With all the ado over the new(ish) Dove ads, I’m wondering if advertisements for beauty products can ever be considered positive from a feminist standpoint. If you live in LA, you couldn’t've missed the ads — Women with realistically curvy figures, celebrating their bodies in white cotton panties and bras — while selling cellulite cream.
Rebecca Traiser’s article in Salon rants against the conflicting messages women are faced with today: You’re body’s gorgeous as is — aside from the jiggly-looking parts.
In a sense, makeup and cellulite cream seem very benign, especially compared to the injecting, poisoning, and cutting and stitching up of skin involved in botox or cosmetic surgery. I realize putting makeup isn’t all fun and games — Some women feel ashamed to leave the house without mascara, which I find a little sad but also can empathize with. And in general, we use makeup to make ourselves look “better,â€? with better defined by the perennially young, sexualized images in mainstream media.
But as third wave feminism’s pointed out, playing with makeup can be a fun, even subversive practice — One that allows women to cultivate female-centric subcultures (slumber parties!) and one that gives women time and space to pamper themselves (as opposed to taking care of baby or cooking for hubby). From a time-investment standpoint, makeup wearing has at least the potential to be a positive thing for women.
For me, it’s when these beauty rituals combine with money issues that they become problematic. Because really, we could spend the cellulite cream money on the really important stuff, like vegan condoms, a green IRA, or a new business.
Full disclosure. I wear makeup everyday. I even put on eyeliner before going to the gym. I have a $50 monthly budget allotment for toiletries. Most of this money goes to The Body Shop for lotion and shampoo and stuff, but I probably spend a good $20 a month on purely-for-beauty products.
If I went makeup-free for a year, I wouldn’t have to cancel my Environment California contributions next month – I could double it. More realistically, I could put that cash in my IRA.
Okay, that’s not realistic. Seriously, I could buy nice alpaca wool to knit more baby booties or download 240 angry girl songs from iTunes. Or I could go in on that Salon.com subscription Mok and I were thinking of splitting and actually support independent journalism instead of just giving it lip service. Or I could fly out to NYC and pick things back up with that guy I met in May…
I’m not quite ready to face the world naked-faced yet, but I’m beginning to think that my eyeliner habit may really be holding me back –
August 27th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
Then again, you could substitute out of any good or service into any other good or service. My confession is that if only I didn’t smoke and drink, I could have that 3D card on my system.
August 27th, 2005 at 6:04 pm
But drinking’s good for you! Especially in moderation :) I can’t rationalize the cigs, but with alcohol I feel there’s an enjoyable social component to it that eyeliner lacks, for the most part. Then again, perhaps you only drink alone?!
August 27th, 2005 at 6:36 pm
I only use makeup when I’m going out, so not even once a week. This means, I often have to replace makeup before I’ve even used half of it. Meh.
Have you tried LUSH products? I do like those a lot. They’re all natural.
August 27th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Siel,
You can consume any good or service socially, though. I just wanted to point out that you shouldn’t second guess yourself on what you do with your money, that’s all.
August 28th, 2005 at 7:20 am
The Dove ads reminded me of a college class involving women in the media. I asked the instructor if animals in the wild are ever overweight.
August 29th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
I just checked out the LUSH website — I want the Rock Chick Gift! Hope my friends are reading this –
Still can’t find an anti-animal-testing, natural-ingredients-only waterproof eyeliner though. Any ideas there?