On the high-speed train from Avignon (阿翁) to Paris, my husband and I landed in the only remaining seats on the train, in the middle of a car, directly opposite a Frenchwoman of middle years. It was an extremely uncomfortable arrangement to be looking straight into the eyes of a stranger. My husband and I pulled out books. The woman produced a large makeup case and proceeded to freshen up. Except for a lunch break, she continued this activity for the entire three-hour trip. Every once in a while she surveyed the car with a bright-eyed glance, but never once did she catch my (admittedly fascinated) eye. My husband and I could have been a blank wall.
I was amused, but some people would have felt insulted, even repulsed (厌恶的). There is something about primping in public that calls up strong emotional reactions. Partly it’s a question of hygiene. (Nearly everyone agrees that nail-paling and hair-combing are socially considered unwise to do.) And it’s a matter of degree. Grooming-a private act-has a way of negating the presence of others. I was once seated at a party with a model-actress who immediately waved a silly brush and began dusting her face at the table, demonstrating that while she was next to me, she was not with me.
In fact, I am generally inhibited from this maneuver in public, except when I am in the company of cosmetics executives (when it’s considered unpleasant not to do it) or my female friends when it’s a fun just-us-girls moment. In a gathering more professional than social, I would refrain.
Kathy Peiss, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and an authority on American beauty rituals, says that nose-powdering in the office was an occasion for outrage in 1920’s and 30’s. Deploring the practice as a waste of company time, trade journals advised managers to discourage it among clerical workers. But how much time could it take Certainly the concern was out of proportion with the number of minutes lost. Peiss theorizes that it was the blatant assertion of a female practice in what had been an all-male province that disturbed critics.
Peiss tells me that after the 30’s, pulling out a compact was no longer an issue. It became an accepted practice. I ask if she feels free to apply lipstick at a professional lunch herself. Sounding mildly shocked, she says she would save that for the privacy of her car afterward. Why Because it would be "a gesture of inappropriate femininity. " One guess is that most professional women feel this way. There is evidence of the popularity of the new lipsticks that remain in place all day without retouching.
It’s amazing to think that in our talk-show society, where every ual practice is openly discussed, a -specific gesture could still have the power to disturb. The move belongs in the female arsenal and, like weapons, must be used with caution.
Why do most professional women give up using lipsticks in public