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- Jan 24, 2003
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Circe|1414532893|3774066 said:Maria D|1414532464|3774062 said:kenny|1414531926|3774057 said:Maria D|1414530075|3774038 said:hahahaha, THAT'S why you think women enjoy wearing makeup?kenny|1414528420|3774027 said:I realize I'm in a tiny minority but I wish our culture accepted and valued everyone's natural appearance, with all the variation and evidence of the passage of time, instead of fighting time and nature and striving to look peak reproductive age our entire lives ... but again to each their own.
I never said the reason women wear makeup is because they 'enjoy' it.
I seems reasonable that each woman wears makeup to look closer to how she wants to look, and usually that is to appear a bit closer to whatever their culture's ideal is.
Our culture's ideal to look closer to how women look during their peak reproductive years.
It is the elephant in the room.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Oh, go ahead and shoot me.
I'm used to it.
You think you have "the message" but I don't agree that you do. Women don't wear makeup to look like they are 25, any more than people get tattoos to look like they are 25.
I don't wear make up to look "closer to" anything. I wear it because I enjoy everything about it - buying it, experimenting with it, how it feels on my face, how I look in the mirror. Do you wear diamond rings so that your hand looks "closer to" how you want it to look? And how is that - engaged? married? more sparkly? And would that be because the cultural ideal is to be married and sparkly? If that sounds ridiculous, that's how your thinking (about makeup) sounds to me.
I think Kenny's right - we're none of us existing in a vacuum. Individually, no, I have no ambition to look like a fertile 18 year old. But when "conventional beauty" tends to emphasize the same markers as chronological youth ... it's hard to deny. When I shave my legs or redden my lips, I'm doing things that please me aesthetically, but I'm a product of my culture.
Honestly, I think we'd all be better off if we could split the difference ... men get more freedom for the fun makeup, women get less pressure for the boring kind.
Nah, I still don't agree. When I wear makeup, I look like I'm in my late 40s, early 50s. When I don't, I look like I'm in my my late 40s, early 50s. I think I look *better* with makeup, but I don't look younger. In fact, what makes me look younger (the late 40s part) is when I weigh less. And that's because when I weigh less I tend to wear clothes that are more currently fashionable.
So, if conventional beauty may emphasizes youth, I am not conventionally beautiful. If someone were to think I'm attractive, they'd be thinking "there goes a good looking woman in her 50s."
So how do you explain tattoos? And jewelry? Kenny never responded about what he's trying to get his hand to look closer to. And I believe you have tattoos Circe? Are those to fit some cultural ideal as well?