I know the original troll is long gone, but I can't resist:
Different women wear makeup for different reasons!
Anyone trying to pin down why "all" women wear makeup isn't going to be successful. Just like anyone trying to pin down why all people with a common activity participate in that activity.
I wear makeup for three reasons. 1. To enhance my natural beauty on some days, 2. In a decorative manner other days, and 3. Because I enjoy having a makeup hobby, from the aqcuisition to the application.
Other women wear cosmetics for a thousand different reasons, some common ones include:
- They feel obligated, and only wear it for work (good luck getting a job in most retail fields barefaced)
- They feel obligated, and wear it socially
- They genuinely enjoy wearing it for a variety of reasons, as other posters have said
- Wearing it boosts their self-confidence
- They enjoy applying it themselves and having done a gorgeous job
- They're reviewers/MUA's/bloggers trying out a product
- As a status symbol or a territorial thing, as Vogueboy said. I'd bet hard cash he sees a lot of very obvious cases of it.
- To enhance natural beauty, as several other posters have said.
- To cover up real or perceived imperfections, as other posters have said
- To stand out, to show their individuality (goths are an extreme example, but every shadow I own reflects my individual tastes)
- Cultural tradition, a lot of cultures have traditional wedding makeup, traditional makeup for different ceremonies, etc
These are just off the top of my head. From that list, there are seven different reasons that have applied to me at one time or another. So there's no ONE reason why women wear makeup, there isn't even ONE reason why an individual woman wears makeup.
And cultural tradition arguably applies to a lot of Western women, even though I was thinking of Eastern cultures initially. There's a certain look that's traditional for work, for prom, for different sorts of dates, for a bar or night club, for a wedding guest or the bride herself. I know from my younger years that skateparks and basement music shows have cosmetic appearance codes.
Please don't misunderstand me and assume I'm saying ALL women wear makeup due to social norms. I personally went barefaced for most of high school, most of college, and most of my life up until six months ago, when makeup actually became interesting to me. I know for a fact that a lot of women who don't want to wear it say "to hell with your stupid expectations" and only wear it when they'll enjoy wearing it.
The fact that women are judged for wearing makeup, or not, is still an unfortunate reality. Sexism isn't over, it's just a largely cultural battle now, in addition to the civil rights battle. Since equality is another one of my interests, this is something I think about and read about. Women are still expected to wear makeup more often than men. Makeup is still seen as a women's thing, when in reality there are plenty of men who identify as men, who do not identify as trans women, who wear it. Most people, when they hear "Man wearing makeup" will think of a stereotype of a trans person or a stereotype of a female impersonater ("drag queen") when there are plenty of men who wear it in a more traditionally feminine fashion for fun occasionally, or wear concealer, lip and eye products, etc. But this is a whole social rights and norms can of worms that I'm not trying to get into too deeply. My point is, women are still expected to wear makeup, while men are not. Our society is still very superficial.
Anyway, I know y'all are thinking "Oh god it's that girl who posts really long posts, someone shut her up" so I'm ending this post.