Wife-beaters love the natural look: attacking makeup is an attack on women

I know it's been a while, but I've been meaning to post on this photo, which to date has about 100,000 shares on Facebook.

Ladies, show this to your boyfriends and husbands and ask how he would respond to this guy. If he would say "I'm sorry, what the hell is your problem?", keep him. (Even better if he says he'd pummel him for you.) If he laughs or tries to defend it, just walk out right now and change your phone number. No, really: the guy you're with condones violence against women, and you might as well leave before things escalate.

Few people see it that way, of course. Women have somehow been snookered into believing that the "natural look"--and men who purport to love it--is some kind of feminist ideal, one that lets women break free from the evil influence of the all-powerful cosmetics industry. But as liberal feminist blogger Amanda Marcotte explains, the women who believe this are "weak-minded" and need to wake up already, because "this is just some more bullshit oppression dressed up as liberation."

It’s not just because it’s these guys don’t get that the problem is that they embrace the paradigm that holds that a man—any random man—has the social permission to appoint himself The Judge of All Women. It’s also because these guys are committed to an even more stringent and oppressive beauty standard than the one they’re denouncing. In their fantasy, the “natural” beauty rolls out of bed, fluffs her hair and walks out the door with every hair in place, exuding a natural dewiness that accentuates her naturally bold features and naturally smooth skin and naturally hairless body. In other words, they want you to be a woman who doesn’t exist...The worst part is that this image of the so-called natural beauty isn’t just implication-free, either. The image of the dewy natural beauty is associated in our culture with virginity, innocence, youthfulness, naivete, etc. When you encounter a guy who’s insistent on it, you usually find out quickly that he’s a little afraid of bolder women, and he takes that out on women who wear bolder make-up. You get the feeling when guys rant about hating make-up that they’re kind of calling you a slut for wearing it. 

Apparently, a lot of people believe the only reason a woman squirrels away that eyeliner and mascara wand--even while pretending it's "all natural"--is to attract men. Women never want to look good just for the sake of it, of course! Makeup is never an outlet for personal and artistic expression, or even just a way to have fun and try out different identities. In some (exceptionally small) minds, women only wear makeup to attract men. Therefore, the amount and type of makeup a woman wears is similar to the length of her skirt--and some are clearly "asking for it" when they become victims of male violence.

Every woman-hating culture on Earth has a problem with makeup. The Taliban banned all cosmetics. The punishment for daring to express yourself with makeup? The Taliban cut off women's glossed lips and ripped off nails decorated with polish. In countries like Iran, women who "ask for it" by wearing heavy makeup are subject to police harassment and rape.

If you have a problem with women who wear makeup, it's guaranteed you simply have a problem with women, period. Yes, even if you're a woman yourself. Being a woman doesn't bar someone from believing in her own inferiority and natural second-class status.

The perfect example of a sexist asshole--who, based on the interviews I've read, is also a flaming idiot--who sings about the evils of makeup is John Mayer. He wrote a song in 2002 called "Comfortable," claiming he loves girls in grey sweatpants with no makeup. Weak-minded women swooned.

He then ran off to date Jessica Simpson. So it seems the man who pretended to love bare faces and grey sweatpants actually wanted a busty blonde with eyelash extensions who's forced to pretend it's "natural." After the breakup, Mayer demonstrated his respect for women by bragging to Playboy magazine, of all places, about his sex life with Jessica, spilling personal details that anyone would find degrading. What a charmer! I have no doubt that Mayer singled out Jessica Simpson for this humiliation because of her bubbly blonde, ultra-feminine persona. "Male feminist" my ass. After seeing his true colors fly in Playboy, I'm truly shocked that he didn't hit her.

Which brings us back to the subject of wife-beaters. This photo attracted over 100,000 comments, many from women trying to man-please and prove how cool they are by saying it's totally fine to smash some girl's stupid makeup kit--which they deny wearing themselves, of course, because they're so laid-back!--and that she's "full of drama" if she complains. Many ask "What's the big deal? It's just makeup."

No one should care that it's "just makeup." This still qualifies as "destroying property" for a clearly stated reason: to make the woman do what he wants. This is on every domestic violence checklist in the book. It's no surprise he doesn't want her out with her friends. If a woman's friends start seeing and hearing too much of him, they'll probably tell her to leave. Therefore, the makeup that allows her to leave the house without him must be destroyed.

I'll leave you with the music video for rapper Eve's "Love is Blind." As the video shows, many wife-beaters actually like leaving visible bruises on their victims' bodies. Therefore, the makeup that covers it up--and might even give her the confidence to leave him--is a threat to his power.