Should women wear make-up?

[SheilaT]

28. I want to make it clear that

I am not calling you "an ugly ... troll" for not wearing make up, but pointing out that such a broad brush is every bit as wrong as the broad brush that women who do wear make up are traitors to the gender.

Because, the wearing of make up aside, we are (as are men) unavoidably judged on our looks, it is very hard in life to persuade others to judge us on our own terms. Whatever those terms may be.

I've known people who think bathing and wearing deodorant is somehow betraying their essential self. To that I say, at least take a shower.

I'm aware of this judgment on another level, as both of my sons (now 26 and 31) have an auto-immune disorder called alopecia areata, which causes hair loss. The older son lost all of his hair when he was four, the younger one at age ten. As children, being totally bald had a lot of interesting ramifications. And I can get a little crazy when someone tries to put a positive spin on the baldness by saying how it's so popular and common these days for men to shave their heads, totally missing the point that a guy who shaves has a choice. He can stop shaving and the hair will grow.

I can stop wearing make up, or you can start, and we will look rather different. But we do have a choice.