#Beauty Culture

[miiju86]

[being-kindrad]

Andrea Dworkin's classic Beauty Hurts diagram from Woman Hating (1974), updated for modern procedures, fifty years later.

A first step in the process of liberation (women from their oppression, men from the unfreedom of their fetishism) is the radical redefining of the relationship between women and their bodies. The body must be freed, liberated, quite literally: from paint and girdles and all varieties of crap. Women must stop mutilating their bodies and start living in them. Perhaps the notion of beauty which will then organically emerge will be truly democratic and demonstrate a respect for human life in its infinite, and most honorable, variety. —Andrea Dworkin, Woman Hating (1974)

[aaafeminist]

[shyflowerfem]

It would be so boring if all women looked the same. We are supposed to look different and that is truly beautiful. Trying to look like another woman just diminishes your own uniqueness.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Often when people talk about appearance of characters in media, especially that of women, some use an argument along the lines of "Why would I want to look at someone ugly in the games I play/shows I watch/etc.?"

From what I saw, and if I'm not wrong, you prefer to not engage with that kind of argument, but if you absolutely had to, what answer would you give that could have a chance to make those people see and maybe agree with your point?

I mean, the reason why I wouldn't engage with that argument is that it is always, universally, without exception, an argument made in bad faith, by people who are lying when they utter it. And it takes only the briefest examination of reality to determine this.

The argument they pretend to make is that "there is no reason to desire things that are not pleasurable in entertainment," in response to which I present The Concept Of Horror Media, or the success of Jackass, or South Park, or literally any subversive prank show, or sports as a concept, or the genre of tragedy, or the phenomenon of people rubbernecking. I present true crime podcasts and biographies of John Wayne Gacy and Mortal Kombat fatalities, I present unflinchingly earnest documentaries about war and disease, I present cringe comedy, I present the entire online media genre of pimple popper videos.

Human beings desire so much more than beauty, so much more than aesthetic pleasure (and indeed we can take aesthetic pleasure in so much more than beauty). We find entertainment in disgust, horror, fear, revulsion, sorrow, embarrassment, pain and, yes, "ugliness" all the time, and we have done for as long as we have had sentient minds to entertain.

So this argument "why would I want to look at someone ugly in a video game" is simply a lie. It is an argument made in bad faith by people whom I will guarantee you against a bet of real money constantly look at things which are "ugly" for entertainment.

It is a lie, it is a stupid lie, and while I'm sure that many or most of the people who peddle that lie don't realize they are lying when they do it, it remains a lie which isn't worth dignifying with a response.

And anyway, 99% of the time they don't mean "ugly" they mean "woman who I don't find fuckable" or they mean "fat" or they mean "trans" or they mean "queer" or "non-white," they mean someone or some thing which falls into a category which they feel entitled to hate, and they are trying to enforce the normality of that hate.

You cannot logic someone out of a position they didn't logic themselves in to, and there is very rarely anything you can say to these people to make them reconsider. They are reacting emotionally, they are reacting on the impulse towards disgust and hatred, and they will rationalize a lie to excuse it.

[g1rluninterruptedd]

i cannot put into words how sad i get when i see girls/women talking about wanting to get cosmetic surgery. there is nothing fucking wrong with having a face/body. why do you need to drop thousands to live up to a beauty standard? “omfg it’s her choice. y’all are feminists until it comes to what she chooses to do with surgery”. yes because why did she feel the need to make that choice? why can’t we accept that plastic surgery is meant to feed off of women’s insecurities?

i remember being told when i was about 12 and wanted to be a doctor “you could be a plastic surgeon” and immediately saying that i didn’t wanna see women pay me to “fix” them. i hate plastic surgery so bad. i know societal pressure is rough but it’s really not worth it :(

[edonee]

"my eyeliner is sharp enough to kill a man"

they are shaking I'm sure

[eclecticwordblender]

i am vehemently against choice feminism but the makeup is art and i do makeup for myself arguments probably did hold true in some capacity like 10 years back. we were doing full faces of visible make up, coloured eyelids, outright identifiable makeup (which males say they don’t like). the beauty gurus were all so different with such varied techniques and makeup looked fun and colourful and artsy. HOW EXACTLY IS THE CLEAN GIRL LOOK ART IN ANY WAY? HOW EXACTLY IS MAKING YOURSELF LOOK UNREAL YET NATURAL NOT FOR THE MALE GAZE?

[redditreceipts]

thought this was kinda cute

[femmesandhoney]

i love more women appreciating grey hair because i've always found it so beautiful and seeing older women around me talk about it with fear and anxiety, discussing how they'd dye it, seeing media where the second a woman gets a grey hair they'd shamefully pluck it or dye it away, like it was something literally immutably horrifying happening to their bodies. really made me sad as a child to see, but i love seeing more and more women embrace it and hate having to hide natural changes to their bodies, especially when it's something so lovely.

[feministfang]

Beauty culture is extremely normalised to the point women who refuse to conform to beauty standards because they love their natural selves get labelled "pick mes" by none other than self-proclaimed feminists themselves. Patriarchal society has conditioned women to be insecure about each and every feature of their faces or bodies it has deemed as a flaw due to which the idea of a natural looking woman is someone hideous and unattractive for many young women.

These insecure women have build up this one image of a natural female appearance in their minds which they describe as unattractive, and as a consequence, women who naturally do not fit into that unattractive-labelled box get hated on. I am sure we all have encountered at least one gossipmonger in our lives who would assume every woman who does not fit into that box has done something with her face or body because ‘ain’t no way a woman can be naturally beautiful’.

*Woman with rosy cheeks exists* — ‘Oh she must have applied makeup’

*Woman with no dark circles exists* — ‘hey what concealer do you use?’

*Woman with a smooth skin exists* — ‘drop the skincare routine!’

*Woman with big lips exists* — ‘definitely lip filler’

*Woman in her thirties exists* — ‘Botox! Botox! Definitely cosmetic surgery! She doesn’t look like a grandma!’

*Woman loving her natural self exists* — ‘How dare you think you’re not like other girls! Pick me!’

Women get bodyshamed if we do fit into the "ugly-looking" criteria. Women get hated on if we do not. Women are supposed to be hideously flawed if they defy beauty culture. Women with even one less flaw must admit they obey beauty culture. No matter how many times you ditch the beauty standards, you will never escape this nonsense.

I have a message for these insecure clowns:

There is nothing imperfect about you. What’s considered perfect and what’s considered imperfect on a woman is all a patriarchal set up to push us into being weak and desirable for men. Women’s insecurities have risen up along with the rise of feminism to ensure that independent women rejecting traditional gender roles are still submissive and pleasing men. Don’t waste your hard-earned money on expensive cosmetic procedures to look pretty because you are already naturally beautiful. And it doesn’t matter if your natural self is socially desirable or not, women don’t owe beauty to anybody. Please think critically of why you feel insecure about something and why do you even call it a flaw.

But on a strict note, in case you still got time to take out your brain back from the patriarchy’s washing machine, at least refrain from pulling us all down to the level of extreme self-hate where you stand. All women are perfect already. There’s no serious requirement of hiding anything or changing ourselves. But i understand if you cannot relate for now! What you see in others is a direct reflection of yours. But just because you think you are hideous does not mean every woman thinks the same way. Self-love is our only beauty routine so let us love ourselves. 🩷

[scrapnick]

“Do men really like this?”

“Do women really enjoy that??”

Doesn’t matter. Someone thinks you’re ugly as sin and someone saw you once and still thinks about you.

Deal with that as you will.

[worstdykeever]

why are we pretending like this is normal ? this is a video of a 'medical esthetician' wearing these skincare masks that have not been proven to work in public even though it hinders her ability to eat and makes people stare at her. everyone talks about how predatory the makeup industry is, but we forget that the skincare industry is just as bad, if not worse. imagine not being able to eat or enjoy yourself in public just so you,,, don't look old when you're old ? what's the point of having perfect skin if you refuse to ever show it ? this has to be some kind of obsessive/compulsive behavior at this point and it's so saddening to see what misogynistic beauty standards are doing to women.

[gynoids-over-androids]

kinda crazy how incels convinced libfems (mostly gen z) that "pretty privilege" is a thing , that males suffer true discrimination based on their appearane and that "pretty"women are privileged... they really believed this incel shit without thinking that mayyybeee pretty *privilege* doesnt' exist, its just women who avoid punishment of not conforming to beauty standards.

[womenaremypriority]

My take is that radfems should shift the conversation from “women wear makeup for men, so we should stop wearing it.” This reminds women of how men victim blame them for assault and harassment. It’s also not true on an individual level- most women don’t want male attention at all. It’s for multiple reasons- out of habit, for other women, to look impressionable, etc. If you want to get across to a specific women, and she says something like “I wear it for myself!” Or “I always wear it” or “I feel unfinished without it” ask “why?” Why can’t you stop? And shift the conversation from them to the fact wearing it is pushed us on from childhood, how men don’t wear it despite the fact they also have facial flaws, how it takes up time that adds up, etc.