a new theory

[sibyline]

so i've been wearing makeup during the day for the past five days and i've come up with a new theory. if it is the case that men find intelligent women more intimidating and therefore less attractive, it may be the case that women wearing makeup are more attractive not just because they look better, but because wearing makeup actually decreases one

Comments

[sibyline]

it may be working at an uncoscious level. that's why we need science. :)

[fredericks]

I jumped onto LJ in order to vent my frustration/fear/anger and then I caught wind of your icon and broke into giggles. I don't know whether to be happy or pissed about that. *grin*

would be fun to design an experiment... maybe have guys talk to girls over the phone with and without makeup, or some such.That raises the point about how make-up makes the *wearer* feel. I know I'd be an anomaly since I rarely wear make-up anymore, but when I did work it it'd usually be because I was going out to a special occasion or for a special celebration. It endowed me with a sense of sensuality I didn't have otherwise (at least until my natural oils started to kick in and I began to feel my pores committing seppuku on my face). I carried myself differently, acted differently, found myself willing to look interested parties in the eye because I felt desirable. Now, do those thoughts constitute a decrease in intelligence? Err...I want to say "yes

[sibyline]

see! you find yourself thinking about your pores (which are perfectly lovely, btw) rather than the state of global warming. i think i may be on to something. :)

yeah, my friend theo sent me that picture after i nixed his friendster/myspace picture suggestion, of me dancing on top of a table at a club. i may just post it at some point when i'm feeling naughtier.

[toddius]

just shake your groove thang instead

[sibyline]

that's hilarious and inspiring! he must be getting desperate....

[_mysterieuse_]

Richard and I share some professional interests it would seem. In any event, any friend of yours is a friend of mine and I have just one question now: is he as attractive in makeup as you are?

oh and yeah...the picture rocks :)

[sibyline]

really? you do makeup-related marketing? excellent. i've done a tiny little bit of research in facial attractiveness perception, though i did mainly design/photography when i worked at a lab at MIT where he and i met. though i did spend a few months testing how different kinds of foundation affected skin perception.

i think the closest i've seen richard with makeup on was when i convinced him to put on eyeliner when we went clubbing together once. he looked really hot! :)

[sallymcvegas]

I never wear makeup during the day, and I only wear it out at night if I'm reaaallly in scamming-on-boys mode. It makes me itch and sneeze, and I can FEEL it on my face and it makes me crazy. But you're talking to a woman who tries to wear elastic-waisted pants to work at least 4 of 5 days a week... I can't think straight if anything's binding me or scratching me.

In a way, too, though, I've cultivated all this as part of my work "persona"--I want to be the geeky, asexual Marian-the-Librarian type 99.9 percent of the time--because then I always have the option, if for whatever reason I really need to get someone's attention, of actually fixing myself up. The more I sit here thinking about this, I realize it kind of supports your theory--when I wear makeup (and pantyhose, and a scratchy wool buttoned-up suit) I'm putting myself into a particular frame of mind--battle mode, basically. I wouldn't necessarily say it dumbs me down so much as it makes me feel like I'm acting a part. Or maybe it's like the whole thing in Bull Durham

[sibyline]

yeah, i very much resent having to go through a huge amount of trouble personal-apperance wise to go after a guy. so i might as well fool myself into thinking that i'm wearing makeup for more vague reasons. :)

i'm friending you, ok?

[sallymcvegas]

ha! beat you to it!