In a perfect world, no one cares what people look like. People are free to wear what they want without judgement, and there’s no pressure to look a certain way.
At Meijer, pictures of female models line the aisle walls with makeup and good hair, but there aren’t any male models to be found. The models for men are located by the razors and shaving cream.
The stigma for men is huge: no makeup, no dresses. In order to be a “manly man”, young men need to strive to be like their elders; no different, definitely not like the girls. Everything from looks to emotions are regulated by other men, and if a man goes just a little bit off of the “masculinity” spectrum, he’s compared to a woman.
In a perfect world, this would never happen. I look forward to 100 years from now, when people won’t be judged for what they want to wear.
Just 100 years ago, it was unheard of for women to wear pants. Now, almost every person, regardless of sex and gender identity, wears pants regularly. Women weren’t allowed to wear pants – an item that nearly every woman has in her closet now – because society at the time thought of it as inappropriate. The first women to wear pants in public were no doubt ridiculed and judged by many, but this would never happen today.
Why is it so unheard of for men to wear skirts? Or even the color pink? There’s certainly a growing amount of men who are joining the movement of wearing pink and more “feminine” clothing, but in many public places, seeing a man dressed in a dress would make them the center of attention, and in most places, it wouldn’t be good attention.
I imagine in 100 years or so, all clothing and beauty products will be normalized. Men and women won’t have unnecessarily gendered clothing items. No strange looks or judgement passed from man to man when he sees another man with eyeliner; hopefully his thoughts would be something along the lines of “Wow, Jeremy’s eyeliner is so on fleek today.” There’s really no need to care about how other people look, anyway. They’re not you. They are expressing themselves in a way they enjoy, and that’s all that matters. After all, unique people are the ones who are changing the world.
An argument I hear a lot on this subject is always from the guys. “I don’t want my girlfriend to look the same as my best friend, that’s just wrong.” Okay, I understand what you’re saying, but men wearing makeup and cute clothing isn’t going to transform his bone structure and turn him into your girlfriend. I look forward to when this won’t be an argument.
It’s still fairly taboo to talk about men wearing makeup, as well. Have you ever seen a man with makeup? They’re beautiful. Look at Jeffree Star or Youtuber Manny Mua. They wear heavy makeup and they do a far better job than I could ever do. I am jealous of these men. They look so good. These are just two examples of men on Youtube that post full face makeup, but there are so many more that have “natural looks” that even the average guy could try out, without grabbing attention. Some men of today are conquering these looks, but they receive a huge amount of backlash, when they shouldn’t. A century ago, women weren’t wearing pants. I think a century from now, men will be wearing makeup like it’s no big deal.
Makeup doesn’t mean full contouring and eyeliner and a bold lip. The power and beauty of makeup is that it’s whatever the person wants to make it. Make it a natural look, make it look like you’re an alien from a distant planet, far away. Either way, makeup takes away flaws and adds confidence and lets people express themselves. A lot of girls wear makeup to cover up flaws and red marks, so why can’t guys? I have heard more and more about guys using concealer, but it’s almost always a ‘secret’ thing, and I have to promise not to tell others. Come on, concealer is literally adding your skin color to make your face look better. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Frosh. Benny Rathana wears makeup and isn’t afraid to show it. “I wear foundation, I do my eyebrows, I contour my face, mascara, and that’s usually it on an everyday basis,” Rathana said. As many of us girls know, if we’ve tried contouring, it’s not an easy task. Rathana is absolutely gorgeous in his makeup, and it makes me wonder why all men don’t do this. “It gives me more confidence just to know my skin’s not the way it is naturally. It’s empowering. And I think makeup is not a bad thing, if it makes you feel good about yourself, do it. Do whatever you want, do you.” Rathana said. I totally agree with his opinion on makeup, and I think he worded it beautifully. Everyone should be able to look the way they want, and I hope that in the future, this will be a reality for all people.
I look forward to a century from now, even though I won’t live long enough to witness it. I hope my grandchildren won’t have to live in a world where people are judged for what they wear or how they look. Like Rathana said, “Do whatever you want, do you.”
