The Alicia Keys Movement

So I just had to tag this one....not that I'm a fan of Alicia Keys. God knows I don't listen to worldly music, R&B or whatever she sings. But I just so happen to run across this so-called movement from doing a google search and you know the engine pulls up all kinds of irrelevant stuff. The capturing moment was that the headlines said Alicia Keys "No-Makeup Movement". For a moment, I thought I was being punked while in my home. I couldn't help but read what this caption was all about. I mean, Really? A No-Makeup Movement? Is it really a movement or is it a choice? Hmm for some women, it's a choice to wear or not to wear make up. For others, it a constant drilling and grilling of their brains thinking they will be viewed as a slut, whore, Jezebel or whatever crazy image that has been imprinted in their minds by other women who were forced not to wear it and so the list goes on. To honestly say, Alicia Keys is a beautiful woman regardless of whether she wears make up or not. But the question is, Do all women look like Alicia Keys? Do all women have the finances to get their pimples and blotches smoothed out so they can feel comfortable with a bare-face? Do all women believe that wearing make up makes them glow? I'll let you answer that. First of all, there are just as many unfair-skinned women as there are fair-skinned women, and Alicia is one of the fair-skinned women who can go without make up. For others, there are women who have lifelong scars from bad relationships, freckles, or other marks that they CHOOSE not to put out on front street. When I saw AK facebook page about the no make up, there was the all too common comment about Apostolic ladies. Well, not every Apostolic lady glories in being plain from head to toe. For the Apostolics who have CHOSEN to enhance their appearance, they can tell you it has nothing to do with having low self esteem or feeling ugly. It has everything to do with not believing a lie that a woman is in sin or hiding something because she powders down a little. And again, not every woman wears colorful make up, but wear the natural tone colors. The thing about this is that when I first got into the Apostolic church, make up was considered taboo, a thing that makes a man want to get in your pants. So we were shunned from wearing so much as lip gloss. Make up was rejected as evil and all the sisters were encouraged to ditch theirs. But nobody could ever explain why the plain-faced unmarried women were coming up pregnant quicker than the ones who wore make up. Nobody ever explained why plain-faced women struggled with lust in their own hearts. Make up had nothing to do with these sins because it was taking place inwardly and outwardly by those who didn't wear it. So what has changed over the years? I'll tell you what has changed. Apostolics could not prove that make up was a sin in itself or that women who wore light, minimum make up were in sexual sin or trying to entice males, so they put a twist on the reason why not to wear it. Instead of demonizing make up, they now say, "you don't need it because you're beautiful without it". They now make it seem as though if you put make up on, that means you feel ugly or have low self esteem or are scared of what other people think. But if the first reason that make up is a demon is not true, then why should women believe that they should not wear make up because they should feel naturally beautiful? (I'll wait for the answer to that) There are a lot of NATURAL things that work against us more so than work for us. Women who died in "natural" childbirth might would have been spared had they gotten an "artificial" epidural. Natural disasters kill whole cities, so we shouldn't do anything about them because they're .......Natural....you guess it, huh? The thing is, people in general, want a portion of the world that they can control, whether in the church, in politics, in the workplace, in the marriage, or in society at large. When religious folks cannot find a scripture or hard facts in a person's life that they are flat out wrong for something, then they will change it up to make the person feel even more inadequate about what they do that is contrary to the "tradition". With all that, I must say to all women as well as my Apostolic sisters, you should never feel like you have to wear make up or not wear make up to please anybody. If you got a few pimples or just want to keep that big forehead from shining like new money (lol), it's ok to put on a little powder that matches your tone. Last thing I want to say is when I worked at the hospital, there was this lady who had been in a car accident and she had scars all in her face. I felt so bad for her and all I could do was pray for her. She was lying on the stretcher with eyes closed (sleep from sedation) and had probably not looked in the mirror yet. Underneath the scars and blood, I could see she was a very pretty lady, but that did not give me a right to think that she will not need make up because she's naturally beautiful. That's plain foolish. I pray that she heals and do whatever it takes to get herself looking and feeling confident. But if she just so happen decides to wear her scars from a wreck, then that's her business. The purpose is for women to make the choice that befits them and not force people to do what you believe or want them to do. Many people might follow AK's movement simply because she is famous, but take her down out of the lights and give her a simple, plain life to match the look, and they will revert to what makes them feel happy, to wear or not to wear it as their choice.