Women should be able to
express themselves in any way, shape or form they please. Society has placed us
on a pedestal of enormous expectations burdened with the weight of acceptance
inscribed in its constant evaluation of a woman’s beauty.
One platform for debate
regarding the female posture and form is the ideological conversations
surrounding the word: beauty.
A popular phrase says beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
In other words, there is no one standard of beauty-it changes and shifts and
transforms as you look through the lens of different individual opinions. So
why do we as women feel the need to validate ourselves according to societal
norms when choosing how we define our beauty?
An enormous subject in this
line of reasoning with regards to how a woman dresses and chooses to present
herself and her opinions in her social bearing is, makeup-that one tool a
female uses to enhance her looks and even give her added confidence in her walk
and daily discussions on societal forums.
Makeup is a perfect example
of how the world pokes into a woman’s private thoughts.
It provides a medium for us
to understand how a woman is constantly judged according to the world’s
insensitive chatter surrounding her individual cause. Unfortunately these words
that have been added to the weapons women constantly shield themselves from, is
not only used by the male form; women have chosen to judge one another
according to how they look, using makeup as a weapon for abuse.
Let me just say this: whether
or not a woman chooses to use this tool to enhance her God given features and
hues, is not anyone’s business; its her personal view.
In my daily discussions and
conversations and even in various forms of exposure such as the beauty of
social media to enlighten and refine our personal thought structure, I have
come to see comments and backlash at how women choose to use makeup as a tool.
And don’t misunderstand my
words-makeup does not add to a woman’s beauty it merely enhances her natural
looks. And how many of us are not guilty of engaging in acts that increase our
own personal convictions?
It is a mirror; not the mask
society paints as deceiving men for a woman’s gain.
She chooses to explore her natural
features because she enjoys dabbling and mixing and adding to her own personal
picture-she enjoys this cosmetic composition. Whether or not she engages in
this act is no one’s business but her own. So why is one so quick to judge a
woman when she wears makeup as opposed to when she does not? There is this
misconception that she must wear it for male attention or to hide herself
behind the shell of insecurity-to cover her true form.
This makes me laugh so deeply
because people fail to understand: makeup is her hobby not her den of
uncertainty. It is a cosmetic conversation she enjoys like swimming and
dancing-its done for fun!
It’s another side of
exploration of the delicate female form; its an adventure through colours and
shades and different contours and tones-a way for a woman to express her
thoughts through her cosmetic canvas chosen just as her own.
It is a way for her to grasp
her inner intuition into an outer display of her habits and true nature.
And not all women take part
in this artful dance of shaping silhouettes and pictures-some do not choose to
explore this side of adventure but that does not mean they do not have grace,
and beauty and confidence-these are all traits imbibed in the female form.
They do not come from
makeup-it is merely a mirror where a woman reflects her inner creativity-it is
merely a tool a woman uses to display her thought patterns and her natural
beauty. It is the same as when women wrestle or race or cycle -none of these
make her any more masculine-she is simply expressing her beauty as she
chooses-she is only giving her voice various mediums for communicating.
So why do we judge how a
woman looks based on pleasing a man’s ideals of beauty? Who told you she wears
makeup just to catch his attention or to disguise her true intentions?
Yes, there are stages when a
girl transforms into a woman that are dotted with insecurities and inhibitions
and fears of failure and gasps of guilt that might drive her to hide behind
this makeup tool as a shield. But and there is a but, no one has not passed
that pathway of self evaluation and investigation; we all deal with it in
different ways with different means of expression-through our clothes, our
tastes in music, art and even fashion. So why is a woman judged when she chooses
to use this form of beauty as her weapon? When she realizes that she enjoys
this form of expression?
Why is she still challenged
even when she has left that pathway of self-searching and debating into the
hallway that is paved with life’s various experiences on how she chooses to
dress her female form? Why does it automatically translate into a decision that
she uses this tool to hide her true intentions?
Every single person goes
through life’s valleys and hills and even gets stuck along the way in the
gutter of guilt, but just because she is female and chooses to express herself
with makeup-a gift she encountered along the way of growth, development, and
exploration-does not mean she should face judgment for how she has chosen to
engage in this colourful conversation-it is another side of expression; not her
whole voice-so why do we want to squander all her beauty into one choice?
For some it is not to get a
man’s attention-for others it is not to hide insecurities or even evil
intentions-it is simply a way for her to express herself-a medium she connects
with to enable the world to see who she is-bare faced or not-she still carries
beauty-she should not be judged on how she chooses to address it.
Her beauty does not come from
that toolbox of colours and hues-it has nothing to do with that cosmetic
wonderland she has chosen to use-they merely enable her to share her views-of
how she wishes to look; not for men or attention but simply an expression of
her inner gifts in her outer carriage and form.
Her beauty is barefaced and bold, covered with
colours, highlighted with hues, she remains a woman-an unchanging truth. So do
not judge her based on one aspect of her truth, she is much more than a
cosmetic calculation of society’s views.
