While tutting at a stranger as they apply their foundation is far from the harassment that requires hate crime status, it’s behaviour that swims in the same sea
“This is my dance space,” Johnny said in Dirty Dancing. “This is your dance space,” and with his arms he drew a circle with a diameter of about 1ft. That was the area that Baby owned, which was absolutely hers, for a song at least, and it’s something I often think about when moving about the world. It landed in my head again when I read the result of the BBC’s survey on “anti-social commuters”, which highlighted some passengers’ irritation at seeing women applying their makeup in public. Despite these women staying well within their own circles, strangers are regularly and deeply offended by the sight of a woman getting ready for the day.
It’s always baffled me, the idea that somebody applying powder on the train has the potential to upset – I often have to clench my fists to avoid applauding the marvellous contouring work I see underground at 9am – and I still don’t quite believe it. Instead, I’m inclined to think there’s something darker at play, something that one Telegraph letter-writer hinted at with their exasperated plea for women to do their eyeliner at home in order to “maintain the mystery”. The mystery – spoiler – is that there is no mystery. There is simply concealer, tight underwear and pretending everything’s fine.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2QANnLw
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