Whenever I talk to women I know about how they don't need to wear makeup and how they look better without makeup, both because they appear more attractive and because they look more nonchalant about their appearance - they all disagree and state that they "have to" wear makeup because that's what male society wants of them.

I really don't understand this reasoning. Almost all of the men I know prefer women that don't look like powder-clowns, and yet the young women I know seem to think that they're being oppressed into slaving over their faces. I feel it's one of the root problems of modern feminism - the expectancy factor, which is almost entirely falsely created in their own minds. These people think that 'men' as a whole are this force that uses culture and tradition to force women into a place they don't wish to be - but they don't. The only reason why a woman puts on makeup is because she wants to.

It seems not only silly and stupid for young women to feel like they have to engage in these stereotypical behaviours (such as wearing makeup, being flirtatious, etc) to appease men, but it seems actually very dangerous for the rights of both genders - as it creates a perceived inequality which will just be swung back and forth by either side in a perceived 'rights' war.

Thoughts?