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Feminism

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Concealer to Conceal Her
No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.Ó -Oscar Wilde. As true as this statement may be, women in today's society do as much as possible to hide themselves from ever being under those certain conditions. Women use make-up to hide unattractive features, and it is portrayed as a true benefit for women in a recent advertisement for women's powderflage concealer in the woman's magazine, Cosmopolitan. The scene appears to take place around the mid 1900Õs. The woman in the advertisement is wearing a long green camouflage dress. The man next to her, perhaps her husband, is stating to another man: You're telling me this little bad-boy will diffuse her dark circles & fine lines. The woman in this advertisement is actually smiling at the man's statement. He is speaking for her, about her body and her physical appearance to another man, yet she seems unfazed by his opinion. In today's society, men seem to have the most important opinions on beauty and their opinions have affected women's physical expectations of themselves. In order to understand this advertisement and the meanings within it, we have to establish a meaning of the product, concealer. Concealer is used to hide imperfections on the skin and therefore has a positive association with make-up. Men and women have associated beauty with perfection and, therefore, the more imperfections a woman can hide, the more beautiful she will look. In today's society, imperfections are considered ugly and unwanted, especially on women. Mainly women wear concealer, although there may be an occasional man who wears cover up or some other form of make-up. While it is still acceptable for men to be imperfect (men are not featured on the package of eyeliner or mascara), the notion of beauty and expectations of women have made them want to conceal

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