“Sometimes, it’s about women, not about makeup.”
So reads the title of Jeanne Marie’s JustGiving page alongside a photo of her bruised and battered face. Like thousands of others, Jeanne has shared a photo of herself wearing no makeup and with it has urged people to donate to a charity; unlike others, Jeanne sports a broken nose, a black eye and other injuries after asking a man to stop groping her. The page had raised over £15,000 for Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre (OSARCC) at the time of writing.
The #nomakeupselfie trend has been criticised by many, myself included, for its perception of bare-faced women as remarkable — instead of something totally normal and mundane. It has since spawned a long list of parodies, ranging from the (usually male) #makeupselfie to the charming #cockinasock picture trend, which supports testicular cancer awareness. The spinoff that particularly sticks in my mind is a picture of one woman’s double mastectomy scars after her battle with cancer. Her caption? “Here’s my no makeup selfie.” Like the Page 3 partnered CoppaFeel campaign, this approach once again trivialises cancer and the effect it has on people.
The campaign was obviously successful and has raised over £8 million for Cancer Research. No one could argue that this was anything but positive — but they could certainly argue about the way in which the money was raised. Wearing makeup is, or at least should be, a choice — so why should it be compared to thing we sponsor for charity, like wearing fancy dress to work? By doing this, it infers that a woman daring to show her face without makeup is an act so brave that it should merit donations to charity.
Ironically, the original #nomakeupselfie began as an act of solidarity- people would post the pictures in order to combat perfectionist beauty standards which lead to the criticism of actress Kim Novak’s appearance. Later on, a young woman from Staffordshire decided to take advantage of the trend for cancer awareness, inspired by the battles of many people she knew against the disease. Tags for breast cancer and general cancer awareness were added, raising an astounding amount of money, but distancing the trend from its original goal at the same time.
Ultimately though, the trend is just as Jeanne states: not about makeup, but women. This statement rings true not just for her picture, but for the original aim of the campaign. In the beginning, the photos were not just about makeup, but about the skewed way in which we perceive women’s looks. We are given an impression by the media and people’s attitudes that women should look perfect at every given time, which isn’t just limited to makeup: we must also be the right size, wear the right clothes, and remember to always smile.
Smile. That’s that Jeanne was told to do by the same man who beat her for asking to be left alone. Women around the world are being told every day to look perfect to match up to the standards of everybody else. The #nomakeupselfie at least defies these expectations to some extent, even if the way in which is does so is more than a little flawed. But honestly, I much prefer Jeanne’s take on the trend—and I will be donating my money to OSARCC instead of to Cancer Research.
I wish that Jeanne did not have to go through this. I wish we didn’t need a rape crisis centre in this day and age, and I wish that she didn’t need to issue the following statement. But at the end of the day, she does- and we need to listen to it.
“no, we do not have to wear makeup
no, we do not have to smile
and, most importantly,
no, we do NOT have to be touched.”
Readers can donate to Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre via Jeanne’s JustGiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/jeanne-marie.
