Annalee Newitz on Compulsory Makeup Wearing

Annalee Newitz has written a piece on Alternet about the recent ruling by the 9th Court of Appeals that enables employers to fire female employees for not wearing makeup ("Wear It, Bitch"). It's a very good piece and I encourage you to race over and read it.

The blurb at the end of the article prompted me to start thinking about who is talking about not wearing makeup and why. The blurb states that Newitz was "once forced to wear makeup and almost threw up." This leads me to wonder if those who object to the ruling loudest and longest are those who do not wear cosmetics to begin with. And, if this is true, it makes sense to me, in a way, that those most penalized by a ruling would be the ones to criticize it first.

However, even if you do wear makeup, does this mean that you're not likely to see the gender discrimination, the double-standard of beauty, and the inherent misogyny in the way that makeup is prescribed for only one gender? I'd like to think that even if you do wear makeup, you can think about how it is used in terms of enforcing a power imbalance through gender.

Via amazonfemme and blackfeminism.org. Amazonfemme was cited in my previous post on this subject.