I had always thought that women were luckier than men because they had the ability to manipulate their appearance using make up. If a woman has a blemish she can use cover up to hide it. If a woman has small eyes she can use liner and mascara to make them appear larger. Woman have access to lip liner, eye shadow, lipstick, lipgloss, foundation, blush, bronzer, etc... Posters hang everywhere advertising these products. Beautiful celebrities, such as Sofia Vergara, Taylor Swift, Tyra Banks, Rihanna, and Drew Barrymore endorse particular brands of make up, suggesting that with such merchandise we will look like them. How could we resist these offers? The majority of women and girls incorporate make up into their daily routine, taking time away from other (probably more productive) tasks.
Wolf suggests that women proved they were able to match and in some cases surpass men in productivity while handling "two shifts," paid work and domestic work. She postulates that, "Someone had to come up with a third shift fast," to occupy women's time in order to prevent them from becoming more successful than men (25). She says women, "...had to add serious 'beauty' labor to her professional agenda" (27).
I had never viewed make up in a negative light; however, looking at it from Wolf's perspective, it does seem a bit like a scam. The public and the media encourage women to wear make up, whereas men are discouraged from using such products. When the concept of "manliner" was brought up in class, everyone snickered. Men who are too concerned with their appearances are stereotyped as feminine or queer. The public therefore shelters men from the make up mania, leaving them more time to focus on other responsibilities.
Before my brother went off to university, we had coexisting daily routines. We both had after school commitments, we had a similar work load and household responsibilities, and we ended up going to sleep around the same time. The only difference is that I was waking up an hour earlier to get ready for school. He would roll out of bed 10 minutes before leaving and have enough time to do whatever he needed to. I was expected to do all the things he was, working off one less hour of sleep. Of course it is a female's choice to allocate time to put on make up, but how much of a choice to does one have when beauty becomes a standard for success? Wolf explains the relationship between appearance and wealth by explaining, "The equation of beauty with money was not examined closely, and the power placebo of beauty was redefined to promise women the sort of power that money, in fact, gives men" (30).
And make up is not the only thing that wastes a female's time. Other products such as nail polish (again, predominantly used by women and not men) have no purpose other than esthetic. And so the "list of things to do when getting ready" accumulates. In order to keep up with their counterparts, women feel the need to fulfill the criteria on this list. Quite obviously, had such products never been introduced and endorsed, women would not feel compelled to utilize them.
Wolf was able to change my perspective on make up, allowing me to recognize it for what it is: an additional burden for women to cope with. This realization will not prevent me from wearing make up, on the account that these images and ideals have already been ingrained in my mind.
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