From: levine@symcom.math.uiuc.edu (Lenore Levine)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Lipstick
Date: 8 Sep 1992 04:07:46 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu

One of the arguments I hear a lot, against the ideas presented in Naomi
Wolf's "The Beauty Myth," goes like this:

"All the pressures placed on women about their appearance are just
social. No one is forcing women to look a certain way. Therefore, if 
other women were strong, like me, they could resist these pressures.
And therefore, since it would be ridiculous to legally prohibit any
means of purely social coercion (What would you want to do? *Force* 
women not to wear lipstick?) there is nothing the feminist movement can
do in this context."  

Now, people can, of course, have an intuitive feeling for issues that
don't directly concern them. I don't want to say, or imply, that they
can't. I also don't want to say, or imply, that *all* female (or male)
interest in physical appearance is the temporary result of unethical social 
pressure.

But I *do* think some of the posters who present these arguments don't
really, really understand how strong, and how cruel, these pressures can get 
-- if you're not in a left-wing/countercultural milieu (or, for that matter, 
if your appearance isn't mostly acceptable anyway).

To illustrate how strong these pressures are, I'm presenting an part of
an article from the August 9, 1992 "WomanNews" section of the Chicago
Tribune (a section with an ostensibly feminist orientation):

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Read My Lips: I'm Putting My Color Where My Mouth Is"
by Bonnie McGrath

The day that will go down in history -- in my life at least -- is the
day my friend Natalie's husband looked me in the eye (or should I say
lips?) and observed, "You never wear lipstick, do you?" He looked at
Natalie approvingly just before he said it -- she always wears lipstick.

Howard's comment marked a turning point. I started wearing lipstick.
Full time. But before that day a few years ago, it was true. I never
wore it. Lip gloss, sometimes. And lip balm occasionally. But bright
lipstick? I always felt too young.

To me, lipstick was worn by women who were aging, to perk up a face that
was getting dull, dilapidated and drab. When I looked at women without
their lipstick, who I was used to with their lipstick, they never looked
like themselves. They looked terrible.

But Howard gave me a hint. Now I understand. At a certain point in a
woman's life, the decision needs making. A habit needs forming. The time
is now. A foot of mine will never again cross a threshhold into the
outside world without my lipstick on. I can now identify with women I
used to be amazed at -- the ones who wouldn't pick milk up off their
porch without their lipstick.

Lipstick is like magic. Color on the lips is like years off my life. Lip
color is the difference between fading and fabulous. Maybe even
beautiful. (And even in recessionary times, it's still a cheap cosmetic
treat.)

Because of lipstick's importance, putting it on and keeping it on all
day has risen, among my peers, to a high art form...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This woman isn't just saying that she enjoys wearing lipstick, or 
explaining how to use it. She's saying that if you're over a 
certain age, your face is going to be pretty disgusting ("dull,
dilapidated and drab") without it. And implying, very strongly, that if
you're over that age, you're not going to see a person you want on the
other side of the bed in the morning -- unless you wear lipstick. 
*Thank you,* Bonnie, for sharing this with us...

Of course this article was written in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner.
But the author's use of this flippant tone does *not* invalidate
her message -- instead, it makes it more effective. And someone, out
there, must take articles like that halfway seriously -- or the women's
magazines wouldn't continue to buy them. 

Two final points. One, a woman who devotes an inordinate amount of
effort to putting on lipstick, all day, every day, is a woman who has
that much less time to devote to other, and maybe more personally 
meaningful goals...

Like paying attention to her children. Or rescuing stray cats. Or
running for office. Or (as in my case) writing a thesis. 

Now, it's not wrong to take time out from doing the things
you're supposed to be doing, to do the things that are fun. And I'm sure
there are many woman who enjoy wearing lipstick, and find the
ritual of putting it on pleasant. But if Ms. McGrath is telling the
readers of this article, that they *have* to spend time putting on
lipstick, to be socially acceptable, she's telling them that they *have*
to take that time away from the children, pets, job, thesis, whatever --
whether they like it or not. 

And I wonder how much that kind of coercion limits women's abilities
to succeed -- in the business or academic world -- or even at taking
care of a four-year-old all day without screaming at her...

Final point. Remember that argument that nothing could be done about
"The Beauty Myth", since the pressures involved were purely social...

I don't think that's true. I think social pressures can be fought, not
legally, in the courts -- but with education. And remember, the best
form of education is humor.

So isn't it lucky that the purveyors of the Beauty Myth are, like Ms.
McGrath, so often (unintentionally) funny? Wasn't that article sort of
sad and pathetic -- but didn't it also make you want to laugh?

Yours in liberation,
Lenore Levine
levine@symcom.math.uiuc.edu

P.S. I suspect somebody's going to bring this up... No, I don't believe
*only* women should be caregivers of small children. Just that many
humans of both sexes find this an emotionally rewarding activity.


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