# What does lipstick look like? (Maybe TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627 "2005-09-14T17:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/1 "2005-09-14T17:19:10Z")
I swear some day I’m going to start a Pit thread about the conspiracy theories that state that men have no higher priority than subjugating women or treating them as nothing but sex objects. I just don’t have enough examples now to justify it (and it could be that there’s not much to Pit after all). But here’s one that crossed my mind. I’ve been hearing it for years. It’s said that when men see women’s lips, they are reminded of vaginas. And that when women wear red lipstick, it reminds men of vaginal lips that are engorged with excitement. Is there any truth to this claim at all? Men: Do (mouth) lips bear any similarity, whatsoever, to a vagina? Or or this just Freudian wishful thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/2 "2005-09-14T17:21:57Z")
How about red-painted lips looking like regular old lips that are engorged due to sexual excitement? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/3 "2005-09-14T17:26:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Men: Do (mouth) lips bear any similarity, whatsoever, to a vagina? Or or this just Freudian wishful thinking? Not to my conscious mind. I have nooo problem differentiating the lips I run across. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/4 "2005-09-14T17:28:47Z")
Maybe if I was around more vaginas that chewed gum, puffed on a cigarette or engaged me in conversation. Sadly though, my experience with such has been woefully limited. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/5 "2005-09-14T17:30:19Z")
Or maybe if women’s mouths were vertical, and women had big bushy moustaches. Nah, not even then. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/6 "2005-09-14T17:32:01Z")
. . .or maybe if women ran around with a short length of cotton string hanging out of the corner of their mouth. Nah. And my apologies. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/7 "2005-09-14T17:37:30Z")
Depending on the shade of red, if a mouth looked like a vagina, the lipstick may look more like blood… I know several women who wear blue or black lipstick… I wonder what effect they’re going for? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/8 "2005-09-14T17:42:12Z")
Full, naturally red lips are associated with youth. Lipstick probably began as a way of “correcting” lips that were to thin or too pale. Nowadays cosmetic fashions are more a way to sell a new set of colors every season than anything Darwinian. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/9 "2005-09-14T17:46:18Z")
… and what’s with that Damodar guy in _Dungeons & Dragons?_ ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/10 "2005-09-14T17:51:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … and what’s with that Damodar guy in _Dungeons & Dragons?_ He was just cold. I’m betting his turkeys were fully cooked, as well. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/11 "2005-09-14T17:51:39Z")
I seem to remember reading something about prostitutes in the olden days wearing red, red lipstick to advertise that they gave blowjobs, but I’m at work and don’t want to try googling that up right now. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/12 "2005-09-14T18:03:03Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > I have nooo problem differentiating the lips I run across. 😉 I’m sure you meant to write “the lips I’ve come across”? 😛 (Well, it sounds less painful than your version.) ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/13 "2005-09-14T18:14:28Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > I seem to remember reading something about prostitutes in the olden days wearing red, red lipstick to advertise that they gave blowjobs, but I’m at work and don’t want to try googling that up right now. That’s the story I’ve heard too. Although I have no idea how to weed through the porn sites you’d get if you googled it. Anyway it could be apocraphal but it has and element of truth…I think it’s about emphasising the mouth as a sexual orifice. Which to some extent is making it “like a vagina”. (As an aside…the first think I thought when I saw the title was my step father’ Playboys I used to read when I was a kid. Including Xavier Hollander’s advice column which featured a lipstick carved to look like a penis. Except at the time I had no idea that’s what it was supposed to be. I thought that’s just what lipsticks got to look like after a while. Playboy was very educational but they just didn’t include many penii back then {and the kid next door didn’t have anything that looked like that; I know, I checked…}) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/14 "2005-09-14T18:16:18Z")
[This](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=303734) may be of interest. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/15 "2005-09-14T18:40:35Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I swear some day I’m going to start a Pit thread about the conspiracy theories that state that men have no higher priority than subjugating women or treating them as nothing but sex objects. I just don’t have enough examples now to justify it (and it could be that there’s not much to Pit after all). > > But here’s one that crossed my mind. I’ve been hearing it for years. > > It’s said that when men see women’s lips, they are reminded of vaginas. And that when women wear red lipstick, it reminds men of vaginal lips that are engorged with excitement. > > Is there any truth to this claim at all? Men: Do (mouth) lips bear any similarity, whatsoever, to a vagina? Or or this just Freudian wishful thinking? Surely they are more reminiscent of vulvas? Or the outer lips of the vulva? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/16 "2005-09-14T19:00:04Z")
> [@lorinada](#): > > Surely they are more reminiscent of vulvas? Or the outer lips of the vulva? I suppose. To me they look like part of a human mouth. I guess I’m perverted that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/17 "2005-09-14T19:02:04Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Maybe if I was around more vaginas that chewed gum, puffed on a cigarette or engaged me in conversation. Sadly though, my experience with such has been woefully limited. I have actually encountered Vagina #2 from your list. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/18 "2005-09-14T19:06:34Z")
> [@auntie em](#): > > I have actually encountered Vagina #2 from your list. :eek: So you smoke after sex? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/19 "2005-09-14T19:14:38Z")
You know, if you think about boinking every woman you see, or just the majority of them, maybe, just maybe, it is not because her lips are red, or you subconsciously read the word ‘sex’ in the ice cubes in an ad, or the fact that there is fluoride in the water, or you heard rock and or roll music playing, or you played Leisure Suit Larry thinking it was a '70s trivia game, or you saw Janet Jackson’s nipple at the Superbowl for a nanosecond, or you ate a green M&M, or she was wearing a short skirt so she was asking for it, or you visited the Empire State Building when you were six and the phallic symbolism ruined you, maybe, perhaps, it’s because **you are a horny bastard**. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627/20 "2005-09-14T19:16:58Z")
I’m comfortable with that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-lipstick-look-like-maybe-tmi/321627.md?page=2)