It's enough to make you blush
11 March, 2005
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It's enough to make you blush
Courier Mail
Friday 11 March 2005
MAKE-up for men is the latest desire of every urbane metrosexual.
But do men really want to buy into the insecurity and costly world of cosmetics? Have they learnt nothing from women who have been dogged by the demands of personal grooming for centuries?
Danny Ventura is touring the country. He is a Paris-based beauty and make-up expert.
Being based in Paris is important for his line of work. It is part of the spin.
Paris gives male beauty integrity. It is probably the only city in the world that could.
In Australia to train an army of grooming consultants in the use of men's make-up, Ventura calls it a “non-conformist seduction tool”.
He refuses to mention the products by their real names. If he referred to “mascara” or “blusher”, Australian men would probably roll over laughing.
Instead, Ventura gently applies “tuxedo for the eyes”, and insists that Australian men are “really interested in taking up the challenge (of make-up)”. And Australian men still roll over laughing.
The continued blurring of the lines between the feminine and the masculine is not in men's interest.
So confused are men about who they are and how they should behave, they are losing the plot. Take a look at the behaviour of young football players, or the number of young adolescents who refuse to leave home.
These young men have taken on dysfunctional roles and don't know how adult men should behave.
And while men wander in a search for identity, the cosmetic industry is the latest group to move in and try to fill the void.
This isn't what feminism asked of men. Feminism asked for a more equal society -- not someone to share mascara with. But this doesn't mean men should return to the forests and thump their chests.
It is just another side-step of the issue Australian men really need to face. They need to start thinking about who they really are.
They must improve their relationships with women and children. They must combine strength and compassion. They need to take the positive aspects about being men and create a new identity for the gender. There is no value in hiding behind a make-up mask.
It is a change that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Pru Goward is alluding to.
While she puts it in terms of men doing more housework, what she's talking about is a greater commitment to supporting women and family.
The image of mum and dad fighting over lipgloss and competing for mirror time in the bathroom should make us feel uncomfortable. Men and women are different. And those differences need to continue to be defined.
On the surface, a bit of blusher might seem harmless. But men wearing make-up really isn't pretty.
Daniel Donahoo is a fellow at OzProspect, a non-partisan, public policy think tank.
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