I recently came across an article on Buzzfeed that was titled “21 Real Men Who Will Make You Believe in the Power of Makeovers”. When I read the title I glazed over it and started looking at all of the photos that truly did make me believe these men needed a makeover. However, after thinking about the idea of men getting makeovers I almost laughed at how easy it was for them. Most of the guys got a hair cut or shaved; but being a woman who puts makeup on, does my hair, and picks out a cute outfit everyday I found most of these makeovers to not really qualify when it comes to the work some women put into their “makeovers” everyday.
I was just curious how some of you felt when it comes to the role of makeup and getting ready in women’s lives compared to men.
Hey Hannah!
Your post made me think of the show What Not To Wear. In this show the people who are getting the makeover are volunteered by their friends and family, they themselves don’t want these makeovers. I don’t approve of this show because if you watch it the stylists take away the participants favorite clothes and basically take away their identities and conform them to what is popular or the norm in todays society.
I think the idea of makeovers are stereotypes of woman. Stereotypes are a generalization about an entire group. So seeing and reading this buzzfeed article was very interesting. It was cool to see guys posing and setting up like they had a full makeover too. In my opinion I don’t think men truly understand what we go through everyday with the pressure to have makeup on and look presentable when all they really do is roll out of bed and make sure their hair isn’t a mess. I think that they don’t have as much of a societal pressure to look their best for events such as class or group meetings.
I think as a woman and society we constantly are surrounded with ads and images of women looking beautiful and flawless. They’re portrayed this way usually to sell something, and it works. We buy these products and things because we feel like we can’t look better without them and want to obtain the flawlessness thrown in our face through these images. Another factor of why we rely on things like makeup so heavily is how we are raised to see ourselves and other women. Were constantly compared or comparing ourselves to other women and made to feel as if we need to be better or not enough to the female next to us. Things like makeup make us feel stronger about how we look and in comparison to other women. We focus on so much of the physical appearance on who we are, the pressure is apparent especially in young women.