I am very much interested in the ways I can enhance my natural beauty with makeup. I like the way my eyebrows look when I line them, I like that I can perfect my wings to make them look increasingly sharper as I gain experience.  I like contouring my face to make my cheekbones strikingly perky. I like making myself feel beautiful.

That being said, I find it insulting when men say women who wear makeup cause them to have “trust issues.” It’s demeaning to say that the way in which a girl makes herself feel confident is the reason behind a guy’s decision not to trust her.

When men expect women to be unnaturally gorgeous upon waking up in the morning, it creates unnecessarily high expectations for their partners that they simply cannot meet. Women become increasingly more self-conscious thinking that men want them to be extremely beautiful without makeup so they ultimately feel more inclined to wear makeup in order to make themselves feel more attractive.

In a lot of instances though, women do not wear makeup for potential partners to notice.  They do it for themselves.

Maybe it’s the excitement of opening a new lipstick or a new shade of blush. Maybe it’s the way we can sculpt our faces to make our features more prominent and precise. Or maybe it’s just because we want to.

This is just another example of the ways in which men can sexualize women and make them feel like they need to live up to certain standards in order to be noticed.  It is also another case of the ways in which society shames women for wearing makeup to make themselves feel beautiful by calling it “false advertisement.”

Personally, I think it’s hurtful to insinuate that by applying makeup on my face, I’m lying to men who wouldn’t find me attractive otherwise.  Not only does it make me feel insecure of my naked features, but it assumes I use these creams and powders for someone other than myself.

Women don’t wear makeup for men. We wear it for ourselves. We wear it to make ourselves feel pretty and in control. It’s a confidence boost.

As a disclaimer, these comments and sexist prejudices will not stop women from wearing makeup. It might, however, stop women from associating with the men who think women are faking their beauty.

Karly Dunn can be reached at [email protected].