Ellen Advertising "Simply Ageless" by CoverGirl

I love InStyle magazine. I buy it for the photographs of pretty women, sure, but mostly for the product reviews that plaster the pages, and make shopping for beauty aids more efficient and fun. I also like that the women in it aren't always under 21--for example, Ellen Degeneres is certainly of age.

She's also, to my naive surprise, in the pages of InStyle, being a "CoverGirl." Looking back, I think I read about this someplace, that CoverGirl was expanding its definition of beauty and hiring Ellen as a new face. Umm, okay, I know Ellen must wear scads of makeup as an actress and public persona, but is this good for women of a certain age who wear comfortable shoes? Don't we have enough pressure to be PTA President, build houses for Habitat for Humanity and represent a vocal minority as perfect people, without having to slap on a face every morning?

Sure, I do it, but I'm a femme with acne and a nose reddened by decades of out of control allergies--give me coverage, or give me death! But your everyday gay gal, she doesn't need makeup, she's beautiful just the way she is. In fact, I'm often jealous of my unadorned sisterhood, with glowing skin and natural dark eyelashes, who I imagine look with scorn upon my crimson lips and powdered insecure brow.

Femmes have feelings, too.

On the other hand, Ellen has expanded the definition of lesbians and beauty, and who can blame her for jumping at the chance? Her wife is a goddess, she wore a pantsuit at the wedding (and her wife a backless dress to die for), and if she can promote lesbians as short-haired beauties who might be lying about their age via cosmetics, more power to her.