naked face.

"Well, we've heard a couple of opinions about make-up brands, how about the rest of you? Are you Clairol or Clinique girls?"

"I HATE MAKE-UP. I have never worn it, I will never wear it!"

"Well, ok-"

"I don't understand it at all! All these women feel the need to just slather it on their faces everyday! It's so stupid!"

"Okay, and-"

"I mean, there's no way I would ever put that stuff on my face. I will never wear it."

"Right, well-"

"What's wrong with these women, anyway? Don't they have enough confidence in themselves? I will never, ever wear make-up!"

Everyone is quiet to see if she is done. She seems to be, and I sigh in relief. This girl, well, she's annoying. She has lots to say, lots of strong opinions, and if she expressed herself in an interesting manner, that would be fine. During her whole tirade, I wondered what she was trying to prove and who she was trying to prove it to. Mostly, I waited for her to shut up.

You know what? I agree with her. I don't wear make-up either: never have, probably never will. I don't even know how to put it on. But I did not shout out that information into the classroom. I sat quietly. Wearing make-up or not is a personal choice, I've made it, and I don't need to scream to the world about it to justify it, which is what I felt like this girl was doing. She'd finally figured out that she didn't belong with the pretty and normal girls and so she'd decided to overcompensate by trying to act like that's a good thing.

And it is a good thing. But when you have to assert yourself like that, it indicates that you believe intellectually that you are better off, but deep down, you still wish you were normal and pretty. And it's not that I never wish I were normal and pretty, but that gets old. So rather than advertise my lack of make-up expertise, I just sit here with my naked face: here I am! Take me or leave me.

Another woman piped up a few minutes later, after one girl talked at length about how women who overuse make-up are just insecure. "It's not insecurity. We're not trying to change who we are or anything dramatic. It's just for if you want to highlight some features or if, you know, have a blemish or something." I wanted to retort, "So you're too insecure to go out in public with a blemish?" But I didn't, because I didn't care that much, and I wasn't going to change any minds. So I sat quietly, blemished, naked face and all.