Yesterday I wrote a post at BlogHer about MAC cosmetics new Barbie Loves MAC line, specifically about what it means for MAC to choose Barbie as the face for this line.

Thirteen years later, however, MAC has turned to Barbie as the new face of beauty. Unlike RuPaul, who was entirely self created (a man who becomes a woman through sheer force of will and great makeup and clothes), Barbie is a plastic mock-up of an unattainable female form. The models in the new Barbie Loves MAC ad campaign are styled to look like dolls; their facial expressions are vacant and frankly, a little frightening.

I don’t like the way MAC is marketing this line; aside from the fact that it targets very young girls, children who are too old for Barbie dolls but too young for makeup, it infantilizes adult women by encouraging them to think of themselves both as objects (”living dolls”) and as children. I’m not opposed to makeup, though, or even to MAC makeup; what I am resisting is this particular marketing gimmick.

But this begs the larger question: it is possible to be a fashionista AND a feminist? If I wear lipstick and heels will I be taken seriously when I assert that women should not be viewed as objects? Or is participation in the culture of style a capitulation to the patriarchy? What is the distinction, as one BlogHer commenter asked, between Barbie and Pam Anderson? Or between Pam Anderson and RuPaul? Or–go further–between Barbie and Molly Simms or Eva Longoria or any of the other models who are the faces of various cosmetics companies? IS there a distinction?

Am I less of a feminist because I think about what I (and you!) wear?

I would say no, of course; I don’t believe that at all. I don’t think that strong female role models have to give up beauty. In fact, I think it’s easier for stylish women to have their voices heard, which is a problematic statement in itself, but true nonetheless. I think there is a distinction between being thoughtful about how I present myself and giving in to some amorphous and unattainable ideal of female beauty.

But I also think a lot about what it means to say that I write about fashion or parenting, rather than about politics or literature or feminism itself. Real life feminism is a different animal from academic feminism; in the classroom, it is easy to talk about patriarchal oppression and resisting hegemony, but in the everyday world, we think more about the quotidian details of carpool and dinner and the checking account balance. Sometimes it is in these “soft” topics that we find the most powerful statements about how the world works for real women.

I think we’re seeing a cultural swing back toward a kind of pre-feminist world, where women were not expected to do much in the world because they were women. I see it in places like this MAC ad campaign, and it infuriates me. I agree that it is possible to read the entire beauty industry as essentially anti-feminist, but I also think that makeup and clothing can be powerful tools to help smart, thoughtful women get their voices heard. We are a culture that values beauty, and that rewards appearance; there is no getting around that. We can reject that or we can make it work for us.

I’m opting for working it. And I’m not going to feel bad about it.

You can see what I’m wearing today here.