I was born female. I can present as female without makeup. In fact, most people think that's exactly what I'm doing when I walk down the street, head to toe in "men's clothes", short hair, and no makeup. Makeup isn't a necessity for presenting as female as a cisfemale. It's a decoration that adds to the effect in our culture, but it's not a necessity for a ciswoman to present as female.
I can't present as male without binding. I have a DD chest - the breasts on it fed 3 kids for 10 years. I have a belly stretched by 3 pregnancies. Binding is the only way, short of surgery, that I pass as male, and only sometimes. I was called "ma'am" 50 times in the last five days, and "man" once by someone who saw me hunched over a book and couldn't see my chest.
Now, for some transwomen, makeup might be as important as binding - to mask masculine features, just as binding masks feminine body parts. But I don't think it's the same when we're talking about ciswomen presenting as women and cismales presenting as male.
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very well said. I was thinking along the same lines in class today.
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