I’ve got a lot of flak over the years about my thick, dark eyelashes. Comments are usually from other men who say they’re ‘girly’ — despite the fact I’m also 6-foot-2
Spencer Bailey
“The more conservative, regressive or perhaps the more ‘traditional’ a society makes itself, the more it will really endeavor… to try to create two genders who look very different to each other,” Meredith Jones, honorary professor of gender studies at Brunel University of London, told CNN in a telephone interview.
“Eyelashes are a strong binary,” Jones said. “There is currently a fashion for one sex to have eyelashes which are outrageously long, thick and black. These are seen as an indicator of high ‘uber’ femininity and… therefore, the opposite has to be ‘true’ for the opposite gender.”
“The example of JD Vance being mocked for the appearance of wearing eye makeup during the election was fascinating,” Jones added. “Because President Trump obviously wears makeup, but his makeup endeavors to make him look more tanned, more toned, more chiseled… more ‘masculine.’”
Meanwhile, influencers and celebrities appear to be eschewing bold lashes in what has since been dubbed the #fullfacenomascara movement. Could women also be moving away from the archetypally feminine big eyelash trend?
While the ‘no mascara’ trend has been gaining traction, with a growing number of people showcasing their natural lashes as part of a broader shift towards minimalist beauty, mascara remains one of the most widely used cosmetic products, Clare Hennigan, principal analyst of beauty and personal care at research firm Mintel, told CNN. In fact, it remains the most commonly applied eye makeup in the US, she noted, indicating that “the no-mascara trend will take considerable time, if ever, to gain widespread adoption.”
But trends are, indeed, cyclical. And for every action there is a reaction, pointed out Jones: “Fashions spring out of the times we are living in,” she said. “The 1960s were a classic example. One of the complaints of conservatives during that period was that they could no longer tell the difference between men and women due to the prevalence of bell-bottomed trousers and long hair worn by both sexes. In the ‘80s, in reaction to conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, London’s club fashion became very adventurous. These movements are always cyclical.”
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