I’ve always been mesmerised by magazines and makeup. From the moment a shimmering blue powder was swept across my eyelids at my first dance competition (I was five years old), I have been a complete sucker for all things beauty. And it was the bold beauty editorials of ‘00s fashion magazines that inspired my career in print writing.
My mother has always told me, “It’s what is on the inside that makes you beautiful,” but the beauty and magazine industry — and, as an extension, society — has taught me the exact opposite. It wasn’t until I was struggling with my own image in my teens that I discovered so many of the models who showcased those dazzling looks in magazines and on runways were essentially starving themselves to maintain their sample size. And I only recently realised that the problems within the beauty industry run much deeper than surface level: it’s more than being told what we should look like.
The global beauty industry is a $532 billion beast that thrives off telling women they’re not pretty enough, not fit enough, not feminine enough — just not enough. So, if I continue to embrace the ever-evolving beauty sphere, can I still call myself a feminist? And is it really that black and white?
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The beauty ideal
Let me clarify that when I say “beauty ideal”, I’m referring to the insistence of feminine beauty. You know the one. It dominates the airbrushed covers of magazines, your Instagram feed, even Disney cartoons. This binary of femininity, and what it means to be a woman, is how the industry began, and how it still thrives to this day.
Jia Tolentino’s essay “The Age of Instagram Face” for The New Yorker describes a “single, cyborgian face” that personifies the beauty ideal: flawless skin, perfectly contoured cheeks, pouting lips and a coy, cat-eye expression that stares blankly through the pixels of your screen. It’s been sculpted, posed and edited to fit the mould of “generic sameness”, as Tolentino labels it, and upholds the unrealistic standard that previously dominated Hollywood and women’s magazines.
Now this illusion is readily available via filters and apps that can perfect our skin, lengthen our lashes, plump our lips and transform us into virtual clones. The notion of forcing a woman to fit a set mould (and thereby make her malleable enough to control) seems to directly contradict the very basis of modern feminism — equality regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, social class, age or identity.
The language of beauty
Naomi Wolf wasn’t kidding when she wrote “Beauty is not universal or changeless” in The Beauty Myth — a text that is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1990. In fact, both the industry and the ideal evolve and shift as women begin to resist them.
Most brands and publications have stepped away from anti-ageing messaging and towards the aspiration of ageing gracefully; but this has bred a new wave of nips and tucks that are much more convenient and affordable than ever. My friends in their early 20s are getting “preventative” Botox and filler in an attempt to slow or stop wrinkle formation. Why stop at an Instagram filter when you can “perfect” your appearance IRL with half a syringe of hyaluronic acid?
It’s also important to consider what, or more pertinently, who, is influencing these filters, and in turn, major face and body transformations. If you’ve ever felt conflicted about the KarJenners and Ratajkowskis of the world, you’re not alone.
This unease isn’t out of spite or jealousy — it’s about questioning the conflict between self-empowerment, and exploitation at the cost of the feminist movement. The problem here arises when women are posting Facetuned and borderline soft-porn images that are so clearly catering to the male gaze, and essentially commodifying themselves — nothing about this feels like a radical feminist act.
This self-serving “Girl Boss” mentality of modern feminism is one that is heavily underscored by narcissism, and automatically assumes that if you identify as a feminist, everything you do is a feminist act.
The #GirlBoss era coincidentally (or not so much) rose at a pivotal time when the beauty industry was morphing into a whole new beast: wellness. Diet fads, skinny teas and meal shakes brought to you by the latest multi-level marketing company took over; wellness and thinness became somewhat interchangeable; and self-care was born in an effort to encourage women to exercise more and “invest” in their appearance — you know, for the sake of their mental health.
Identity and resistance
Each time we rise up and push back against the system, there’s backlash — in the ‘70s it was the ugly feminist caricature, and today it’s the dreaded “feminazi”. Wolf explains that modern beauty standards are actually a continuity of social coercion that “myths about motherhood, domesticity, chastity and passivity no longer can manage”. Remarks — implicit or explicit — about our appearance and attitude can make us question ourselves just enough to keep women under the same patriarchal thumb that Wolf wrote about over 30 ago.
We’re living in a world where prettiness, by Western standards, is privilege — you are more palatable, and therefore have more power to push for change. Feminist, author and queer icon, Florence Given, writes in her book <em>Women Don’t Owe You Pretty</em>, “The ability to defiantly resist is only afforded to those who are already privileged enough not to be ostracised if they do so.”
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Yet, the value and inclusivity that beauty provides to minorities and the LGBTQIA+ community cannot go without acknowledgement. Makeup has become synonymous with confidence, self-expression and exploring our identity. Without the beauty industry, we wouldn’t have drag. And perhaps there is a correlation between inclusivity in beauty and the intersectionality of feminism.
Eurocentric beauty standards are being challenged, and the rise of indie brands has seen a new, more inclusive vision of beauty blossom, championing women and non-binary individuals of all backgrounds. Makeup has become an art form, a way to express oneself, explore and challenge identity beliefs, and even challenge political ideologies. There is a new wave of Gen Z micro influencers, including Matt Bernstein (@mattxiv) and Ali (@sweetmutuals), who have taken over Instagram with works of art painted on their faces that double as protest slogans.
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So, can feminism and beauty ever peacefully coexist? Maybe this new wave of intersectional feminism will flip the script, and beauty will no longer just have a “one size fits all” mentality. Perhaps we’ll never know the answer. But maybe, unlike traditional beauty standards, this conflict isn’t binary.
Georgia Nelson is a journalist based on the South Coast of NSW and the features writer at WellBeing and WILD. She has a penchant for sustainable beauty, slow fashion and feminist literature. Find her on Instagram @geo_rose.
