drspacey

Me: by any way you want to measure it

Male coworker: makeup ads for my gender are marketed as a post rugby or workout application

Me: makeup ads for my gender are marketed by telling us that our value to society is determined by our attractiveness. We get told we're self obsessed and wearing too much makeup if it looks obvious, that we look tired and unwell if we don't, and that "see? you don't need to wear makeup" if we wear just enough that it looks subtle. Men on social media simultaneously call out women who post pictures with makeup as deceptive, and women who post pictures without makeup as ugly. A woman in an professional environment is far more likely to have her appearance judged as part of her performance than a man. Women seen on television and film often have perfect makeup, even if the character has literally just woken up in bed, creating unrealistic expectations. During rape trials, what a woman was wearing and whether or not she had makeup on is often used as an argument against her character by suggesting that her appearance was a "sexual invitation". A large number of trans women are killed every year for wearing makeup and looking female instead of male. Oh, and makeup ads for men are marketed in strong traditionally masculine contexts to compensate for the fact that makeup is seen as "feminine" and therefore a bad thing.