Thread by @RadfemBlack

Women who are for liberation for women: don’t wear makeup!

Three reasons-
1) Anti-feminist & harms women as a class
2) Unhealthy & undermines women as individuals
3) Exploitative & hurts workers, animals, and the environment

1. Women are pressured to wear makeup and society very much imposes this behavior on us. There are social, economic, even legal consequences on women for failing to participate.

Whether YOU personally “like” or “enjoy” it, any woman conforming to this standard reinforces this expectation on ALL women, that’s how social norms work. All women can only be free to choose once this pressure is gone, and that will only happen when enough choose to defy it.

Oppressors do NOT give a single fuck about what you “want” or “like” as long as you’re doing what they want you to do anyway. A slave owner does not care if his slaves enjoy picking cotton as long as they’re doing the work.

The makeup industry itself is also rather sexist, and racist and colorist too. It deliberately induces insecurities in women to profit off of selling the “fix”. Despite the recent attempts at “progressive” virtue-signaling, that is still its predatory business model.

Most of the big beauty companies are headed by white men. The cosmetics industry is a pipeline of women’s money to men’s wallets. Women as individuals and a class get poorer while men as individuals and as a class get richer.

2. Makeup is expensive and time-consuming, and also restrictive and even dangerous. Sure you can have other interests and hobbies in addition to beauty, sure you can be both a makeup artist and a scientist. But time and money and energy are finite resources.

Every single cent and second you spend beating your face is one taken away from making yourself smarter and stronger, which is exactly what the patriarchy wants. It all adds up! This amounts to a burden on women that men do not “have” to endure, disenfranchising women further.

The actual wearing part of the makeup is restrictive as well as the application. You are not as free to move when you have to carefully control everything you do to avoid messing up your makeup or smudging it on something. There are literally memes about this!

It is a lot like the veil, another patriarchal practice imposed on women. This isn’t just a harmless hobby, it’s self-deprivation. I can attest from personal experience. Whenever I put on makeup, I am very conscious of my movements.

I can’t rub my face lest my eyeshadow comes off on my hand, I have to eat a certain way so lipstick doesn’t smudge on my food, I can’t just lay down or product will stain the pillow, I can’t sweat or get wet or else the whole thing will come off.

Not makeup but related: I couldn’t play guitar when I grew my nails out and painted them. The length of my nails physically prevented me from holding down the strings, and I was very careful to avoid chipping the nail polish from playing too hard.

And then the health risks! Makeup literally contains chemicals hazardous to health. You’re slathering toxins on your skin. When you wear lipstick, you’re inevitably swallowing poison. Clogging up your pores with product induces breakouts of acne.

3. The makeup industry often does animal testing, which is cruelty and torture to albino rabbits. The stuff is rubbed into their eyes. The process to harvest the raw materials used in cosmetics is extremely exploitative and harmful to workers and the environment. Stop the demand.

Still not convinced? That’s alright, this is about critiquing systems, not shaming individuals. Just proceed to be self-aware and critical of your actions. Introspection is liberation.

Some questions to ask yourself:
- “Why am I doing this?”
- “Why do I like this?”
- “What effect does this have on me and others?”
- “How does this impact society?”
- “Who does this benefit?”
- “Does this help or harm women as a class?”

No, wearing makeup does not disqualify you from being a feminist because all of your choices don’t NEED to be feminist. An environmentalist can drive a car.

If you wana contribute to a sexist, racist industry that upholds gender norms & beauty standards, markets misogyny, brainwashes women & girls into sacrificing time, money, & health for the profit of men, & exploits workers, animals, & the earth, by all means you’re free to do so.

Criticism isn’t coercion, nobody is taking your autonomy away by telling you how your choice is bad and why you should stop. Nobody is coming to yeet your makeup into the garbage for you. If women’s wellbeing is less important to you than mascara feel free to ignore 🤷🏾‍♀️

But do not fucking do absurd, pathetic, selfish mental gymnastics tryna explain why funding women’s oppression and adhering to patriarchy is somehow ~feminist~ and ~empowering~ just because YOU personally enjoy it. Stop capping and stop coping. Wake the fuck up.

It’s high tide time to put your money where your mouth is, align your actions with your ideas. This #WomensHistoryMonth, choose to empower yourself & other women by abandoning the makeup bag once & for all & embracing your bare face. #TakeOffTheCorset sisters, #EscapeTheCorset!