#run on paragraph about the scam of grooming generally expected of women and yes also men because I’m not leaving the li’l darlings out

[explode-this]

The previously reblogged posts are perfect and didn’t need my additions to them, i just want to affirm separately that you don’t need makeup. If you like it, great, but the idea that you “need” to wear it to be presentable in public is a bold-faced scam, a whole lie, an entire industry balancing precariously on the notion that women in particular need to put in a whole bunch of time and effort into their appearance in order to be acceptable, worthwhile, and seen as “hygienic”—see also body hair removal. If you’re a diehard makeup and body hair removal person then yippee for you, but I would gently suggest examining the use of the word “need” whenever referring to these acts and start owning that you want to do them, and then examine why you want to and whether you even want to or not. To that end if you feel you “need” to because of a professional obligation, then here’s a secret: you don’t “need” to wear it to do your job, either. Are all the products doing that job? Can your concealer and foundation get on the phone and interface with a client or run a register or make a smoothie or avoid that one annoying chud in your office who corners you by the water cooler to hit on you in a plausibly deniable way or whatever skill/hack comprises the hardest parts of your occupation? And if you’ve been convinced that some kind of front-facing job requires you to look your best in order to be more convincing or sell the product/service or make you more “palatable” to customers/clients, even to the point where it’s actually expected by your employers, try asking for a stipend for those products if it’s so much a part of your job and watch your employer squirm trying to figure out how to get away with saddling you with extra expenses and effort that perhaps other employees don’t have to worry about (cough, dudes, cough—and yes, i know about face shaving, and here’s something else, I don’t think that’s professionally necessary either *looks pointedly at the NY Yankees*)