Author Topic: The Naked Face Project  (Read 22335 times)

Offline serious crayons

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Re: The Naked Face Project
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2012, 01:50:02 am »
They all need to make a neat, well-groomed impression. But why the heck do make-up, shaved legs and plucked eyebrows so matter-of-factly belong to what our society percieves as well-groomed?

... But when women feel they have to to all the named stuff in order to be repesentable, then something in the way we look at women is at least questionable.

I really don't think women actually "have" to do any of those things in order to be perceived as well-groomed, except maybe shave their legs and armpits, which -- in this country, anyway -- is unfortunately almost a universal grooming requirement. Otherwise, with the possible exception of really public women -- politicians, for example -- I don't think women need to wear makeup to be accepted in society; I know women who never wear makeup or pluck their eyebrows and yet have good jobs and romantic partners and lead happy, successful lives.

I think that although many women who oppose makeup, etc., approach this issue with all good intentions, it winds up being yet another issue that pits women against each other. Women who wear makeup etc. are called superficial or insecure or victims of a sexist society; women who don't do those things are called dowdy or whatever. I'd say let be, let be.

For the record, on the girly-girl scale I'm somewhere in between: I wear makeup most of the time and pluck my eyebrows because I just feel more attractive -- I like my own appearance better -- when I do those things. My makeup takes 5 minutes to apply. I do what I can with my hair but some days it's hopeless. I don't shave except sporadically in summer, but I also have very fine, blonde leg hair that cannot be seen from three feet away. And I don't wear high heels because they kill my feet.

Sometimes I feel sorry for men because, without the options of makeup, etc., I don't think they have as much control over how they look. Consequently -- and I know some people disagree with me here -- I think there are far more beautiful women than there are beautiful men. Luckily for men, society and romantic partners place less importance on their looks, but I think that is gradually changing.

I wish women's leg and armpit shaving were as optional as men's beard shaving. Personally, I'm not big on a lot of facial hair for men. I don't particularly like full beards or mustaches, though a faint goatee or something is OK. But that's my taste; plenty of other women like beards, etc. I think that's how it should be with women's shaving -- I do know of men who like a hairier look but that's pretty rare.

In any case, don't even get me started on the whole new "requirement" -- and to some extent, I gather this actually IS a "requirement," at least for younger single romantically active women: shaving pubes. From what I understand, this fashion arose from young women feeling the need to keep up with porn stars and I find it kind of repulsive on several levels: it's one more bothersome beauty practice, it implies there's something "wrong" with women's natural state, and aesthetically it strikes me as faintly pedophilic.