Enlightened Sexism in the Age of Youtube

We’re living in the age of Youtube. This new outlet for expression of talents, opinions, and individuality can be truly empowering for some users. Youtube gives opportunities to shape culture and society. So, I began to wonder about the population of female Youtube users and how they were using the website. Without researching too deep, I was struck by the rising phenomenon of makeup tutorials and “haul” videos where women showcase what they had bought that week. Searching the keyword “makeup” will return over half a million videos where females (and a small percentage of males) as young as 3 years are teaching the art of putting on makeup. In fact, looking at the list of most subscribed Youtubers gives us a line of 16 men who mainly showcase comedy. Then, we reach the most subscribed female, Michelle Phan, one who acquired her claim to fame through makeup tutorials. Though it is a positive thing that women have equal access to this form of expression, communication, and success, we have to wonder about what women are actually sharing and what it says about the society in which we live. We certainly see the videos from females that showcase musical talent or share opinions on current issues, but more often than not, we see the “How to Impress a Boy with Makeup” or “How to Fake Abs with Makeup” videos from our female population who argue that these videos are empowering to women because they teach women how to be confident. Sure, these types of discussions and tips are not significantly different from what we see in magazines, but this is the fascinating point that Susan Douglas talks about; these standards about beauty and womanhood are so pervasive that everyday females – without the push from corporations – are reproducing and regurgitating fundamentally sexist images and ideals all on their own. A look into Youtube shows us that this is what females are doing on their own free will. Using Susan Douglas’ notions of enlightened sexism, we can see that the age of Youtube is definitely in the third-wave of feminism and a period of enlightened sexism where female success and achievements are gained through male approval through sex appeal and consumerism (Douglas, 16). By using Susan Douglas’ enlightened sexism lens to examine this new makeup tutorial phenomenon, we can deduce that these highly followed makeup videos that frame themselves as “girl power” initiatives are essentially reinforcing stereotypes and notions of womanhood and gender identities. Examples of the reinforcements of existing ideologies can be extracted through the examination of “makeup guru” Youtube usernames that are chosen, the girl-power argument, and how the variety of tutorials reinforces gender binaries.

When we choose aliases for ourselves, we tend to go for something that expresses our identity. Makeup guru names like MACBarbie07, MakeupD0ll, Sweetlust96, pinkSUGARR09, Kissandmakeup340, and DivaDarlingChic are telling about internalization of gender markers and images of womanhood. Most of these identifying names are composed of words that are associated with girls and evoke a sense of sweetness, innocence, and the one that is most telling of enlightened feminism of all, the pride of girliness. In the beginning of her discussion of enlightened feminism, Douglas questions whether or not “girly, frosted cupcakes [were] really vehicles for feminism,” (Douglas, 1).  Douglas suggests that we are at an age where girliness is no longer a taboo because of the perceived completion of the feminist movement. In a strange way of celebrating its completion, the “girl power” movement sprung up and convinced us that the resurrection and embracement of girliness is the next step (Douglas, 102). These few usernames are small evidence of this. We forego the history behind these words and their associated connotations and mash them together. Because of this new girliness era Douglas elaborates on, it is now acceptable to forget that Barbies (MACBarbie07) represent constricting beauty standards and an objectification of women or that dolls (MakeupD0ll) were common metaphors for the ideal woman, something that caused many problems for women in the past as exemplified in Henry Ibsen’s A Doll House. We’re reframing these words as words of power. The idea behind this does not come from someone who sat down and thought long and hard about how the usage of these words will actually cement feminism, but the idea really comes from media corporations that are just trying to repackage something that was old and sell it back to the consumers. Evidently, it worked.



Most of these makeup gurus frame their work as positive because it creates a more cohesive community of women under a common interest of makeup as an art form. The above makeup guru, PurseBuzz, is arguing that she is really helping women find the confident self that is hidden within. As long as one realizes that they can live without fake eyelashes, hair extensions, padded underwear and bras, makeup is really in the name of fun, expression of self, and confidence building. It’s powerful. It’s an autonomous act. Using Douglas’ perspective lens, we can critique where this argument comes from. After the perceived end of the feminist movement, there was a big push for the source of female power to derive from materialism and consumerism – the power to buy. We can see this power being used through the new emergence of “haul videos” that are also usually done by makeup gurus as well.



Douglas already warns that enlightened sexism works in sneaky ways. Just as the internal monologues from first-person chick flicks seem to represent the true inner thoughts and wants of “true, authentic females,” viewers of these videos might take these numerous, candid videos as representations of what females want, which is no different from what the internal monologues of chick flicks say – “dieting, shopping, [and] men,” (Douglas, 102). Moreover, this argument about makeup as an art form and as a way for women to express themselves cannot be separated from the history behind makeup. Historically, makeup represented a veil or a mask. Now, it has become an expectation, a way to compensate for the unrealistic beauty standard that the media presents to us. Teaching makeup is not any different from magazines and music videos depleting women’s self-esteems; it’s feeding into that exact standard. Instead, this encouragement is making it a norm. Even though PurseBuzz says it’s acceptable if one can just part and live without it, how realistic is this among the female population when every poster, billboard, television show, or ad makes us stick out like a sore thumb? On top of this, some makeup gurus are sponsored by makeup companies to do candid reviews or use their products in their videos. It’s hard to swallow this argument about confidence and camaraderie building when every viewer a Youtube-partnered guru receives becomes a dollar sign. Gurus like Michelle Phan and Lauren Luke are “well on [their] way to becoming millionaires,” (DailyMail).

Despite all the criticisms of makeup tutorials I’ve presented above, I have to admit that it is creating a leeway for transgender and gay men to participate in this community as well. Surprisingly, there are prominent male Youtubers that also participate in this “haul” and makeup tutorial phenomenon. Consequently, there are drag makeup tutorials as well as more personal videos that talk about hate-mail through Youtube and acceptance. Though the expected gay-bashing comments do exist, the comments I’ve looked through are relatively positive and encouraging for the male indulging in a hobby that has been socially constructed for females. The first video below shows a man that self-identifies as transgender in an “outfit-of-the-day” video and the second video below shows a male makeup tutorial.



Though I give makeup tutorials credit in breaking that stereotype, Anne Fausto-Sterling’s readings remind me that this is actually not breaking gender norms, in fact, it is merely reinforcing notions of womanhood and femininity. By using Fausto-Sterling’s perspective, I can see that DivaDarlingChic (top video) is inadvertently reinforcing female fashion – the way he describes his V-neck top, lilac nail polish, denim shorts, and the glitter detailing of his shirt is presented as a girl’s attire. By separating the two gendered attires and by “playing” gender, DivaDarlingChic is actually conforming to the gender binary system (Fausto-Sterling, 107). In fact, those that do not conform to this system have to play the gender game even harder to “pass.” His Youtube guru name is another example of this. By emphasizing girliness and utilizing the aforementioned girl-power movement, DivaDarlingChic is playing gender. The words diva, darling, and chic are words that have always been used to describe or call women. By using these three gender-charged words as a self-identifier, this Youtube makeup guru is in fact joining the previous examples of enlightened sexism.

While browsing through all of these makeup tutorial and haul videos, I saw examples of just about everything Douglas brought up. I saw utilizations of sexual appealing images strategically placed as thumbnails for the videos in order to draw views. I saw translation of buying power to actual power through haul and outfit-of-the-day videos. But, while I was watching these videos, that “confidence-building” reason for doing these videos never stuck to me. Beyond using our feminist writers to critique this excuse and provide alternate reasons for this phenomenon that reproduced itself from magazines and television, we need to look at the after-effects of this growing online culture. Is the end truly just fun as PurseBuzz argues, or getting the guy as other gurus seem to push? I don’t know what the future will look like, but through these two final videos, it is possible that our future is just replicating our present and that the online makeup culture is reinforcing the “sit still, look pretty” notion of womanhood and femininity, which this young lady utilizes to her advantage. Her 34-second videos have received over 88 million views in total, earning her a lot of cash despite the surprisingly mean-spirited feedback she receives from viewers regarding her crooked teeth.

Could it be that this highly focused beauty culture is making us shallower? Instead of discussing and critiquing ways to really empower women to stand up, get out of the house and malls and do something, we’re discussing teeth. Teeth. We're stuck in a third-wave mentality. We think that since we're in the age of Youtube that feminism is a done deal. Talking about feminism beyond girl-power has become antiquated, but what we don't realize, as Douglas suggest, is that the age of Youtube and Gossip Girl is synonymous to the age of enlightened sexism. Sounds like an age of distractions and denial to me.

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Offline References

Douglas, Susan J. Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism's Work Is Done. New York: Times, 2010. Print.

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York, NY: Basic, 2000. Print.

Online References

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1206663/Putting-make-tips-YouTube-millionaire.html

http://www.youtube.com