Tag: marxism

I Have A Historical Materialist Theory Of Cosmetic Usage

Here’s how it goes, so you have fairly egalitarian hunting/gathering type societies (ur-communism), you’ll notice that in these societies makeup is used equally by pretty much all men and women or sometimes to denote specific roles (like religious official or similar) or particular activities (you paint your face a specific way at this particular festivity). Also interestingly cosmetics tend to be more “abstracted” during these periods (i.e. you’re not painting an idealized version of your face on top of your face, you’re painting your face half blue or what have you)

Then you have monarchies, peasants and lower class people no longer wear makeup, makeup is worn by all members of the aristocracy regardless of gender. Merchant class people may or may not wear some makeup. Ancient Egypt was an exception of course as at least eyeliner was used by nearly everyone (though Egypt being uniquely fertile and uniquely predictable allowed more luxuries for common people than elsewhere, and eye kohl both prevented infection and offered protection from sunlight). I am having trouble confirming the cosmetics practices of working people in ancient Japan, but I can say for certain aristocratic men and women did wear makeup, as there are accounts of Samurai rouging their cheeks before battle, as well as of the cosmetic practices of aristocratic women. I know that in ancient China aristocratic women did wear makeup, and we have little evidence on the cosmetics practices of working people and I am having trouble finding sources on what aristocratic men did or did not do (though I did find an interesting tidbit about nail color being used to indicate social class, with non-royals being forbidden to tint their nails ). In ancient India cosmetics were used by men and women, but I’m having trouble finding sources on how this related to class. Under the Aztec and Mayan empires it seems that cosmetics were used to indicate class by the color and design (and were relatively stylized, most feudal societies seem to do more “representational” types of cosmetics, where they paint an idealized version of a face) and were used by both men and women, though it does seem to have been used more readily by the upper classes (it’s often hard to find records on the stuff the underclass wore/what cosmetics if any they used, though apparently the Aztecs used red cosmetics of some sort almost universally)

After bourgeois revolutions you see makeup and adornment being shunned in line with bourgeois values (the victorian era for example, makeup being banned under Cromwell, the French revolution etc) and being seen as the realm of “disrespectable” women (read: Sex workers usually) but gradually coming back into general favor but only or primarily for women. Proletarian women wear more of it, lumpen prole men also may wear some at various points.

In Ancient Rome and Greece when they were closer to bourgeois democracies you see the same pattern of “generally frowned upon”, and “acceptable if used lightly” by women.

Obviously I’m extrapolating based on data points I have and will need to look for more examples and counterexamples world wide, but it is interesting. IDK exactly what it means but it seems to be like… repeatedly true, also I know I’m not separating “pre-feudal post ur-communism” from feudal very well… but those seem to have varied a bit some behaving more like feudal societies and some behaving rather like capitalist ones (in terms of cosmetics usage) which I think might have something to do with how those systems were shaped in terms of their states… I’m not even sure I’m precisely a Marxian historical materialist, but like the coincidence seems weird.

Here are some of my sources:
http://radicalanthropologygroup.org/…/…/pdf/pubPower_JCS.pdf

http://dlia.ir/…/Chemistry/QD_71_142_Analytical_…/014111.pdf

https://books.google.com/books?id=ckZhe0fdmaMC

https://www.amazon.com/Appearance-Sake-Histori…/…/1573562041

http://www.amazon.com/History-Costume-West-Fr…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

http://www.amazon.com/20-000-Years-F…/…/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_2…

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Luxuries-Fragran…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

http://www.amazon.com/Cosmetics-Perfumes-Roma…/…/ref=sr_1_3…

http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Eastern-Victori…/…/ref=sr_1_3…

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Costume-Tradit…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

http://www.history.com/…/did-lead-makeup-poison-samurai-kid…

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2825132/
http://www.beautifully-invisible.com/…/nail-lacquer-blood-r

Hi, first I’d love to say that your in-depth posts on Marxism and luxury communism are amazing and much of what you’re saying I agree with. How did you “discover” communist theory and what theory would you suggest for someone who’s new to communist/Marxist theory?

Well I always kind of hate admitting this because it’s so common for leftist women, but I was radicalized by my spouse.  I was a sort of soft-soc dem “I guess this is the best we can do” sort before that, and like simply being told about some of the history and having someone I respected and trusted tell me a little bit about what the actual ideas were (as opposed to the ideas anti-communists spout as communism) made me want to learn more, and then joining the IWW (being tired of fucked around by clients) people told me stuff, and gave me books, and I read snippets of stuff on tumblr and it was all quite gradual.

As for that, I mean I’m not a straight up Marxist (I’d describe some of my ideas/politics as Marxian but I don’t straight up tow the Marx line all the time).   I’m like… a communist, with sympathies with anarcho-communist/anarcho-syndicalist stuff, and with various sorts of left-communist tendencies.  I’m good buddies with syndicalists, leftcoms, Trotskyists, especifists, even some Maoists.  Just so we’re clear though I have a bias against Leninism and Leninist descended tendencies (Maoism, Trotskyism, and their especially shitty brother Stalinism)

So for your very most basic stuff:
Wage Labor and Capital by Marx is super useful and relatively brief, makes a good explanation of the Labor Theory Of Value.

The Preamble to The Constitution of The IWW is pretty cool 

I think Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike are useful intro pieces 

As a vision of a Communist society I have to admit I’ve a serious weakness for Kropotkin’s Conquest Of Bread.

After those it really depends on what you’re interested in learning about.  Economics, History, what various tendencies are like

I think the first few chapters of Capital by Marx are really good if you can get through them, but they’re super dense (and are really more about the way Capitalism functions than ideas for a new society) and if you can’t it’s cool cause Wage Labor and Capital spells it out pretty well.

I really like Women Without Class by Julie Bettie and Formations Of Class and Gender by Beverley Skeggs which are less explicitly communist but are great works on gender.

The Free Women Of Spain is a really cool book about Mujeres Libres.  I also recommend The Statement of The Combahee River Collective and Sex, Race and Class by Selma James as some short essays that are super useful and important. Also Radicalizing Feminism by Joy James

Emma Goldman’s 

Anarchism and Other Essays is an interesting and useful book, though it’s not a personal favorite.

Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of The Earth (the latter of which I have no read) by Fanon are really good Marxist texts on colonialism, race, and anti-colonial struggle

I also think there are some useful strategic points in Malatesta’s What is to Be Done 

I also think Montefiore’s Young Stalin and Court of the Red Czar are interesting and unbiased analyses of an awful but very interesting man and useful for understanding the failures in Soviet Russia.

My spouse says Lenin’s State and Revolution is good and useful for seeing where a set of seemingly admirable principals can go really horribly wrong (also it’s quite short) though I think Lenin is best read with a good grasp of the actual history of the Soviet Union and where its failings actually were and what went wrong because there’s a lot of weird misinformation out there so like… there needs to be a good companion book I can recommend.

Leninism or Marxism by Rosa Luxemburg is cool

Also the graphic novel Red Rosa is cool

Also this book on the Bread and Roses strike is cool.

One Thing That Confuses Me About “Marxism” As An Ideology

Is how Marx’s own ideas varied over the course of his lifetime.  He changed.  He developed.  

So like which Marx?

(I like Marx a lot and sometimes even call myself a Marxist/Marxian so this isn’t like some anti-Marxist thing, just like curiosity over how people deal with that?  I guess like I tend to find he developed in understanding as he got older and like his later stuff best)