Female Author calls for an end to the Lipstick Index.
What is the Lipstick Index?
In times of economic crisis, lipstick sales often increase.
Hmm, wonder why that is?
Obviously it’s not because women desire to attract mates with resources!
A 2012 study corroborated the idea, though its authors attested the phenomenon to “women’s desire to attract mates with resources.”
That can’t be it!
Sexist rationales aside, the lipstick index seems real—or, at least, maybe it did at the time of its creation. But in recent years, journalists and economists have debunked the metric: The data simply didn’t corroborate it. In 2009, the year after the start of the Great Recession, lipstick sales declined by nearly 10%, according to Fortune, instead of rising as the index might have predicted.
Here’s the author’s characterization.
When more extravagant luxuries seem out of reach, the index suggests, lipstick is an affordable treat.
and also
Some analyses have suggested that nail polish, or mascara, or face masks, or candles, have become more popular as inexpensive pick-me-ups during an economic downturn
So with those purchases in mind, she then states
The money people use to indulge in self-care are now too varied to offer a single indicator of economic health
The game lesson here is that women people will often use external purchases to alter their internal state.
- “Affordable treat”
- “Pick-me ups”
- Self Care is an indulgence (Wait, that’s not what she said! Not in that way)
In terms of weaponizi using this information in tryna f connecting with these ladies, these characterizations of behavior are nice little narratives that a man can offer when a woman is at an impasse.
- “Baby, it’s just a little fun”
- “Don’t you need a pick-me up every once in a while”
- “I like to call it self care”
Some of my readers may use these nudges in nefarious ways! To thee I say Nay! These observations are strictly for defensive purposes!
-Archie
“you deserve it”
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
“Because You’re Worth It
The Story Behind the Legendary Phrase
Because I’m Worth It. These four words are bound to the time of their creation and yet they have proven to be timeless. They have become what the brand stands for.
Written in 1973 when a social revolution and a new spirit of feminism was in full swing, it seems clear that the phrase could only have been written by a woman.
Ilon Specht was a copywriter with McCann Erickson back in 1973. She was thought of as original, unconventional, creative and independent.
Fortunately, she worked on the L’Oréal account! Specht was just 23 years old when she broke new ground with an ad that was strictly from a woman’s point of view.
It famously ended with the signature phrase: Because I’m Worth It! Almost the minute the ad hit, it became clear that the last line – those four words – had struck a chord.
For the first time, the message was all about what the woman thought. It was about her self-confidence, her decision, her style.
Over time, “Because I’m Worth It” has become part of our social fabric. So much so that it was the subject of a 1999 New Yorker article entitled True Colors by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, Gladwell acknowledged: “…”Because I’m Worth It®” has entered the language…and taken on a meaning well outside the stated intention.”
Because I’m Worth It was on message in 1973, and today we know that an astonishing 80% of women recognize and respond to this positive phrase and powerful sentiment. And what makes it truly beautiful is that “Because I’m Worth It” is translated into action every day by L’Oréal Paris – in its philanthropy, its products, and its thoughtful celebration of women.”
@Archie
I live in the people’s republic of ghey. A large share of the women here walk around in dungarees / short hair / you get the picture.. sometimes it’s difficult to work out if something possesses a penis, in fact, scarily, sometimes the thing wearing the nicest most feminine dress, probably did, or still does possess a penis. So you have to make sure. In fact The Dundee Stage one test is often advisable:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fsmJxjfP9jo
It might be my imagination but it feels like the women walking round are more feminine. It’s just a feeling, I don’t have any evidence.
The other feeling is that I’m getting loads more eye contact in the street and in odd places for instance the toilets in the coffee shop. Bc we have 467 genders here and you can’t have that many separate toilets, the toilet situation is often mixed, with open area sinks for hand washing, and individual cubicles that anyone can go into.
So I’m hand washing the other morning and a (married) woman comes out of her cubicle and starts hand washing next to me, she makes full eye contact in the big wall mirror over the sinks and I don’t remember whether she opens me or I open her but we end up in a full scale conversation about DaPocalypse.. and how ducked up it all is.
End up finishing and walking out, talking about our kids, she has two, 7 and 9, and I’m laughing that they still love you at that age. Mine is 17 and knows it all and just grunts etc..
My point is she’s fully done up, nice feminine dress, make up, hair, all of it. At 9AM on a Wednesday morning. She was totally ready to [meet some random bloke and get banged in the toilet] go to church.
I’m dropping in that coffee shop again at the same time bc it wasn’t until I walked away that I realised I was getting IOI’s and I was already in the bloody coffee shop for the insta date.. muh..
She’ll be a creature of habit as far as her coffee is concerned..
Palma
“Because I’m worth it”
Yep. Ties right into the serpent’s strategy…
No doubt women are sending way more signals, approach invites and out and out opening.
Another Bible verse since you brought up church…
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we [shall] die” KJV
Or the New New Street Version:
“YOLO”
> “Because I’m worth it”
> “You deserve it.”
Appeals to solipsism.
The “Manosphere” on Twitter is full these kind of stuff, only men gaming other men… Using ego-enhancing ideas to build a cult of followers. It is rampant. Just tell them what they want to hear.
Moving past weaponization into defense… Beware of advice/analysis that appeals to your ego.