So it's November (yes, I haven't blogged a while; laaaarge catch-ups to follow, but to recap I finished work, got ill, got engaged and got fat again. Oh well, you win some....). November, the month of mortality. November, the month that "mists and mellow fruitfulness" becomes "fog and rotten pumpkins". November, which features no holidays and whose fun festivals all come at the beginning of the month. November, month of my birth. (And since you ask, I accept cash, cheques and all major credit cards. How very generous you are!) However, this post is about November, month of the charitable endeavour.
For the humanitarian menfolk, there is Movember, a concept to raise funds for prostate and testicular cancer by having people sponsor you to grow a moustache for 30 days, and at the end your mother/girlfriend/child/boss/fag hag will probably sponsor you to shave it the hell off; it raised seventy-nine million pounds in 2011 alone. For everyone else, there is Children in Need, the original telethon this side of the pond which has raised more than £600 million since 1980 for, well, children in need, fundraising mainly through sponsorships - walks, bakeathons, skydives, anything goes. However, this year, Children in Need has decided on a new initiative, BearFaced (spelling intentional - see their mascot, Pudsey): asking women to go makeup-free for 24 hours and get sponsored for doing it. Easy? Maybe. Controversial? Evidently.
Now, I love makeup. I almost always read the beauty pages of magazines first. I have trouble going to department stores without purchasing far more than I mean to because they have a "buy two and get ALL THESE FUN MINI SAMPLES (one per customer while stocks last)" offer on. I'm constantly searching for that one oil-stopping serum, that stay-in-place eyeliner, that kiss-proof lipstick, that foundation that doesn't make me look the colour of an Oompa-Loompa or a washed-out dishrag in a greasy spoon. Therefore when I read about BearFaced in this week's Heat, it seemed like an interesting challenge, so I promptly created a JustGiving page, made a Facebook event and prayed that enough of my friends would think it a worthwhile cause to get me to my modest £50 target.
Thus far, I've raised £110 in only 24 hours, which is more testament to the fact that I have genuinely excellent and very generous friends who have donated far more than I could have reasonably expected, and the majority of people who know about this idea think it's great, and raising money for a worthwhile charity. However, the idea of not wearing makeup for 24 hours being something large enough to be sponsored has been questioned and even criticised by more people than one might hope or expect for a charitable endeavour, and this prompted me to ask why this specific undertaking has caused so much hassle.
The issue most critics appear to have is that going without makeup is no big deal, that millions of women do it every day, that it's hardly stepping out of one's comfort zone to pop down to the shops with the wind hitting your bare cheeks rather than the tinted moisturiser, lip balm and clear mascara that is supposed to make up the average woman's daywear. And I agree, going bare-faced for a day may not be a huge thing for everyone, particularly if they're going to spend that day at home on the sofa, or in solitary confinement for a flesh-eating disease; then either no-one is really going to see you, or you have WAY bigger issues to deal with. However, if one is going out in public and meeting people, it can be a big deal, a VERY big deal.
There's the businesswoman with a high-powered job due to give a presentation to a potential client, who might use makeup as she would use power-dressing - as a uniform, a way to feel prepared, polished and confident, and to project a certain image; there is a reason it is known as warpaint. It may be unfeminist and it may set women's rights back fifty years, but in certain areas of life, a woman is more trusted and more likely to succeed if she looks like she cares and has made an effort, and often this means wearing makeup, however minimal.
Then there is the woman with severe acne scarring, birth marks or rosacea who may choose to use makeup to boost her confidence in a different way, in order to camouflage any marks which affect her confidence. For her, makeup isn't just to make her look pretty or to follow trends, it is a necessary part of everyday life to make her feel normal, and while this isn't true for most women, it does suggest that anyone who writes off not wearing makeup are being rather over-generalistic.
Equally, if one is to use the argument that bare-facedness is "no big deal", then I wonder what they think of the month's other charity event, Movember. If taking off one's slap for the day is easy, then surely failing to shave one's face for a month is no harder, after all many millions do it every year and it isn't life-changing or something nobody has done before (both arguments which I have seen used about BearFaced). To hold opposing views about these two fundraising events is hypocritical and would suggest that many have been too quick to judge this charitable endeavour.
And ultimately, surely that is what it comes down to? I am not asking people to give me money personally for not putting on my cosmetics. I am not asking for sponsorship for a devisive cause like freeing Palestine or a political party. I am asking for sponsorship for a charity which has worked for 32 years to help impoverished children get a better start in life, which has barely a hint of controversy surrounding it, which has simply chosen to allow people to fundraise in as many ways as possible. After all, one might put money in a charity bucket at the supermarket or in a school or place of work and expect nothing back; why should this be any different? I have sponsored people to run in 5K races for charity despite the fact that I know they run 5Ks every day anyway, it's "no big deal for them", but I don't mind, because the money is going to a good place. And if people can quibble about how fundraising is done when it is neither offensive nor illegal, then frankly that is just bare-faced cheek.
