Through my work with college women during my stage makeup classes, it has become more and more clear to me that one of the ways we give away our power is to let the cosmetics industry, the publishing industry, our own self-hatred and that of our mothers have undue influence on how we spend our money, how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about other women.

And it's not just how we feel. It's how we behave. It is an interestingly arrogant point of view that leads women in wealthy cutures to be horrified at the genital mutilation in poor cultures while mutilating themselves at the same time. Being able to get a husband is often given as a reason to support genital mutilation. Being able to attract men is a common reason for rhinoplasty, breast augmentation and other forms of plastic surgery.

Tack Back Your Face is inspired by Take Back the Night and the greater implied movement to Take Back Your Mind.

A great way to get started is to examine the way you respond to women who you view as "more than" you. Another thing to do is take those magazines and realize what thay are for. They are formulated to make you feel "less than" so that you will purchase the products presented by advertizers who make the magazines possible.

So am I supposed to go ungroomed? Hygine is an essential part of health. Adornment is a matter of choice. If you choose to live a life in which adornment is optional, you can choose as you like. If you choose to be in an environment which requires a certain level of adornment, you can choose how you are going to achieve it. It is important that you look at your response to the idea "requires." What do circumstances actually require? Are you willing to comply? To what degree?

The topic of Take Back Your Face is primarily decision-making in the area of skin care and color cosmetics. An examination of how you choose to spend your money, time and energy. There is also the notion of saving money, sticking it to the man and self-expression through creativity.

But I'm going to end up giving my money to someone. Unless you live utterly off-the-grid, you pay for the water you use to wash and the electricity used to heat that water. It is my contention that money is a representation of energy. I would rather give my energy to another woman who is thinking about things that I care about. By using your energy to obtain products made by hand, or obtain ingredients to make them yourself, you are undermining the opressor. How about that?