I don't really watch television, so I occasionally surprised by what winds up on there. Fashionista mom doesn't think any (pretty girl) should do anything that she doesn't feel like doing, Feminist mom feels that the best way to educate her children is to separate them from the world by homeschooling. The proof of the pudding is in the eating... the home schooled, feminist kids speak brilliantly and are remarkably self assured while the beauty-queen comes across as spoiled (though not inherently mean-spirited) and struggles over spelling "America" and the word "crutch".
If I had to pick, I'd rather be raised in the feminist household- even with the lack of real-world experience I think the self-reliance will stand them in good stead, but I think the black/white, feminist/un-feminist world-view dose them a disservice. Despite the way the younger daughter's troubling interest in makeup is positioned in the episode, "feminism" and "cosmetics" aren't in and of themselves mutually exclusive. The 'problem' with cosmetics wasn't an intrinsic property of the cosmetics themselves* but the pandering to "the male gaze" and diverting ones energy from the 'self' to producing an image for public consumption.
In any case, it all seemed to work out well- the Feminist family decided to expand their world-view to embrace their daughters interest in "girly-ness", and the Fashionista daughter began to do her own homework and bake-- two things she'd never done before.
So yay for all... and I really need to not be watching television.
*you can say a lot about the carcinogenic and other properties of cosmetics... many sex toys** are made out of questionable materials that could be harmful, and birth-control has side effects*** etc. etc.... point is, 'cosmetics as a health hazard' have always been at best a parenthetical issue.
**a major preoccupation of late.
***another major preoccupation.
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