Retraining the Eye
I recently checked out Love at First Sight by Suzi Malin from the library. It's good fun, in a flip-through-on-a-rainy-day sort of way, and while her theories are convincing enough, I took it with a grain of salt. However, I was struck by the juxtaposition of these two images of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy:
The profile image on top is of Kennedy with little, if any, makeup. The profile image on the bottom is of Kennedy in what appears to be a black fur coat and matching pill-box hat. To complete her glamorous outfit, she is wearing what appears to be a full face of makeup (lipstick, mascara and eyeliner, no doubt powder, and blush). Allowing for the differences in the images [the photo on top is in color (and not scanned very well by myself), and the one on the bottom is in black and white], it is clear that the more idealized image of femininity is the one on the bottom.
I (and other feminists) believe that makeup serves as a visible daily reminder of the power imbalance between men and women. Imagine an alien (sexless, of course) coming to earth for the first time and observing that one gender is expected to paint their faces, especially when appearing in public, while the other gender's face is considered acceptable in public without cosmetics. This would be puzzling to the alien until it discovered that one gender has a disproportionate amount of power compared to the other gender.
There is a political aspect to looking. What I want to do is to re-train my eye to reflect my politics. I want to value the image of the woman in the top photograph as much as (if not more than) the woman on the bottom.
This goes against everything we are taught in this society about women.
4 comments:
Personal anecdote time! Yay!
I rarely wear makeup. When I wear it, it's obvious that I am (I like playing dress up sometimes, and that means being flamboyant with my colour choice).
Despite that, I've had many acquaintences (and a few friends) remark on my "makeup" when I wasn't wearing any. Maybe I was somehow gifted with a "perfect" face that requires no makeup to be "beautiful". And maybe flying monkeys will come out of my butt. In truth, I think it's just becuase people assume that women wear makeup.
I can't count the number of women who I know who have internalized that. It took years for my sister to get over the need to put makeup on before she went out - even if it was just a trip to the grocery store. It took decades for my mom to be in the same position, although I still see so many emotional scars left from that way of thinking. I have a friend, a beautiful woman by any standard, who is jealous that I can "get away with" not wearing any makeup. She feels "naked" without her face mask (she does the whole shebang, foundation and everything) and is ashamed of her "imperfect" face.
Thanks for talking about this! Except for the very very special occasions I never wear it. In my circumstances though it first come about because my mother never wore it and therefore I was never really 'good' at putting it on.
On a slightly lighter note there is an added bonus (in addition to the other side effects previously mentioned) for us non- make up wearers: extra time in the morning to sleep in!!!
Tekanji, thanks for your thoughts and input.
"It took years for my sister to get over the need to put makeup on before she went out - even if it was just a trip to the grocery store. It took decades for my mom..."
That's what's annoying; once you buy into the makeup as a corrective, necessary thing, it can take a long time to feel that your face is okay as it is, san makeup.
"I have a friend, a beautiful woman by any standard, who is jealous that I can "get away with" not wearing any makeup."
A lot of women use that phrase and it's very telling; it's as if we're only okay if we do x,y, and z in public - otherwise, we'll be met with hostility. (And it's true.) The phrase reveals the many different forms and degrees of penalties women are aware of if they don't look feminine enough.
kristy - Thanks for your comment. The role mothers play in getting their daughters to adopt a makeup routine would make an interesting study - I wonder if those who don't wear makeup give permission to their daughters not to wear makeup, or if cultural influences and peers are more important.
"Extra time in the morning to sleep in!!" :D
I found you because of the carnival, and am now raiding your archives. I'm glad to get to read all these posts on makeup - I've worn it during a couple periods in my life, but they add up to a small percentage of my days. I don't generally have positive feelings about it, or its relationship
to women's identities within the culture.
I want to say that my gut reaction was that I found the top picture to be more appealing, more beautiful, etc. The feeling is the same one I've often had over the process of looking at myself, putting makeup on, and surveying the difference.
There are nuances to my skin, little variations in shade, texture, and brighness that are lost once made up. The unmadeup face seems more vital to me, healthy, lifelike. There's a deadness to the made-up face, a closed-off feeling, a replacement of wonderful natural spectrums with dull, non-dynamic, constant values.
I'm talking here about my thoughts on my own face and on the pictures you've shown. I probably feel that way about lots of faces, but am not necessarily generalizing to all of them. And I'm talking about my aesthetic: this isn't a judgement call on women who wear makeup.
And it's full of repetitive, awkward and badly hyphenated adjectives because I'm not quite nailing my take on this, but at least wanted to add my voice. It's nice when I have the occassional reaction that matches with the reaction I'd like to have:0
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