Masuk Free Press

Picture this scene from any book you’ve read or show you’ve watched: the main character, a savvy, bold girl, has to go undercover for whatever reason. While ordinarily a tomboy, this gal must get dolled up for the mission. So she does, all the while bemoaning that she feels unnatural in mascara and a short dress. End scene.

That is when I close the book and throw it across the room, or pause the television and do a lap around my house. It is the 21st century. I am sick and tired of having female main characters who are scared to be feminine. Of course, I get that donning makeup can cause some individuals to feel uncomfortable. If I change several core aspects of myself, I might even be able to understand living in a world where someone doesn’t want to wear a miniskirt. But that does not mean that just about every single smart girl in the media must adopt this narrative.

There’s this idea that if you are a woman, you cannot be both intelligent and care about your appearance. You are not allowed to possess both beauty and brains. Academics must be frumpled, while the hot and stylish of the world must strut about with two brain cells floating around in their dense skulls. If you are smart, that is all you are allowed to be. Adding conventional attractiveness is far too much in someone’s favor. Despite the push for women in STEM across the past decade, these over-perpetuated stereotypes remain.

Intelligent women are supposed to be “above” conforming to a beauty standard. Putting effort into how you look is seen as being materialistic. It is, therefore, self-indulgent to take pride in your appearance. A woman doing more than the bare minimum, going above the average line, is met with a wide variety of commentary. An inquiring “What are you dressed up for?” or perhaps the ever-backhanded “How long did it take you to pick out that outfit?” It is incomprehensible that a clever lady also wants to present herself nicely. Because if she were truly smart, she wouldn’t care how she looked.

This mentality is detrimental to the positive psychological development of every girl who has ever viewed any sort of media. There are roughly 900 million teenage girls in the world. That is 900 million people who are consistently being told that in order to be respected, they have to act a certain way. 900 million people who are trying to find positive representation for someone who shares their interests.

This especially becomes an issue when nearly every popular series, even in the year 2025, does not have a female character who is both smart and likes makeup and has a good fashion sense.

The recent “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” originally published as a book in 2019 before it was adapted to a television series over the summer of 2024, follows this same tired trope. Although the work is told from a mostly feminist angle, passing the Bechdel test with flying colors, it still falls victim to the “I hate makeup and pretty clothes” female protagonist. Pip, the main character, is clever and independent. She can take care of herself and has no problem doing so. Yet what I took away from her character was not the solving of a cold case murder and insane detective skills. No, what I remember the most from the book was Pip’s attitude towards dressing up.

Based on the fact that she never described clothing with any particular depth, I had assumed that she was ambivalent on the matter of what to wear and how to tightline your eyes. Maybe, I had tragically, optimistically thought, she could even find some fun in it. Yet I was sorely mistaken. Pip was just another in a long line of teenage girl characters who looked down their noses at other teenage girls who deigned to be so vain as to be invested in what they look like.Femininity isn’t foolish, despite the thousands of characters that seem to exist solely to tell you so. Being intelligent does not, and should not, detract from an interest in feminine expression. The lack of fictional role models means that there is always a girl in the real world who is holding back tears of frustration at being told to suppress her interests so that she may be taken seriously. So the next time you think twice about wearing that winged eyeliner or putting on a nice t-shirt, do it. If not for yourself, then for the benefit of every girl who is younger than you. You never know how great of an effect you will have.