I’m not shocked that young girls love lipstick – that’s not the problem | Daisy Buchanan

Some may worry that girls spend more on their appearance than boys, but ensuring they grow up into a world of gender equality is more important

My family likes to tell an embarrassing story about my approach to presents during the Christmas of 1989. One of my gifts was a set of Tinkerbell lipsticks – a beauty brand specifically marketed to children, and presumably bought by desperate mothers who had already seen one Chanel compact ruined by eager, chubby fingers, and wanted a range of products that could be washed off walls and curtains. The lipsticks were the most exciting thing I’d ever owned. I screamed as I ripped the paper off, ran to the nearest mirror and set about applying them all at once.

There is video footage of my father trying to raise my interest in another gift, a beautifully illustrated children’s encyclopaedia, while I push it away, desperate to get back to faking my face. This is not the sort of thing that your relatives will let you forget, even as a 32-year-old adult with an English degree. “Will you be taking a book on holiday, or just filling up your makeup bag?” is a “hilarious” question I was asked more than once last summer.

Related: Don’t worry about girls’ or boys’ stuff. The children will figure it out | Gaby Hinsliff

Women are valued for their looks in a way that men simply aren’t

Related: Why do girls wear makeup? You asked Google – here’s the answer

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from Children | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2CxiWNU