I’m thinking about throwing away all my makeup…and not buying any more.
Not in the same way I’m thinking about throwing away every single item I own that hasn’t made it’s way into a box yet. (We’re moving in a week….my house is currently UTTER CHAOS!).
I’m thinking of not wearing makeup anymore…because when Artist and Boo ask me why I’m putting it on, I don’t have any good answers.
I don’t have anything against makeup, specifically…but as a Mom of 3 girls, I want to do my very best to make sure that their self-image isn’t dictated by our culture’s atrocious objectification and sexualization of women.
I determined a long time ago that fat would simply not be in our vocabulary. I love what J.K. Rowling had to say about the word:
“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her.
I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’?”
(You can read more of what she has to say here. I agree with her 100%)
Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t make healthy choices and strive to be active and fit…but I am NOT ok with the ridiculously pervasive notion that we should all constantly diet and obsess about losing weight and being skinny.
I have resolved to never. ever. say negative things about my appearance in front of them.
I want them to choose what they want to wear based on their own sense of style and comfort, not advertisements or peer pressure.
And right now, I’m feeling like not setting an example that my face only looks beautiful if I cover it all up and make it look different might be the natural next step in attempting to safeguard their notions of beauty.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not hating on makeup or saying it’s wrong or bad. This is just something personal that I’m wrestling with. And I don’t know for sure yet what I’ll decide.
I’m pretty sure I want to just go for it, and be makeup-less…I’m just not sure I can bring myself to *never* wear it, for anything, ever. Hmm.
Anyway…I do know for sure that since Ice Cream finally fell asleep, I need to drink more coffee, and get back to packing! I’ll update with what I end up deciding. Maybe. If I get around to it. 😉
I agree! This is such a hard thing to decide. I started wearing a lot of makeup at a young age because I had a lot of breakouts, and I thought my face was too “ugly” to go without makeup. But I certainly don’t want my daughters to ever feel that way! I wear a lot less makeup these days- because I find I have better self-esteem when I don’t feel like I am hiding my face from the world.
Thanks for the reply, Brenda! It really is a hard thing to decide. I actually only occasionally wear makeup these days…but it feels incongruous to dress up for something and NOT wear makeup. But, there was a time (like when I was a teenager or *very* young adult) when I felt like I HAD to wear makeup for every single every day mundane thing…if I left the house I thought I had to wear makeup. I thought I wasn’t presentable without it, and I don’t want my girls to feel that. I’m obviously already setting the standard that around here the norm is to NOT wear makeup….I’m not really sure for me if that’s enough or if I should just ditch it, or make it only for even more rare occasions than it already is or what…
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