"How NOT To Wear Your Makeup": If It's Not Your Face, It's Not Your Problem

Hello my sweet sweet angels!

Exactly one year ago (or a few days earlier/later, don't get your panties all in a knot), I posted this article about body shaming and the infamous cringe-worthy saying..."should you/she be wearing that?"

Although this isn't my most popular post, I believe it is one of my most important, because of the wide spread presence of this body negative mindset. So, to honour the importance of "live and let live", I am taking you on an exciting adventure through time and space, back to a scary era I like to call...

9th grade. 

Ah, yes, a beautiful age indeed. Slowly growing out of that god-awful awkward phase, yet still caring both too much and not enough about what others are saying and doing. It was the year my mental health became more than just a part of me; it became a problem.
And during the ins and outs of bad decisions and toxic friendships, I turned to the one thing that kept me going through a long hard day of drama and Algebra.
Rainbow eyes.

Don't know it? Google it. 

My adaption of a rainbow eye, I must say, was executed quite professionally. I woke up very early in the morning, blended 4 different super bright eyeshadows onto my eyelids, and marched my angst-filled neon butt to school. 

Just another Manic (Panic) Monday for 9th grade me

Funnily enough, I had raging anxiety at the time, and could barely breathe without thinking the world was staring at and judging me. But somehow, in this one particular instance, I didn't give a single fudge. 

Now, as some of you know, I write for a beauty magazine, Drop Of Pink, and with that comes a lot of research and time spent on other beauty and health blogs and webzines, so I know ALL ABOUT what makeup girls should wear to school or work, what makeup girls should avoid at all costs, blablabla. 

I even found a video, which I will not link because I ain't giving those girls more views, that mocks girls who wear their makeup differently, who make bold choices. 
...And let me tell you, that pisses me off.

Look, I know it's just beauty products, nothing too serious.
But it's more than that, it's about identity, and the freedom to express yourself. 

When I was 15, my life was a very typical miserable teenage experience. Few things got my out of bed in the morning. One of which was caking on drag makeup on a regular 'ole Tuesday morning. 
Maybe it wasn't that natural, maybe it didn't look that great, but by God it made me happy. 

So as I watch these videos, and read these articles, I can't help but think of present 15 year olds, who find little joy in anything these days, but who love dying their hair bright purple, or wearing 2940 pounds of eyeliner, or wearing tutus to school...
What if they watch those videos, or read those articles, and decide that they are being ridiculous, that because it's not the norm it's not okay. 

There is enough pressure to conform in the world, right down to the mascara you should wear, and not enough encouragement to be your own self. 
So here is my little piece of encouragement, to all my freaks and geeks:

If it's not their faces, or their hair, or their bodies, it's not their problem.
Do what makes you happy (that is legal, I'm not vouching for you in court babes) 

I hope you can all take something from this article, whether or not you're a drag baby like moi.
Have a lovely day babies

xoxo

Gabby

Traditional Beauty Bulls**t: Body Modifications

Hello my beautiful dolls,

Fact: When my mom was growing up, there were 2 kinds of people in the world:
-people with tattoos and piercing and other body modifications
-people without

Modified folk found themselves in a very different social category.
In terms of employment, they could not access conservative professions such as medicine, law, business, etc.
Most people were under the impression that tattoos were gang symbols, or membership badges to organized crime groups, hence ostracized those who sported their ink in visible places.

But the times, they are a'changing.
Yes, there is still body mod discrimination, especially in the workplace, no doubt about that.
It's the reason I only have piercings in my ear, a less visible and easily concealable area.

However, we must not forget that the unmodified, sadly ignorant people mentioned above are still around; they hold the mid to high level positions, they make hiring decisions, they are still in charge of our body mods and how they will affect our future; no shit discrimination is still going strong.

Problem: my generation is incredibly tattooed, in visible places, surprisingly pierced, and overall much more liberal about bodily modifications.
It's not just Hell's Angels and high school dropouts who are inking their bodies nowadays; college students, studying in every major, from every background, of every race.

Excluding an enormous demographic of freshly graduated students from entering even conservative workplaces is becoming a Herculean task. Limiting the job pool to clean slate kids is no longer a viable, profitable option.

Consequence: Generational Clash

As the two generations intertwine, and the latter succeeds the former, an inevitable confrontation about
body mods and their place in professional fields looms in the air.
And I am freaking pumped. 
Why you ask? Because this is about more than just a silly infinity sign on your dainty white girl wrist, this is the reason I wrote this piece in the first place:

Accepting Body Mods Is Accepting New Definitions of Beauty

In order to understand why tattoos and piercings are body positive causes worth fighting for, I invite you to think about why they are so taboo in the first place. My interpretation is this:
Body mods are not considered traditionally, conventionally beautiful. 

I may be wrong, but lemme explain myself:
Tattoos are decorations, to enhance and express identity and style.
Working with that definitions, why is jewellery, or nail polish, or makeup, or any superfluous fashion piece, accessories or decorations to enhance beauty and express style, not banned?
Because it is considered to be beautiful in the mainstream.

By slowly integrating a more diverse community of workers in all walks of life who happen to be tattooed or pierced, the definition of these mods change.
No more: tattoo=bum or gangster
Simply: person with tattoo=person who can work in any field who just happens to be wearing a decoration 

-------

Changing the mainstream definitions of beauty is obviously a cause near and dear to my heart, but change such as this one doesn't happen over night.
Not everyone will wake up one morning finding a tattoo sleeve beautiful like I do.
But  the eradication of hiring discrimination and the integration of body modified people into an engineering firm or a sales department as Dunder Mifflin teaches society an even more important lesson than beauty. It teaches tolerance.

Some old grumps won't change their minds about you and your eyebrow piercing, okay.
But, as you are the most competent applicant for the job, said old grump must work along side you.
And he must learn to be tolerant:

tolerance: not necessarily loving, but simply living, without protest or insult, with the reality of the situation.

Beauty and tolerance, I notice, go hand and hand.
By not closing the door, shutting yourself into a darkness of judgement, you open yourself up to new ideas.
When faced with bright lights, the eyes must first blink a few times, let the retinas adjust, before opening their eyelids to the bright glory of the sun.
You don't love that those "fat chicks" pose sexily on the covers of Vogue, but by not excluding the possibility entirely and looking at their beautiful curves a little while longer each day, you find yourself mesmerized.

You fall into beauty like you fall asleep: As John Green best wrote:

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once"

Here's the truth: I won't have to struggle through this myself as a midly, secretly modified human.

But I'll be an ally, rallying the troops, screaming at the top of my lungs, and you can bet your tattooed little ass that I will hire the most competent of employees, regardless of their skin status.

Gabby out.

xoxo