‘The Fight Against Ageing’ And Other Beauty Warspeak

Reading Jessica DeFino’s recent Substack article analysing ‘warspeak’ in the beautyindustry made me consider how military-style language is used – in marketing, editorial and social content.

The body positivity movement we’ve all lived through in recent years might have us thinking we’re no longer at war with our own bodies. But seemingly harmless words we still use suggest otherwise. Think about it: we ‘battle’ certain elements of our look (our frizzy hair, textured thighs or uneven skin tone) and employ products as ‘weapons’ in the ‘fight’ against these ‘enemies’. Or we reach for cosmetics as ‘armour’ to ‘combat’ issues. It goes on.

One problem with this is how it can catastrophise things like acne or pigmentation, distorting how we view them. ‘Fighting’ certain physical factors might be entrenched in our cultural values, but our choice of language – as communicators within the beauty industry – can either reinforce ideologies that have long capitalised on people’s insecurities or promote acceptance of them. Surely, we want to keep moving the needle towards the latter.

But the other issue with warspeak in the context of beauty is the fact that there are real, devastating wars happening right now. Aligning warspeak with aesthetics can seem shallow, thoughtless, insensitive or crude.

Sorry for sobering the festive tone – I know none of this is very merry. But it all seems easy to overlook until it’s pointed out. Personally, I appreciated it being brought to my attention – and I hope you do too.