A friend of mine posted this on facebook and it got me thinking, so thought I would post my reponse as a blog.




For decades (and longer) make up and its use to "beautify" and enhance ones apperance has been forced onto females in all aspects of their life. Their "roles models" in the form of tv and film music etc. personalities are not all 'Alicia Keys'. The many role models in all spheres of life don't flaunt their make-up free imperfect faces, instead many run make up brands to make the ordinary woman appear as if she has the same team of make up artists they possess daily. 

It not just these role models that influence women, its also from experience, when you go to a wedding or a night out and look "like a magazine cover" those girls tend to get more attention from males (and females) because as a continuing perpetuation of an admiring "look" these boys have also been told what is attractive and what isn't, and so the woman learns a bright red lips gets a guy noticing her kissable lips etc (like a constant advert running in her head).

 So 'the norm' created by wanting to be something we're not becomes perpetuated by all, the need to be part of what is attractive gets its own identity that everyone wants to own a part of. 
I mean look at contouring, its the latest fashion statement that changes the features of a women, and I don't see enough men (or women) complaining about it.

ALSO even though 3/4 of men SAY they prefer women with less make up or no make up sometimes what they SAY they prefer and what they actually go after differ when faced with both options before them, and I think women read these signs from their experiences and wear make up accordingly. And so it happens our levels of confidence become attached to a particular look. Once your confidence is attached to something in a tube or plastic stick, you need it in what some consider 'intimidating' male run offices, or "beautiful female" run places of work. 

Our insecurities rule our everyday choices, (and that isnt necessarily a bad thing) they are the base of the amount of and type of make up we put on, the types of clothes we wear, the shoes we choose etc. Definitely not everybody, but I can say from experience this is the majority.

Alot of people think insecurity is a bad thing, but it really isn't, its ok to have insecurities, we all do, its what comes when we are raised in this advert driven society where tvs and disney are raising kids because parents are busy trying to put food on the table so cannot be there to redirect all the beauty "propaganda" learnt from a young age from these advertisements and general programming choices. Being aware of ones insecurities helps those insecurities not control your life in a negative way. 
Alot of women wear make up for confidence, or to "feel fierce" because they have linked fierce to a look more than a feeling, and thats ok too. They wear make up to feel good, because their bare faces have been made to feel like a bare canvas instead of the art it is. 

Like models in magazines and ramps have become thinner over the years, so have they become more done up with make up, and its become part of the "ideal" appeal when trying to catch a fish in a pool of already built perceptions as to what beauty is. Its making people want the 'ideal'. For eg. The majority of people are not skinny but tv and mainstream media prefer to cast "ideals" instead of "real life" examples because they have decided it appeals more to their eyes and ideas for what society should look like. Same with make up.

We have been told we look better with make up, so we believe it. Maybe we havent been complimented enough for our make up free faces enough to believe that those are beautiful too. Make up adverts rely on our insecurities of wrinkles lines blemishes and spots for their promotion and financial gain. We buy into them telling us that we're ugly without their foundation/concealer/eyeshadow/lipstick etc. 
And even now our cameras have a "blemish free" filter, which innately tell a women/man that their blemishes shouldn't be there, which is not true, but people in power make these decisions and create an army of believers that find it hard to change those ideals placed upon them. It is an entire system that needs to change.

The way there has been movements for pro-natural hair and darker skin, I think we need a movement for "bare is better" (or something with a better ring to it lol)... Because i think the more people we see baring their insecurities and gaining confidence from THAT we will see alot more inner confidence bared and less done up faces. But alas it is a giant beast the make up industry it is, and the fight will be long and hard. But the more women like Alicia Keys who spread THAT ideal will influence those penetrable in this generation and especially the next generation to hopefully be more confident make up free. It can be done, one face at a time.... End!

This blog is essentially my comment to her thought provoking ideas and questions posed.