Gender fluidity in Beauty
Has Social media influenced a change in gender fluidity in the beauty industry?
Throughout the past it was your mum, older sister or possibly the models on the front of glossy magazine covers who you would turn to for tips and tricks about beauty. Whether it be studying the pages of a magazine and trying and failing again and again not getting that perfect black cat eye liner quite right or asking your mums opinion whether this look was “too much”, but things have moved on now there is a new wave of beauty savvy gurus at your finger tips. We’ve become a visual generation with access to pretty much anything we can think of with the touch of a button. Demand is high, and eyebrows are on fleek as ever.
Trends are always evolving whether it be in the fashion industry or beauty currently there has been a an increasing demand from consumers for brands to offer gender fluid products, there seems to be an active shift in the view on gender and fluidity in the beauty industry. Consumers are beginning to change their mindset and look more for products that offer neutrality, as we saw a shift in the fashion industry with more and more androgynous looking models strutting down the catwalk, the beauty industry is now experiencing the same thing.
Thanks to the Millennial generation and their opportunities through the changes and soaring growth in technology and knowledge, as a generation they have been able to become champion free thinker, promoting individuality and non-conformity, of course there are some hurdles still, which are inevitable, and there is still a major issue with the fashion industry and media’s effect on younger men and women, but I feel that finally there could be a little light at the end of the tunnel. As Generation Y or rather the millennial generation are growing up and Generation Z is beginning its journey, looking back we have accomplished a lot within the beauty industry. With having an aversion to labels, and becoming more pro changing the view of ‘gender’, a report was released by the IG which stated that over 900 Americans between the ages of 14-34 agree that gender does now not define a person in the way it used to.
As of June 2016 Instagram saw itself with over 500 million users, and Youtube dominate almost a third of all internet users, meaning over a billion of us actively use Youtube, these social platforms are what’s forming and enabling the push of this change. With beauty and fashion Youtubers and bloggers seeming to take over, there’s no question that among them would be a diverse range of people, some who classify within a gender role and some who prefer not to, these people are now becoming known as influencers, with people watching on average 45 minutes of Youtube in one sitting. Now the men and women buying these products born within the millennial generation are particularly tech savvy, global beauty brands and influencers are now using digital media to introduce new trends, develop and showcase new products. Its widely believed that social media drives the definition of beauty, and Instagram has a direct impact on the industry hence the growth in Beauty boys on social media. Exotic, new and boundary pushing a new craze of male-identified digital stars have begun to showcase their expertise and love of makeup on both Youtube and Instagram, there focus is the products and not their, whether they are trans or not or even their sexuality, their followings grow more and more everyday.
From the growth and popularity of makeup tutorials and makeup reviews online, brands have caught on when and where the demand is. Recently there has been a surge in demand for beauty products that’s suit gender fluidity, brands are continually trying to find new ways to revolutionise genderless strategies for skincare and makeup. Arbuthnot said that “Today, most beauty products are still marketed to either men or women” they believe that consumers are now looking for products that suit directly to the chemical balance of skin, not men’s or women’s but anyone’s, this is a change from recent years where ‘skin aging’ was the key selling point for many brands.
Social media is changing consumer behavior within the beauty industry, it’s allowing the boundaries to be pushed, social media is relatable and in a visual way, we are a visual generation influenced by what we see and what our friends and acquaintances think.
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