Today In "What Women Do Wrong": We're Now Apparently Not Allowed To Do Face Masks In Front Of Our Husbands

I admittedly only watched the first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but I still have not forgotten one troubling scene from the pilot. After her husband falls asleep, Midge sneaks over to the bathroom to take her makeup off, put her hair in curlers, and slather her face in cream. She then sets her alarm to wake up before her husband so she can go put her makeup back on and do her hair again — all under the guise of appearing effortlessly "perfect."

Thank god that show takes place in the 1950s and we're living in 2023, where people don't expect women to be perfectly "feminine" all the time...right?

The Paley Center for Media

WRONG.

SNL

Unfortunately, there are people out there who STILL think that women — especially those in relationships with men — need to meet the feminine beauty ideal at all times. This week, a woman went viral on Twitter for her views on this. She starts her thread by saying, "Your husband should never see you poop, pop zits, pluck any hair on your face besides an eyebrow, do a face mask, wax your bikini line, see you in an outfit you would be embarrassed to be seen in by anyone else, and a bunch of other gross, fundamentally human, stuff."

To my dismay, she continues, "Because your husband will inevitably see you at your worst anyway, and it pays to keep some mystery and act like a lady around him. My husband knows I go to the bathroom and I come out looking and feeling better. That's it. I like to keep it that way as much as possible."

ABC

It just kinda threw me off when she said, "I go to the bathroom and I come out looking and feeling better." Babe, we all love a good shit, like, no duh.

But wait, there's more: "They have been calling them BEAUTY SECRETS for a reason. Do you want him to keep treating you like a lady? Then act like one. Just like your husband should be the person who gets the MOST of your manners ("Please," "Thank you," "Goodbye," "Welcome home," "I love you," etc.)...because you will absolutely also give him your worst over the course of your marriage. Manners and mystery are insurance policies against boredom and getting treated like a roommate."

VH1

I kinda feel like service workers should be getting the "MOST" of your manners. And your mom. But that's just me.

I knew I wasn't the only one who probably had some heated thoughts about this philosophy, so I sprinted to the replies. Honestly, everyone stayed surprisingly cool while perfectly articulating why they didn't agree with the original poster.

This person brought up the great point that face masks can be a JOINT activity:

This guy kinda threw some virtual hands, and I'm okay with it:

And this woman honestly did a mic drop by pointing out the "giving birth" dilemma in her philosophy:

Listen, I'm all for waiting a few months to fart in front of a new partner, or putting on a sexy lil' number to keep things spicy...but if someone tries to tell me that I'm not allowed to talk about pooping or wear sweatpants in front of my future husband — whoever that poor man may be — they can kindly fuck off.

HBO

Ladies, can we please just support one another instead of imposing dated behavioral standards on ourselves and other women? The pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect is stressful enough.

OWN

Also, no one ever tells men to abide by ridiculous relationship "rules," so let's stop perpetuating the patriarchy. Thanks 😊.