Make-up

I'm just watching this girl's videos...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hvg80fTQ54"]YouTube - ‪Natural Beauty‬‏[/ame]

And she's putting so much work into making herself look good. Not only is this appreciated, but encouraged. I'm just wondering where this double standard started from. If a boy did anything similar, it would be considered repulsive.

Where did we go wrong in history?
How does it relate to our evolutionary roots?
 
Arsal said:
I'm just watching this girl's videos...

YouTube - ‪Natural Beauty‬‏

And she's putting so much work into making herself look good. Not only is this appreciated, but encouraged. I'm just wondering where this double standard started from. If a boy did anything similar, it would be considered repulsive.

Where did we go wrong in history?
How does it relate to our evolutionary roots?
Click to expand...
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrPhiZegk7Q"]YouTube - ‪Guy Makeup Tutorial‬‏[/ame]

I'm still pondering my response, but I am a HUGE fan of Michelle Phan. I don't find guys wearing make-up repulsive, unless it's tasteless.
 
Gender history will be your best friend. . There are a lot of theories on this topic and even more discussions. From my point of view the ideas of femininity and masculinity were developed pretty much as artificial concepts and mostly by men over time when brute physical force was enough to impose values and will. During the present day things get a little better, there are more open minded people but still the legacy lives on.
I don't think that it's about being right or wrong. Traditions and hierarchy are pretty unique to cultures and at some point they were perhaps beneficial and thus maintained in such a way. Evolutionary both genders I believe to be very balanced, unless we talk about the cultural evolution, which again, is like a wildfire where evolution and revolution are both combined.
 
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/0140245480"]Evolutionary psychology[/ame] suggests, to simplify, that women as the sex which hosts the reproduction must display their reproductive value accordingly (by looks of youth = beauty). Male beauty is necessary only insomuch as demonstrating the ability to provide good genes and material support, as male reproductive capability remains intact for much longer than females'. Hence, the focus is not as much on superficial male looks.
 
She is Chinese, though? *cough*

Why did men stop wearing make up? Well, I'm guessing a time period in history came when the rich were overthrown, wars happened, revolutions happened, industrialization came, labor increased and they couldn't keep it up for practical reasons etc. Then someone introduced new trends and people followed along with it, and they still do. Over the time it became ingrained in their consciousness, and prejudice came, and the fear of being ostracized, not to mention being left out of the pool of sexually desirable men. But hey, I'm being Euro centric.

Seems to be a human thing.


peacock.jpg
 
Arsal said:
Why is it okay for women to wear make-up and not men?
Click to expand...

Because men are asked to be other things than beautiful, such as strong, unemotional, and RAWR manly over all...




Actually, I am not sure what your question is, as I see people answering a different question.

Are you asking why women wear make in general? or are you asking why men don't wear make up as well?
 
SpilledMilk said:
Evolutionary psychology suggests, to simplify, that women as the sex which hosts the reproduction must display their reproductive value accordingly (by looks of youth = beauty). Male beauty is necessary only insomuch as demonstrating the ability to provide good genes and material support, as male reproductive capability remains intact for much longer than females'. Hence, the focus is not as much on superficial male looks.
Click to expand...

I think the fact that males show that they are capable of producing healthy offspring is important as well as other qualities that help men to get women (reliability, wealth, care-taking, etc). Like wearing make up for a man might be in fact beneficial, as far as it will attract female attention and perhaps a chance of passing on the genes. It's just at different times in history different things mattered. Maybe a couple of dozen of centuries away mighty Burugurk, the best hunter of the village was getting all the chicks, now some gothic/emo/nerdy looking guys might have an advantage over Burugurk.. It all depends on what kind of women need to be attracted.
So yes, the principal of evolutionary psychology could be applicable but they are always in flux.
 
I dont mind of women wear some make-up. Maybe some lipstick but that
would be all. If that. Also, no need for jewlery.

SpilledMilk said:
Evolutionary psychology suggests, to simplify, that women as the sex which hosts the reproduction must display their reproductive value accordingly (by looks of youth = beauty). Male beauty is necessary only insomuch as demonstrating the ability to provide good genes and material support, as male reproductive capability remains intact for much longer than females'. Hence, the focus is not as much on superficial male looks.
Click to expand...

I dont know. I personally do look more for the hips and other feminine features than the face.
But that is just me.


In the whole though. Women with little make-up OK, men with any kind of make-up, not OK.
IMO at least. People should be confident enough to not need make-up to use it to try to
look more "attractive". You are fine the way you are.
 
Odyne said:
Actually, I am not sure what your question is, as I see people answering a different question.

Are you asking why women wear make in general? or are you asking why men don't wear make up as well?
Click to expand...

I'm asking where the association with make-up and females begin in the first place, and why didn't this association distribute equally to both sexes, or to males (e.g. peacocks, thank you Peppermint).
 
Also I'm totally oblivious regarding gender history, so recommended reading material and such is more than okay. I don't mind reading. [MENTION=1796]AhSver[/MENTION] and whomever else wants to help out, thank you.
 
Arsal said:
[MENTION=3538]Arsal[/MENTION] Also I'm totally oblivious regarding gender history, so recommended reading material and such is more than okay. I don't mind reading. [MENTION=1796]AhSver[/MENTION] and whomever else wants to help out, thank you.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty respected journal Gender and History, http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0953-5233
I am sure you could find many interesting articles. . A lot of history magazines have many publications about the changes of gender roles throughout history. Project Muse is great to look or JSTOR if you have an access. Maybe your local library carries articles on this topic. Google could be your good friend :P Would you like names of specific articles that you might find interesting? Or books? I am sure I can put something together (:
 
AhSver said:
Would you like names of specific articles that you might find interesting? Or books? I am sure I can put something together (:
Click to expand...

Only if it isn't too much trouble. I sincerely appreciate the assistance. (:
 
yndsu said:
I dont know. I personally do look more for the hips and other feminine features than the face.
But that is just me.
Click to expand...

Breast implants and tummy tucks are also cosmetic measures taken to satisfy the male craving for youthful beauty and reproductive capability. While men do get chin implants and liposuction, it's done on a much lesser scale than women.

And of course everyone wants everyone else to be "natural" -- levels the playing field, leading to easier assessment. However, I think one can more easily justify themselves taking cosmetic measures. All result from self-interest at play.
 
Actually men do do things to make themselves look good (eg. primp) it's just not putting stuff on their faces but rather things like grooming body and facial hair to certain levels, doing their hair a certain way or wearing a slight tinge of some certain sent, or color coordinating their clothes.
 
That's because you've never seen make-up applied in a masculine way. It's common practice for actors in movies, on tv shows, and on stage to wear make-up, but it's applied in a way that accentuates the male facial structure rather than female. Men's make-up is also made and applied to be more subtle than women's, because it's not accepted in the culture. If it was more accepted, men would probably develop more noticeable styles of wearing make-up that would still be masculine and different from women's.

But yeah, in any given movie Sylvester Stallone is probably wearing some foundation and lipstick, concealer, and a bit of subtle blush and eyeshadow.
Click to expand...
http://nerdfighters.ning.com/forum/...ear-make-up?commentId=1833893:Comment:3179839

This study demonstrates the existence of a sex difference in facial contrast. By measuring carefully controlled photographic images, female faces were shown to have greater luminance contrast between the eyes, lips, and the surrounding skin than did male faces. This sex difference in facial contrast was found to influence the perception of facial gender. An androgynous face can be made to appear female by increasing the facial contrast, or to appear male by decreasing the facial contrast. Application of cosmetics was found to consistently increase facial contrast. Female faces wearing cosmetics had greater facial contrast than the same faces not wearing cosmetics. Female facial beauty is known to be closely linked to sex differences, with femininity considered attractive. These results suggest that cosmetics may function in part by exaggerating a sexually dimorphic attribute
Click to expand...
 
I guess there is nothing wrong with men wearing make-up except that every example I have seen of it, makes the man look more feminine.

Additionally, I would never use make up because there is no motivation to do so. I am not interested in trying to look younger, or to appear to have more even looking skin.

The only kind of make-up that has any appeal for me would be something along these lines:
DarthMaul-1.jpg
 
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