel that wearing makeup is empowering, on the outside others are seeing my lipstick and eyeliner and believing that I’m wearing it because that’s what women are supposed to do. If the student mentioned above was trying to make this point, then I would have to say that I agree with them. Women are still extremely pressured to conform to unattainable beauty standards by patriarchy. Bartky explains this further by stating that “...woman must make herself object and prey for the man…” (Bartky, 86). Makeup is also politicized, since women are held back from being hired for a job if their appearance is not considered professional or feminine enough.

After reading Bartky’s piece, I think that we as a society need to break away from patriarchy and step out of those boxes that hinder us and perpetuate gender expectations. That’s easier said than done, because I think we need to start at the institutions that perpetuate these gender expectations to achieve this goal. But I think breaking away from these expectations of femininity is essential because the ideal beauty standard is so harmful to us. By breaking away from these expectations, this belief that makeup is gendered can be dismantled. An example of this point is a conversation with my close friend about this exact topic. She came across a video on Youtube of a makeup tutorial for men. Her response seeing this was utter disgust because she could not bare the thought of a man donning products that were associated with women. She exclaimed “...I think it’s so unfair that men are wearing makeup as good as us now, because we get so much flack from guys for wearing it, but now they’re doing it and looking better than us...”. Yes, a simple search of 'male makeup tutorial' brings up over 2,000,000 results on Youtube. But while this is becoming somewhat of a trend, the problem that exists is the fact that the men choosing to wear the makeup are still subjected to ridicule because wearing it is not usually associated with men. So with dismantling these gender expectations comes being able to express whatever feels good to someone with the absence of ridicule, shaming, or pressure.

An example of a male makeup tutorial