Imprinted in bright red on a glass pane of a detention centre in Panama were the words “HELP US” by Artemis Ghasemzadeh, an Iranian woman deported by the US government under President Donald Trump’s ongoing crusade to repatriate illegal immigrants.

Ghasemzadeh, 27, has converted to Christianity and can face a death sentence for that in her home country, reported The New York Times. Denied and defied, she had no other means of expressing the torment that she and her fellow deportees were undergoing but to use her red lipstick for her final act of imploration and defiance against the absolutist wielders of power.

Ghasemzadeh’s use of the crimson cosmetic to resist authority is a hark back to how red lipstick has been used as a symbol of boldness and resilience in the modern and neoliberal world. It has long been a political tool in the Western world. In fact, the popularisation of red lipstick owes a lot to its roots in politics.

The history of weaponising red lipstick dates back to the early 20th century. The suffragette movement, which ensued in the US during the 1920s, saw women from the middle-class society campaign for the right to vote. It was during this time that its usage gained ground as putting on the bold crimson shade became a part of the regimentals.

Elizabeth Arden, founder of the eponymous cosmetic empire, would hand over red lipstick tubes to female protesters marching in front of her salon in New York City in 1912. She influenced suffragette leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Emmeline Pankhurst to put on the lip shade for their campaigns.

The product saw a surge in popularity among women from all social echelons because of its affordable cost. Since the suffragette movement coincided with the First World War, it was not lost on many how during that time, there were considerably lesser number of men in the workforce as most of them were part of the military. Consequently, there was an increasing participation of women in the workforce that led them to become financially independent and spend a fraction of their income on the budget-friendly cosmetic product.

By the time of the Second World War, it had become a much-sought product that symbolised courage and confidence. Many of the wartime classic shades were devised by Arden in collaboration with the US government and worn by women of the allied nations to boost their morale and as a symbol of solidarity with those on the military front.

Montezuma Red was produced to match the red linings of the female Marines’ uniforms of the allied powers. Arden also devised a shade called Victory Red for civilian women, while her competitor Helena Rubinstein came up with another shade called Regimental Red. In 1941, red lipstick became a compulsory part of the uniform for women who joined the US Army.

Adolf Hitler used to despise lipstick. The British ministry of information took advantage of this and launched propaganda campaigns, “Beauty is your duty”, “Lipstick is your weapon and you are soldiers of the rear”, that became emblematic of defiance against the Nazi oppression.

The third-wave feminist ideology, Lipstick Feminism, gained ground in the 1990s. It argues that women should be allowed to express themselves through aesthetics, being feminine and empowered at the same time, as opposed to earlier feminist movements.

Fast forward to contemporary times, during the political crisis of Nicaragua in 2018, a group of women called Red Lips Nicaraguan Women’s Organisation gathered to protest against the autocratic government of President Daniel Ortega. In 2019, thousands of women protested in the streets of Chile against sexual violence with black blindfolds and red lips.

However, when it comes to women of colour, there is a layer of exclusivity. Sharon Chuter, founder of UOMA Beauty, says in an article published by BritishVogue that the reason red lipstick acquired the symbolism of power was because it is “a very bold statement” for white women. However, when it comes to black women, the colour doesn’t appear striking because of their melanated skin.

Since black women were excluded during the suffragette movement, one is left to wonder whether the use of red lipstick as a political weapon would have had the same significance and legacy if black women were originally included in the political movements and activities and had equal power as their white counterparts.