Opinion | Are you serious?

Who decided that a woman’s choices are a commentary on men? Who convinced you that her lipstick is a billboard and her outfit is payment for attention? At what point did women stop being human beings with inner lives and become showroom models meant to impress someone else?

The claim that women dress or wear make-up for men is one of the most mindless and self-centred ideas that society repeats exhaustively. Let’s flip the question for one second and see how ridiculous it sounds. Do you think men who work out, buy tailored suits, style their hair or spend money on expensive shoes are doing it only for women?

Or could it be for their careers, their confidence, their status among friends, or simply because they like how it makes them feel? When a man spends two hours at the gym every day, is that purely a mating ritual, or could it be for mental health, discipline, competition or personal goals? Does that actually make sense, or does it just expose how flimsy the argument is?

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Now apply that same logic to women. When a woman puts on make-up alone in her apartment on a quiet Saturday just to try a new look, what man is that for exactly? The neighbour?

The delivery driver who never shows up? Or the mirror? When a woman experiments with eye shadow because she likes the colour and it matches her mood, are we really expected to believe this is a tactical campaign aimed at the entire male population?

That explanation isn’t just wrong, it’s absurd. Why is self-expression respectable in men but suspicious in women? If appearance was only about attracting men, most of what women do would make no sense.

Women wear make-up to women-only events, girls’ nights, bridal showers, baby showers, office meetings attended entirely by women, and family gatherings where no men are present. Women also wear make-up to places where male attention is completely meaningless, such as the gynaecologist, the dentist, hospitals and routine appointments. Women experiment with make-up alone at home, trying a new glitter pigment under yellow bulbs with no one else around.

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