Why Are Men Threatened by Other Men Wearing Makeup?

If you’re a Twitter feed news junkie as I am, you’ve probably seen this headline: “This Is What One Man Learned From Wearing Makeup For a Week.” In fact, you’ve probably clicked on it. After all, who could resist? A straight white guy walking around in makeup? Woah, boy! The article is a concise account of what a BuzzFeed writer named Isaac Fitzgerald experienced, mostly around the office, when he accepted a challenge from his coworkers and wore a subtly increasing amount of make up for one week straight. The experiment also involved showing his face in public as such, for which I give him serious kudos.

While a woman in a tie or flannel is chic, and no one finds Diane Keaton’s unchanging award show look to be terribly radical, a man in makeup, heels, women’s clothing, or any other signifier of feminine gender garners a lot of buzz (pun intended). My theory about why that happens is that it has something to do with relationships of power.

The most interesting part of Fitzgerald’s journey to me was his record of how other men reacted to his changing face. By the time he reached full-on makeup with foundation and lipstick, he found that men in his own place of work would not make eye contact with him, even though word of what he was doing and why had spread around the office. This shift culminated in a stranger calling him a “faggot” when they bumped into each other on the subway. The writer notes that he expected something of this sort—meaning something threatening and derogatory—to happen to him sooner or later, regardless of the fact that he lives in New York City, one of the most liberal (and indifferent) cities on the planet.

What Fitzgerald’s experience illustrates is how feminization of a man’s face or body equals an automatic loss of status, something the writer inherently understood, which is why he expected harassment. Other men are confused and threatened by this deliberate loss of power. Consider the ways in which counter-culture male youth have inverted the status quo for decades by wearing makeup. Consider, too, the long tradition of black men dressing in drag for comedic effect, a practice that many scholars and critics have explored as a means of neutralizing black male power and potency. While a black man in drag may not get a white man’s guard up, when it’s a white male, someone belonging to the group with the greatest amount of privilege in our society (well, except for RICH white males), the choice generates discomfort, scorn, and even violence over the shirking of his power. This writer’s briefly recounted experience makes that clear.

In an ideal society, this experiment would not be something brave and revolutionary. But in our strictly gendered society, it is brave. Makeup itself is powerful, a means of transformation and expression. Fitzgerald performed a small act of rebellion that left him vulnerable to ridicule and attack just by painting his face.

But the ultimate takeaway here is about women’s status. We are second (and third and fourth) tier, after all. Hence the insult that you do or say _____ “like a girl.” It is not a good thing to be in our shoes, whether they be flats or heels or work boots. I’ll keep that in mind next time I hear about how feminism is unnecessary and wrong because we’re all so “equal” now.

Header image credit: BuzzFeed