“Intelligence is sexy” is Lipstick & Politic’s motto.

The stereotype out there is that a woman can be sexy or she can be intelligent, but a sexy, intelligent woman is a paradox. Being attractive has, for a long time, thought to be the most important quality of a woman. Rather than prioritize beauty over intellect, Lipstick & Politics seeks to put an end to the stereotype with the launch of T-shirts boldly emblazoned with this motto.

Lipstick & Politics believes that a woman is the sum of her parts, rather than a single, stereotypical trait. We believe that it is the combination of beauty and intellect, among other things, that makes a woman attractive. A woman should never have to conform to the body image society dictates, nor should she feel like less than a woman if she is not the physical “ideal” perpetuated by waif-like models in the media.

Embracing the motto means being empowered to develop an opinion based on one’s knowledge and personal experience, and to be well-read and well-informed. It means allowing women to develop and nurture their own version of feminism, to do and be whatever makes them happy, rather than force them to conform to the age-old patriarchal conditioning of what society thinks a woman should be.