I think you missed a point buried in the message: If enough women stop wearing makeup in an attempt to look like plasticized perfection, and instead accepted our own unique forms of beauty, that WOULD actually change the culture. It has happened before. In the Roaring 20s, it was considered shameful for a woman to wear short skirts. Baring ones ankles was risqué, baring the calves was scandalous, baring the knees, dear god, get the smelling salts!... Yet they did it in droves anyway, and now we can wear whatever length of skirt is appropriate for our activity level and the temperature/weather. In fact, we can now wear pants...which is even more appropriate for active lifestyles. Our grandmothers and great grandmothers didnt go around asking for the culture to change. They simply changed themselves, and that changed the culture. Its happened before, and it can happen again. As for the line dont give it all away, shes referencing ones sense of personal identity, our unique individuality, of which our imperfections are part and parcel. Barbara Streisand is renowned not only for her singing and acting, but for her big nose--if she gave that up for a plastic surgeons version of the perfect, culturally acceptable, petitle little schnozz, she wouldnt be Streisand. Take away Whoopi Goldbergs dreadlocks, try to force her hair into being artificially straight, or pick it out and make it helmet-round in an afro, and she wouldnt be Whoopi--even playing the part of an alien on Star Trek, she kept her neat, thin, columnar dreads as a part of her self-identity, even if they werent popular as a hairstyle in the 80s, when thicker rastafarian ones were in style. In all of this, the singer is talking about who you really are underneath the makeup, underneath the culturally demanded mask. Dont give all of that away. Dont bury who you are just to make people like you. Or rather, *you* can do that if you like. But then thats the point of the message, reminding women that we have a choice. We dont have to conform to plasticized perfection under layers of facepaint, hair weaves, and more, simply in order to be liked. I have a saying, The only person you *have* to spend the entire span of your life with is you, yourself. So make sure you like who you are. You dont have to bury who you are under layers of makeup in order to like yourself. You can if you want, but you dont *have* to do it in order to like yourself, let alone be liked by others. Thats the message. Dont give your sense of self away. Dont feel you have to bury it behind a false appearance just to find acceptance. You can put on makeup if you want, but just realize first and foremost that youre also fine just the way you are when you wake up in the morning and get up. When enough of us accept ourselves as ourselves, the culture will automatically change...and well all be emotionally and mentally (and fiscally) healthier for it.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 09:07:49 +0000
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