A few weeks ago, a friend mentioned a horrifying conversation she heard on public transportation. A guy was pulling up pictures of girls and loudly critiquing their makeup, announcing what looks bad and generally insulting some girls. Not only is this downright ill intentioned, but frankly, there are several other reasons why this behavior is plain wrong.
A Form of Expression
Just like acrylic on canvas, makeup is a form of art, and girls genuinely enjoy wearing it. Would you criticize a dancer for taking ballet classes? A writer for spending time crouched over a journal? Well, if you answered yes to those questions, check yourself. No one should be able to tell us how to wear our makeup, because just as people have different artistic styles, girls’ makeup allows us to experiment with looks and improve at a skill (yes, it is a skill).
Applying it is not a Cakewalk
If you want to criticize eye shadow that isn’t perfectly even, or brows that don’t look like they belong on a Jenner, go ahead and try it yourself. Female standards of beauty nowadays are incredibly high, and many girls put hours a day into just the above-the-neck area. Chances are, judgmental man, you probably wake up, run your hands through your hair, and then walk out the door.
We Don’t Wear it to Impress You
This particular man, and many others, falsely assumes that makeup is solely used to impress and seduce men. Well sorry fellas, but this isn’t the case. If your gender randomly got erased from the planet this second, we would still be applying winged eyeliner like nobody’s business until our species ultimately went extinct. We wear makeup mostly for ourselves, which brings me to my next point…
It Boosts our Self Esteem
If we ended up leaving our houses in the morning, chances are that means we are reasonably satisfied with our makeup for the day. Feeling like you look good gives your self-esteem a major boost, and why would one try to stomp on someone who’s feeling good about herself?