Tans & Cosmo

NY Times Magazine had 1 double sided glossy ad in the middle of its pages; each side has close up image of a model with very natural makeup, brunette, a little bit of a tan, and soft pink lipstick pouting at me. In white bold white letters side 1 reads: SEXY MEANS SHOWING YOUR TRUE COLORS, and side two reads: SEXY MEANS BUSINESS, with a fun fact below: LAST YEAR, COSMO READERS SPENT OVER $3 BILLION ON BEAUTY PRODUCTS WIHTOUT BLUSHING. HOW SEXY IS THAT?

Excuse me?

Sexy = business
buying beauty products = sexy
So...
business = buying beauty products?

(if you know which type of fallacy this is, please let me know because I forget)

Needless to say, the ad is shit. Why is purchasing lots of beauty products make women sexy? Certainly Cosmo magazine is projecting a certain type of sexy that can't be done without lots of makeup. Interesting target market, I find that most of the magazine recycles the same sex tips and has 1 articles burried in the back pages that's 1/2 worth readings always entitled "I was a sex slave" or "I have an arranged marriage" with a "As told to ___ by ___" under the title.

While on my beauty rant, another problem - tanning! Why are people obsessed with looking tan? At work, Marie pointed out that women have been wanting to be pale for centuries. Pale is beautiful. People of darker skin tones in Africa and India spent millions (billions?) of dollars on skin lightening products, and white people spend TONS of $ on skin darkening at tanning salons? This is weird. Why can't we all just be happy with what we have naturally.

I think of India Arie's song Brown Skin, and how in love she is with her color. And then I think "Why is she so confident, but I look at myself in the mirror and feel pressured to pull out the bronzer brush?" It makes me feel even more self conscious about my self consciousness. Now I just need to throw out my NARS Sunkissed powder.

And about these people who say a tan looks healthier and those tanorexics. A normal BMI and fit muscles look fit and healthy. A super tan does not make you look skinnier. It means skin cancer and in my humble personal opinion, you're really vain and have way too much time. But that's not to say I've not attempted to lie down in the sun during the summer, it just never really works out for me.

So actually, perhaps this is all just the backlash of a chronically pale woman attempting to deal with her issues.