All Dolled Up

Mendoza | Ng | Salud | Santos | Tanchanco | Trinidad | Yu

SA 21 - K

Rihanna, Emma Stone, Scarlett Johannson and other stunning women are on today’s ads for cosmetic brands like M.A.C. , Bobbi Brown, Benefit etc. The hype for facial cosmetics has increased exponentially among ladies ranging from their early teens to the late sixties and the demand never seems to decline. However, have we ever seen Robert Downey Jr. or maybe Channing Tatum advertising these cosmetics? Do we ever?  We never see boys going around inquiring about the latest palettes for eye shadows or the newest evolution the BB cream. Our breaching experiment today involves boys (who aren’t homosexual) and shopping for make-up for themselves in cosmetic boutiques; something that doesn’t happen very often.

The group decided to go to the nearest high end mall to school which was Eastwood, where M.A.C., Beauty Bar, Shiseido and Etude House boutiques are located. Our plan was to have Jiego go into both M.A.C. and Etude House to check out products and inquire about products for himself without having to sound homosexual. If possible, we would have the saleslady even put the make-up on Jiego if they were willing and observe her reactions as well as the reactions of other customers and salesladies. After that, we would observe the reactions of the people who pass us by in the mall  toward Jiego’s made up face.

We started the experiment by dispersing first. Nami went into the M.A.C. first as a lone customer, browsing through the different products, while her phone was ready to record the experiment. After a few minutes, Jiego went into M.A.C. alone and started looking at the variety of beauty products as well. He then started picking up eyeliners and lipsticks then went up to the M.A.C. saleslady to inquire about the products he picked up.  Jiego stated that he is dire need of some face foundation to clear his face of dark spots and uneven skintone. He also asked the saleslady to recommend a good shade of color for his eyes to make them pop as well as lip color to suit him. She went on to introduce to Jiego different M.A.C. products for different uses, which are good for a natural look and which is for vibrant colors.

Jiego then said that he cannot picture how it would look like so he asked the saleslady if she could test the products on him. Initially, the saleslady was surprised by Jiego’s request, saying things like “seryoso bayan?”, “sure ka, kuya?” and giggling at the ridiculousness of the request, however Jiego claimed that he is fine with it and wants to push through for his own sake. Throughout the make-up session, the saleslady kept asking “sure ka okay lang sayo to?”, and the guard of the store kept looking at him judgmentally. Other customers also stared at the peculiarity of the situation, and some even laughed. After it was done, the saleslady offered to remove the make-up because she was concerned that “baka nakakahiya naman makita ka ng mga tao may make-up”, so Jiego obliged.

 After which, Jiego and Nami went to Etude House to repeat the experiment, except Nami acted as Jiego’s buddy along with Rudolf. There were nuns present in the store and once they saw Jiego so interested in the cosmetics and ehen the Nami began putting make-up on Jiego’s face, the nuns gave a look of disdain and left. The saleslady seemed clueless and just kept staring with wondering eyes and confusion.  After a while the other customers hurried to buy and before leaving, took a last glance at Jiego. After Jiego was fully made up again by Nami, we decided to roam around the mall and Jiego got countless stares, some confused, some amused and most of them just in shock. When we bought candy in Nuts about Candy we caught the saleslady staring as well. Lastly, when we got to school, Jiego, Ira and Nami had to go to class and the whole room looked at him and those who knew him laughed while those who didn’t know him were creeped out. The professor kept glancing at Jiego during the whole lecture.

Among the reactions, the ones who were older and looked more conservative based on what they were wearing gave looks of disdain. The ones who seemed younger gave looks of amusement and the ones who looked quite liberated in their appearance didn’t mind as much although they gave stares as well. Based on the reactions, the deviant act did reaffirm the norms that only women should be interested in make-up for themselves although not as extremely reinforced because of the heightened liberation among members in society which is caused by today’s media. We also noticed how those who saw Jiego in make-up who were from lower classes, seemed to deal with the deviance with more delight than the observants from the higher-classes. An analysis to this could be because, for lower-class people, they immediately relate a male with make up to be a homosexual which in today’s media is a great source of entertainment (Vice Ganda). The upper classmen however could look at Jiego with worry because they might think he has some condition that makes him do radical things like make up. This structural functionalism affects the interactionism as well because the way the lower class interprets Jiego with make- up is different from the way more elite people interpret it. Also, the nuns who were obviously extremely religious looked upon Jiego with contempt because a male wearing make-up is highly unorthodox and much more unacceptable in the church. We also noticed that the women who observed Jiego seemed to get a laugh out of it compared to the men who saw Jiego. It can be because the men think that it is a sign of femininity for Jiego or any boy to wear make-up and therefore decreasing their worth as masculine beings and as a result see this event as an abomination and a scar to masculinity.

At first, when doing the experiment at M.A.C., we were extremely jittery and apprehensive. Fortunately, Jiego’s confidence got us through and we were able to gain significant insights. At first it felt uncomfortable but it only took a while to get used to it. For Nami, it was quite tricky because she felt like one of the other salesladies was tailing her ans she felt as if they suspected that she was videoing Jiego so she had to leave for a while and come back. In Etude House however, both Nami and Jiego were extremely natural and relaxed while deviating and Rudolf recorded and took pictures.

At the end of the experiment, we realized that despite the many deviances in society today, some norms are hard to break free from. From the observations we had, although some didn’t mind Jiego, still many reacted.  However despite the stronghold of the norms, people today can deal with deviance with respect. Some are even very open to assist like the saleslady  who applied make up to Jiego in M.A.C. but some will always keep their strong foundation on what is orthodox like the nuns.