“Excuse me?”
I stared incredulously at the woman who continued to leer at me through her thick dreadlocks.
Brandishing her “Matriarchy will dominate the world” picket sign, she scoffed “How can someone like you be a feminist? With the hair, and the makeup…don’t you know you’re oppressed?”
I looked down at the array of shopping bags in my hands and at the collection of makeup brands that glared up at me; the result of – what I thought- had been a successful day of Christmas shopping. I suppose, standing there with a full face of makeup, my hair curled, a fresh Nails Inc manicure and wearing a new lipstick to match, I didn’t exactly scream ‘militant feminist’. But right then, as a naive 17-year-old, looking up at these activists that smirked at me so patronisingly, I had never felt so insecure.
This was an experience I had 3 years ago. I was walking home one afternoon when I was cornered by a group of so-called ‘feminists’ that singled me out from across the street, mocked my appearance and followed me jeering all the way back to the train station.
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Now, as a disclaimer: I don’t mean to paint all feminists in a bad light. I identify as a feminist myself, and this was a rare, hateful and deluded expression of what the ‘feminist’ movement represents. Feminism, as I now understand it, aims to provide women with the opportunity to thrive in whatever manner they choose to express themselves.
But, even in this emancipated age dominated by powerful women in politics, business and creative thought, I notice women are still having to justify their ‘femininity’.
(Photo Credit: www.twitter.com)
Last month, Boots No7 released their new “Ready To Speak Up” campaign advert starring award-winning writer and feminist speaker Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, where she narrates her own struggle between being “taken seriously” as a writer and maintaining her own personal female integrity. She speaks of how she “stopped wearing makeup” and “hid her high heels” to succeed in a world that still associates femininity with weakness. A world in which the labels of “feminist” and “feminine” can still be contradictory and wearing makeup can be an act of anti-feminism.
And honestly, to some degree I understand this.
We’re taught as liberated women that in this day and age “we can have it all”. That we’re enlightened individuals that no longer feel the weight of reductive feminine stereotypes. That wearing makeup has been a way in which ‘the patriarchy’ has kept women oppressed through encouraging narrow standards of beauty. That heels are just a man’s invention to make it more difficult for a woman to run away. That your decision to wear lipstick is not just your own.
So, in the back of my mind there has always been this conflict. Do I use makeup simply because it’s what I innately love to do or because I have been socially conditioned as a female to do so?
And therefore, perhaps in waking up 15 minutes earlier to highlight and contour, or in pouring over beauty blogs, tutorials and magazines, I am subconsciously adhering to a persona that society ’the patriarchy’ has constructed for me. Does your brain hurt yet?
Unfortunately, this is something that we will never truly find out. It’s not something we can help and we must all individually make peace with this. Surely, the very fact that we as women are aware of our actions contextually, and are constantly analysing and revaluating our decisions must give us some credit.
(Photo Credit: www.pinterest)
But, what’s wrong with this extreme understanding of “feminism” is that it begins to resemble the very “body policing” of women that it claims so desperately to fight against. How can a movement that opposes the patriarchy’s restriction of the female body image justify doing the same thing by demonising femininity? How can we justify saying that “feminism” advocates the self-expression of women while condemning a means of female self-expression?
Whilst keeping women aware of the context and conditions of their decisions is important, the point that a movement begins dictating how women should present and feel about their bodies is a step too far. What I mean to say is, a woman’s right, or anyone’s right for that matter, to their own body is no one else’s but their own. It does not belong to any society, system, political movement or any crazed activist on the street. So, your right to wear makeup and express yourself artistically is frankly nobody else’s business.
The crucial thing here is that makeup as a means of expression exists as an option. The feminist movement seeks not to restrict but expand opportunity for women on the path to liberation, and as long as you are aware of the ramifications of your actions you can may express yourself in any way you choose to.
(Photo Credit: www.pinterest.com)
And why should this only refer to women? By associating the wearing of makeup as a solely female pastime, you also alienate and the restrict the self-expression of every other individual that does not define themselves as female. Nowadays cosmetic practice has become an art form in itself, practiced and enjoyed by people of every sexuality and gender.
So in short, wearing makeup is not an act of anti-feminism. In fact, it liberates women through being able to choose a method to express themselves. Though what is anti-feminist, and frankly anti-egalitarian, is this condemning and restricting of an individual’s right to their own body, expression and creativity.
How we are defined and judged as individuals and “feminists”, should not be based upon something as material as outer appearance. So, whoever you are, whether you speak through bare lips or lips flaunting Kylie Jenner’s new liquid lipstick line, the words you utter should not contain less value or demand less respect. In the wise words of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “the truth is makeup is just makeup” what matters is “the face I chose to show the world, and what I choose to say”.