Everything men do, feminists do better. Remember " Defined Lines," the hilarious femme parody of Robin Thicke’s chauvinistic music video, "Blurred Lines"? I watched it on repeat. Please do the same if you haven’t yet. As for Movember (the annual month-long mustache-growing event for males which raises funds for and awareness of prostate cancer), women now have our own claim on November, too. Or so Rave Ministries would like us to believe. Enter Rave's "No Makeup November." The female-oriented Christian group has called girls and women everywhere to put down their makeup brushes for the month of November, and instead embrace their God-given beauty. On the one hand, it could be interpreted as a nice sentiment, encouraging females to feel comfortable in their own skin. On the other, I find it a little presumptuous and judgmental. Let me be clear: I wear makeup on an almost daily basis. It's not because I think that I need it. I wear makeup because I have access to it, because I enjoy putting it on, because I'm actually pretty darn good at applying it. Most of all, I wear it because I want to look like I make an effort. Despite how our beauty ideal has changed over the years—it's become more about trying to look like we're not trying at all—I like to show that I care about how I present myself to the world. I don't want to become someone who isn't concerned with the clothes I put on in the morning or the state of my frizzy, unkempt hair when I walk out the door. That's just not me. And isn't celebrating ourselves more important than doing what's expected of us? In a statement on its website, the ministry defended No Makeup November, saying it's not the makeup or the beauty industry that the initiative, which has more than 4,000 participants, is aiming to combat:

"It is a culture that we are trying to fight. A culture that tells our young girls, mothers, and yes, even grandmothers that they are not close to being good enough. That in order to be of worth you must be physically beautiful, that unless you are a specific size you should be cast out, that the true amount of your worth is based upon one simple yet important factor, ones physical appearance."

I'm not one of those girls you see at the gym in full face, trying not to sweat away my foundation and mascara. But please don't judge me if I head to my local GoodLife after work, and I fail to remove any trace of makeup before I mount the elliptical. It's a pretty impressive feat that I'm even there at all, as far as I'm concerned. I don't put on makeup to simply run errands or workout, but so what if I do? As women, we're constantly faced with judgment and shame—from men and from each other. So the question remains: Is bare face better? I say it isn't better or worse, and that we should all try to be accepting of each other, lipstick and all. (Photo: MorgueFile.com)