Is It A Sin For A Man To Wear Makeup

No corporeality of makeup volition cover the fact that more and more men are walking abroad from vitally important aspects of masculinity.

A recent BBC article introduced readers to Due south Korea's latest high-profile export. Not a Hyundai, a Kia, or even the musical phenomenon known every bit "Thousand-Pop."

I'm referring to men's makeup. Equally the BBC put it, "in Due south Korea, ideas about how to look expert as a man are changing attitudes and influencing the earth."

The BBC takes readers inside a "high-end salon" in Seoul'south trend-setting and prestigious Gangnam district. There, a make-up artist "expertly applies foundation, eyeliner and lipstick on a man," choosing "from an array of products and brands that volition be familiar to most women."

The goal is to wait like their favorite K-Popular stars and television celebrities.

Let me be very clear. This story is non talking virtually gay men. Rather, it's referring to an aesthetic associated with what are called "flower boys" in Korea: "delicate, slightly feminine-looking boys." They are a staple in Korean drama, where they play a office that'south analogous to the gay best friend that we see in romantic comedies in America.

While different the gay best friend they may have feelings for the female lead, they almost never go the girl, in large role because they aren't taken seriously every bit men. And that prompts an obvious question: Why would a non-gay male want to emulate these "bloom boys" in real life?

The question isn't limited to just South Korea. As Joanna Elfving-Hwang from the University of Western Australia told the BBC, "I remember Korea is a trailblazer in men'south beauty civilization, definitely in Asia at the moment, if not the world." This toying with masculinity, she says, "opens upward possibilities for men on the street and eventually makes information technology more adequate."

Now, whether this aesthetic remains confined to Korea or ends up bringing back a tendency nosotros haven't seen since the demise of the final 18th century French king, the struggle to ascertain what it means to exist a human in the 21st century developed world remains unsettled.

We see bear witness of this crunch everywhere. 1 instance is what Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute called "the flying from piece of work." Every bit he writes, "America is now home to an ever-growing army of jobless men no longer even looking for work—over seven million between ages 25 and 55, the traditional prime number of working life."

To put that in historical perspective, "In 2015, the work rate for American males aged 25-54 was slightly lower than it had been in 1940, at the tail end of the Great Depression. During the Great Low, jobless men jumped on trains and lived in tents trying to discover work. Today, most won't even become off their couch."

The "flying from work" shows how our cultural idea of masculinity has been severed from the function of men every bit provider. In a related trend, American men are likewise postponing fatherhood. "The boilerplate age of a newborns' male parent went from 27.4 years in 1972 to 30.9 in 2015." This reveals that young men aren't giving much idea to the thought of being a provider but instead often living for themselves.

Then there's the role of protector, as Eric Metaxas recently mentioned on BreakPoint. The reject of this ideal is reflected in the history of the expression "blossom boys." The phrase originally referred to a group of men who came together to "learn the military arts and cultivate virtue" in seventh-century Korea.

1 of those "virtues" was "bravery in battle." While they dressed well and even used cosmetics, protection of their guild was their primary purpose.

Regaining a proper understanding of what it means to exist male in our civilization is one of the well-nigh urgent cultural tasks we face. No thing how much we insist otherwise, biological science, physiology, psychology, even the Bible itself, tell united states of america that men and women are different, both created in their complimentary uniqueness to bring life to the world.

Originally posted at Breakpoint.

From BreakPoint. Reprinted with the permission of the Colson Middle for Christian Worldview. All rights reserved. May non exist reproduced or distributed without the express written permission the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. "BreakPoint®" and "The Colson Center for Christian Worldview®" are registered trademarks of The Colson Center for Christian Worldview.