Newsgroups: soc.men,soc.women
Subject: Re: Women and makeup...
From: rivero@mdcbbs.com
Date: 20 Aug 92 11:25:10 GMT
Organization: Electronic Data Systems, Unigraphics Division, Cypress CA
Nntp-Posting-User: rivero

In article <1992Aug20.033019.16244@s1.gov>, lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
> In article <1992Aug19.163724.1@mdcbbs.com> rivero@mdcbbs.com writes:
> :| In the Middle East, women are raised to always cover their faces with  |
> :| viels. Modern feminists point to this practice as proof of how these   |
> :| women are oppressed. Yet here in the Western (so called) Civilized     |
> :| countries, women are raised to cover their faces with cosmetics, to    |
> :| the tune of 50 billion dollars a year. In this regard, American women  |
> :| are just as oppressed as their eastern sisters while having to pay far |
> :| more for the priviledge. Why do the feminists pay such scant attention |
> :| to this most visible abuse of women's skin, health, and wallet?        |
> 
> 	False analogy.
> 
> 	The strict Muslims believe that women should somehow be hidden
> from view.
> 
> 	The purpose of makeup, on the other hand, is decorative.
> 

  Ultimate purpose has little to do with the analogy. As for makeup, I
don't feel it is a decoration. I fee it obscures the character of a
woman's face, and only encourages the socio-model of woman as decorated
play object.

  Whether hidden or decorated, the base message is identical; that the
female should be ashamed of her natural face or her natural hair color
(especially if, God Forbid, there is grey). My comment to such a
concept is "Buffulo Biscuits!"


> 	Some feminists _do_ complain about extreme standards of
> beauty. See Naomi Wolf's _The Beauty Myth_, Susan Faludi's _Backlash_,
> and even Gloria Steinem's _Revolution from Within_.

  These are good works, although I disagree with Naomi on one point.
It does not take a deliberate plot to create a beauty addictive society.
All it takes is simple corporate greed, an advertising forum, and the manners
and morals of a Heroin salesperson.


> 
> 	One last thing.
> 
> 	Mike Rivero, why do you think that some men wear toupees?
> 


  A fair question indeed; one worth adding to the list of "How to make money
by exploiting normal human insecurity".

  While the youth craze affects women more because of the early termination
of child bearing years, men also are encouraged to feel bad about growing old,
the better to enrich the makers of toupees, designer clothes, and the
depressingly high growth area of male cosmetics.

  For myself, I celibrate my 40th birthday this weekend, and what hair I
wear is my own. I EARNED those grey hairs and have no desire to hide
them. Were I to lose my hair, I suspect that, like Yul Brenner and Tele
Savalas, I would take the Chrome Dome path as being the path of least
cost/maintaince.

  But, you are asking the right questions. That means that inevitably, you'll
find some meaningful answers.


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|  Michael Rivero rivero@mdcbbs.com  Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Animator   |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Being 40 means you are too old to die young! When Jesus was my age,    |
| he was dead! When Mozart was my age, he was dead. Come to think of it, |
| when Mozart was 40, both he AND Jesus were dead!                       |
|  I am forty. Mozart is still dead, and if anyone here is 39, I'ld like |
|  to talk to you before you leave the party!                            |
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Xref: sparky soc.men:15265 soc.women:15539 alt.censorship:7027 sci.skeptic:14723