# "Ladies pinch, whores use rouge." **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984 "2003-10-17T13:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/1 "2003-10-17T13:06:25Z")
Was that “Simpsons” joke completely made up or do some women actually pinch their cheeks hard to make them blush? ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/2 "2003-10-17T13:16:00Z")
I didn’t see the joke, but if you read enough stories and novels placed many decades to a few centuries ago, you will see that pinching the cheeks was the accepted method of getting some color in the cheeks. I have no idea how long this persisted into the 20th century, however. Yes, not too long ago, I believe makeup was considered the hallmark of a prostitute. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/3 "2003-10-17T13:45:50Z")
All I have to add: Remember in “Gone With the Wind” when Scarlett pinches her cheeks when Brett shows up unannounced? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/4 "2003-10-17T14:16:49Z")
Yes, it’s definitely old (encountered often in older novels or historical accounts pre-dating, say, the 40’s). Women could not only pinch their cheeks to bring color to them, but also rake their teeth over their lips to make the lips darker and a little fuller. My mom was born in 1931, and by the time she was a teenager, lipstick and rouge were acceptable, but eye makeup was only for actresses and sluts. In fact, as a child, there was a woman in my mother’s neighborhood who not only wore eye makeup, but also (gasp) dyed her hair red! My mother was not even allowed to speak to her! Of course, this is all cultural. There is much evidence of socially upstanding women using crushed beetle shells for eye color, kohl for eyeliner and crushed berries or henna leaves for lip and cheek color, for many centuries prior to the puritanical movement in much of Europe. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/5 "2003-10-17T15:08:44Z")
Yep, I remember someone in a Lucy Maud Montgomery novel (can’t remember if it was Anne or Emily) got in trouble from her strict aunt for “making herself _cheap_” by wetting a fake red rose to rouge her cheeks because pinching them didn’t make 'em red enough to impress the boy she wanted to impress. If memory serves. It’s been a while ! ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/6 "2003-10-17T18:13:55Z")
Yup, that was in _Emily of New Moon_ – and it was for a birthday party Emily was going to, following her being teased mercilessly for her black dresses. She wanted to look pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/7 "2003-10-17T18:26:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by norinew \* > \*\*Yes, it’s definitely old (encountered often in older novels or historical accounts pre-dating, say, the 40’s). Women could not only pinch their cheeks to bring color to them, but also rake their teeth over their lips to make the lips darker and a little fuller. My mom was born in 1931, and by the time she was a teenager, lipstick and rouge were acceptable, but eye makeup was only for actresses and sluts. In fact, as a child, there was a woman in my mother’s neighborhood who not only wore eye makeup, but also (gasp) dyed her hair red! My mother was not even allowed to speak to her! > > Of course, this is all cultural. There is much evidence of socially upstanding women using crushed beetle shells for eye color, kohl for eyeliner and crushed berries or henna leaves for lip and cheek color, for many centuries prior to the puritanical movement in much of Europe. \*\* When my mother went to visit Grandma Bodoni for the first time, my father cautioned her not to use ANY makeup at all, not even her customary eyebrow pencil. My mother has very thin, light eyebrows and so she will usually at least put on eyebrow pencil. However, Grandma Bodoni, being from the Old Country, did Not Approve of females who used any sort of cosmetics. It meant that they were Loose Women, and certainly Unsuitable for her baby boy. My parents were married at the time, by the way, and had either already had me or already started me. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/8 "2003-10-17T18:29:52Z")
In “Meet Me In St Louis” Judy Garland is shown pinching her cheeks to redden them before a party. The movie is set in the first decade of the 20th Century. In the book “Cheaper By The Dozen,” which recounts a family’s life in the 1910s and 20s, the father forbids his daughters from wearing rouge, lipstick, perfume, etc. but likes it on their friends. Just another couple of cultural referents. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/9 "2003-10-17T19:39:52Z")
From the 1919 song “The Vamp”— She wears high-heeled shoes and fancy hose (She’s a vamp! She’s a vamp!) Paints her face and powders up her nose (She’s a vamp! She’s a vamp!) ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/10 "2003-10-17T19:49:04Z")
If memory serves, in Renaissance times, women would drop bella donna into their eyes to make their pupils dilate, which was considered beautiful. Bella Donna is another name for Deadly Nightshade. Makes a little rouge seem less whorish, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/11 "2003-10-17T20:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bruce\_Daddy \* > \*\*All I have to add: Remember in “Gone With the Wind” when Scarlett pinches her cheeks when Brett shows up unannounced? \*\* I can’t help it…I’m a southern girl… It’s Rhett! _said with her best Scarlett O’Hara accent_ FB ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/12 "2003-10-17T20:16:34Z")
Whores pinch, too. But they charge extra unless you negotiate it in the deal up front, so to speak. * * * I hear the Cubs are relocating to the Philippines and renaming themselves the “Manilla Folders”. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/13 "2003-10-17T21:30:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FaerieBeth \* > \*\*I can’t help it…I’m a southern girl… > > It’s Rhett! _said with her best Scarlett O’Hara accent_ > > FB \*\* No, I’m pretty sure it was Brett Rutler. (I was pretty hung over at 9:45 this morning :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/14 "2003-10-17T22:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FaerieBeth \* > \*\*I can’t help it…I’m a southern girl… > > It’s Rhett! _said with her best Scarlett O’Hara accent_ > > FB \*\* It wasn’t Brett or Rhett. Scarlett pinches her cheeks at Twelve Oaks before she sneaks downstairs to find \*Ashley. \* ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/15 "2003-10-18T00:42:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*From the 1919 song “The Vamp”— > > She wears high-heeled shoes and fancy hose > (She’s a vamp! She’s a vamp!) > Paints her face and powders up her nose > (She’s a vamp! She’s a vamp!) \*\* Since when are you a vamp maiven? Who died and made you the authority on vamping? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/16 "2003-10-18T05:01:42Z")
When I was a kid I had a friend in the local children’s choir. They were not allowed to wear makeup for performances, so they would pinch each other’s cheeks before going onstage. Kids being kids, this sometimes led to violence. They probably would have been better off letting them use rouge. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/17 "2003-10-18T17:46:47Z")
Old fashioned women use blood. Preferably _Human_ blood. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-pinch-whores-use-rouge/207984/18 "2003-10-18T19:54:04Z")
Yes, she does that at Twelve Oaks, but I do believe she also bites her lips and pinches her cheeks before going to visit Rhett in prison.