THIS IS REGIS | FACULTY FOCUS
The first time the data pointed in that direction, “We thought maybe that’s a fluke.” But when the pattern proved more resilient than expensive mascara, “The project shifted to be about, ‘what the heck is going on with these feminists?’” To find out, Harrold and Washington State University Assistant Prof. Chadwick Miller and Associate Prof. Andrew Perkins asked self-described feminists to show them the beauty products that are part of their daily ritual. They sorted those products into those sold in department stores or places like Nordstrom, and those that hang on the shelves of places like Target or King Soopers. The results, published this spring in Psychology & Marketing, were unequivocal. “We found it was the feminists who had more Sephora products. They were willing to do more research and pay more.”
The Make Up of Feminism
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efore Barbie took over the summer, before everything everywhere was bubblegum pink, Mycah Harrold, Regis assistant professor of marketing, had already been experimenting with makeup for years. More precisely, with the complicated relationship women have with makeup. What Harrold learned might surprise a lot of living dolls. Namely, that women who consider themselves feminists are likely to spend more money on makeup than those who don’t. That certainly surprised Harrold. And it wasn’t what she set out to learn. While pursuing her Ph.D. at Washington State University, Harrold was investigating whether women felt coerced by marketers or society to buy and use makeup. “Where I started with this project, I was thinking that feminist scholars would say [wearing makeup] is never a choice. It’s holding women down. But I thought, ‘OK, let’s talk to the actual people.’” The answer, it turned out, was that some women feel pressure to doll up their faces, and some don’t. The women Harrold talked to had other surprising things to say, too. “We found that women who consider themselves feminists were willing to spend more money on [beauty] products than non-feminists,” Harrold said.
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Fall /Winter 2023 | R EG I S U N I V E R S I T Y M AG A ZI N E
The findings upend persistent stereotypes about feminists and grooming habits, which date back at least half a century. This summer, in a segment honoring the 50th anniversary of Ms. magazine, co-founder Gloria Steinem told CBS Sunday Morning that she recalled the head of one major cosmetics company explaining why he wouldn’t be advertising in the magazine: Women who read Ms. — feminists — didn't buy makeup, he said. That certainly isn’t true. But Harrold’s team did find that when it comes to cosmetic spending, age matters. “The older generation of feminists, they are not purchasing premium products.” Data from Lendingtree.com indicates millennials (ages 27 to 42), spend an average of $2,670 a year on beauty products. The average drops with each age group, with baby boomers, those ages 59 to 77, at the bottom, spending only $494, on average, for makeup. At the same time, older women are among those most likely to call themselves feminists, a 2020 Pew Research Center study found. According to the study, the greatest proportion of women who identify as feminists — 68 percent — are those aged 18 to 29. The next highest age group to consider themselves feminists was the 65-plus group. To Harrold, the findings don’t represent a setback for the feminist cause. Quite the opposite, in fact. She views it as progress, a sign that women are making their own decisions. “We’re suggesting that with the feminists, they are positioning the beauty work in their minds differently,” Harrold said. “They are taking it back, saying ‘I can be a feminist and I can be super pretty’. They are feeling those tasks are empowering as personal choices.” ~ KA
