PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAFAEL MARTÍNEZ
MAKEUP BY CHRISTIAN DIAZ
In the pantheon of cosmetic accoutrements, few items rival the lipstick's iconic status. This waxy cylinder of pigment, housed in its twist-up tube, has adorned the lips of everyone from Cleopatra to Cardi B. Yet, for all its ubiquity in women's makeup bags, lipstick remains conspicuously absent from most men's grooming kits, even in the queer community it’s rare to see a colored lip on those identifying as male.
The history of lipstick is as colorful as its myriad shades. Ancient Sumerians crushed gemstones to tint their lips, while Egyptian royalty, regardless of gender, painted their pouts with carmine dye. In Elizabethan England, lip rouge was de rigueur for courtiers of all sexes. It wasn't until the prudish Victorian era that lipstick became the sole province of "fallen women" and actors—professions often conflated in the public imagination.
Fast forward to the 20th century, and lipstick had become a symbol of feminine rebellion. Suffragettes donned bold red lips as they marched for voting rights, while flappers used lipstick to thumb their noses at societal norms. By the 1950s, a perfectly painted pout was as essential to the idealized housewife as her pine-scented floor cleaner.
But what of men? While some subcultures embraced lip color—think David Bowie's alien androgyny or the glam metal bands of the 1980s—mainstream masculinity remained steadfastly lip-bare. This absence speaks volumes about our cultural constructions of gender. Lipstick, it seems, has become a shibboleth of femininity, a tiny tube carrying an outsized weight of gendered expectations.
For queer men, this lipstick line in the sand presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The act of applying lipstick becomes a form of gender transgression, a way to play with and subvert societal norms. It's a rebellion in rouge, a statement made in satin finish.
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