Tweet of the week goes to Katie Lorraine, 'Radical subversive self-love, Cristen Conger
nails it again. I will love me even though society tells me not to.' And Katie, I'm going
to love you too unless that's a little creepy cause I don't know you, and I'm really dropping
the L-bomb fast.
This week on Stuff Mom Never Told You I kicked things off with a question that I have been
asked a lot and have honestly avoided answering which is 'Why do Gay Men Lisp?' It's just
a sibilant 's'. It's not a lisp. Then I asked a very important question: 'Why do we call
vulvas vaginas?' Finally I offered up herstorical costume ideas because people Halloween is
coming up, what are you going to be? I am going to be Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg. Now time for Ask Cristen first of all thanks to everybody who watched and commented
on last week's Ask Cristen video all about the fat guy stigma. MagusSatori had this to
say: 'Fat men have the dubious distinction of understanding what street harassment is
like for women. How many times has someone screamed "run fatty!" from the window of a
pickup truck. I don't ride bikes anymore (the one exercise I truly enjoy) because I know
every single person I pass will silently be thinking of the circus bear on a bicycle and
some will say it.' We really need to stop being such ding-dongs to each other. Hi I'm
Cristen, I'm eloquent. Julie Lyngsoo said, 'The only way to uproot the fat stigma is
to talk about it. Emphasize how fat and skinny people are both just PEOPLE. Weight isn't
an identity, it is the amount of gooey stuff between your skin and bones.' I like the gooey
stuff between your skin and bones Julie and I'm referring to your brain. Now onto this
week's Ask Cristen question from Sierra G, 'Why do girls wear makeup?' This whole topic
ties in really well to the video I did a few weeks ago, 'How do I learn to love my butter
face?' and a lot of comments and suggestions focused on makeup, of learning how to find
the makeup that worked the best and was the most flattering for this girl's face. As someone
who researches, writes and talks a lot about feminism, gender differences, the cultural
history of femininity and what all that means I think a lot about my own makeup practice.
I rarely leave the house without at least probably some mascara on. Now for instance,
I have slathered my face in layers of makeup believe it or not. As I mentioned before on
this show my history with makeup goes all the way back to when I was a girl. When I
was twelve, what did I get for my birthday? Not a pony, not a bicycle, not even tickets
to go see 'N Sync. I got a Mary Kay makeup consultation. I was essentially raised with
the expectation that at one point the Mary Kay makeup consultant would come to our house
and she would show me how to put on my eye shadow and I would finally be a woman. The
cosmetics industry in the United States alone is worth fifty billion dollars. They've gotten
really good at selling us products they promise will revolutionize--that's a highlighter.
That's not a lipstick. But let's just say, that will revolutionize your face. Those probably
some of the most common explanations that we hear for why women wear makeup. We're told
to whether by cosmetics companies or the women around us. Let's move away from the social
stuff and get into the science. Makeup is useful in the sense of concealing flaws, enhancing
symmetry and also exaggerating features like the whiteness of our eyes and the redness
of our lips, evolutionary biology classic signals of female sexual health and fertility.
You want to go out? You're ready. Am I red carpet ready? Along those same lines a 2008
study in the Journal of Cosmetic Science divided makeup wearing women into camouflage and seduction
camps. There was also a 2011 study out of the University of Basque which concluded women
wear makeup to provide a quote 'relief from satisfaction'. We use these tools to give
ourselves a confidence boost to make us feel more prepared to put our face forward into
the world. I am a women, hear me roar. A lot of girls and women wear makeup because we
believe it will make us more attractive to other people whether we're talking about just
attractive in the sense of looking friendlier and more competent and more approachable perhaps
in the workplace or attractive in the sense of hubba hubba I can't wait to get your number
and really respectfully approach you and ask you on a date. In a nutshell the reason girls
wear makeup serves both an internal and external purpose. It seems that we put on our makeup
to give ourselves that psychological jolt of self-confidence perhaps, of feeling better
camouflaged or more seductive. Also it serves the external purpose of us thinking that we
are fulfilling this beauty standard out in the world. Makeup is a very powerful tool
and sometimes does it keep us self-objectifying ourselves, does it keep us somewhat in this double bind,
does it perpetuate a beauty myth, absolutely. Do I personally have any plans to stop wearing
makeup? No. I think it makes my face more palatable for the viewer and that also is
reflective in how kind the comments tend to be. It also just in my day to day if I put
on mascara I don't feel like that is sacrificing part of myself for it. I think it's important
to remember the power of makeup as it relates to gender play and gender performance, I have
a feeling that trans viewers probably have a lot to say about makeup as well. Now I want
to hear from you, do you wear makeup, why or why not? Let me know in the comments below
and as always ask me your questions so I can give you some answers.