Makeup Vs. No Makeup...Really?

Alicia Keys, a current music celebrity has created a social media whirlwind by declaring that she has begun to embrace her natural beauty.  Her intent was not to start a movement. She simply used #nomakeup on selfies and the "movement" began to take a shape of its own. The backlash was instantaneous and so was the applause. Social media pitted sides (as it usually does) and the comments, opinions, diatribes and soliloquies ensued. I decided to write a different comparative from a biological point of view. Please indulge me.

My closest friends and family know that I like animals. From the age of 8 years old, I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian because of my Father's National Geographic magazine subscription that I anxiously waited for every single month. What most people don't get is, sometimes it's not that I'm admiring the beauty of the animal, I'm admiring the beauty of how they live and survive. In the animal world sometimes the female is the largest. Why? Because this is what her body requires (by way of needing more nutrients or because of the physiology of sex organs) to procreate her species.

Dendrobates leucomelas 'British Guiana ' | Photo credit: DendroBase.hu

Sometimes the female is more dimly colored and less ornate. Why? Because, in order to rear her offspring safely, she doesn't need to attract the attention of predators or curious humans.

Mandarin Ducks | Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

In the animal kingdom, this biological phenomenon is called sexual dimorphism. It is a condition where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs.  I would assert that humans probably have some of the same attributes, however, we fight against the natural biological order of what GOD created.

It has gotten so extreme that we can no longer tell male from female. (These photos serve as an example and are not meant to imply or define sexual orientation.)

Photo credit: girlswithmuscle.com and crunchyroll.com

The examples above can not be called sexual dimorphism because the transformations you see are not organic...not biological. Humans have degraded the natural, biological order of physiology through plastic surgery, hormone injections, steroid injections, and cosmetics. If you haven't been indoctrinated by all of this, you must live on a compound in Utah or something.

I must have a pretty unique perspective because I'll never understand why women are pressured into being (what our society calls) beautiful. Beauty standards are warped as it is and I wish someone would destroy that "beautiful cookie cutter" by which all are judged. For me there is nothing more beautiful than confidence; confidence in how you look naturally, feel and who you genuinely are. That kind of beauty requires no makeup.