TMZ (and yes, I’m addicted just like the rest of you… ) just posted a story about stars not wearing their makeup.
The captions for some of these photos really disturbs me. The writers compare people like Queen Latifah, Helen Hunt, Nicollette Sheridan, Rosanna Arquette, and Britney Spears to truckers, farmer’s daughters, bloated lizards, looking “desperate” and looking like they “are on their way to the Women’s Shelter.”
The idea of this article is to make the rest of us (the so-called farmer’s daughters) feel better about how we look without our make up on. Instead, the article makes a terrible point that without make up, women had just better stay home! What is disturbing about this whole thing is that most men do not wear make up out and they are not derided for their lack of “paint” or looking like they just got out of bed. So why are women held to a higher standard? The answer is that women DO look different without their make up on, and in some cases, they DO look decidedly worse without their make up on. But we have something to compare to with women: make up on, make up off — which looks better? Men don’t usually wear make up or something that changes their appearance significantly, so there is nothing to compare to. They (at least the stars) just usually get made fun of for gaining weight. Women get both weight (you’re too skinny, you’re too fat) and make up and clothes – all things that society has labeled as being important for women. The problem is that most of these women (and the rest of us are just as guilty) think that they HAVE to wear make up to look pretty. So they wear make up — lots of it. They hide behind a mask of “paint” afraid to show the world what they really look like. Why can’t we all just appreciate each other – even with our flaws and without our make up? Why do we feel the need hide everything under man-made (pun intended) products?
