For those of us (females) who are more or less expected to wear make-up, it's alarming how little we know about the contents of those products. The other night I watched an illuminating show on the CBC (Canada's version of, um, PBS?) about carcinogens in cosmetics, and how little Canada's government is doing to regulate the industry or even to ensure that all products are thoroughly labeled. To offer an analogy, about 400 carcinogenic substances are banned from Britain's cosmetics industry; about 40 are banned in Canada. For you Americans, here's a list of substances flagged as carcinogenic by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, but it is not cosmetics-specific. Here's a list of cosmetics products to avoid. Or maybe, ladies, it's just time for us to stop wasting time, money, and our well-being on lifestyles that for centuries have been expected of one sex and not the other.