Appearance And Appearance In Society

In this day and age, society has built standards to how citizens should look, talk, wear, behave etc through social media, films, celebrities, friends and family. The youth has now taken place in this and now feel that if they did not meet society's standards, they aren’t beautiful or handsome. Some leaders and motivational speakers are good at telling others to love themselves and to accept how they look. Nevertheless there are still those who need to seek help and those who beat themselves up because of how they are. However is social conformity really the key to happiness? Social conformity is notoriously found in the book Uglies where turning 16 gives you the opportunity to undergo plastic surgery to change your appearance into a “pretty” look. Tally Youngblood is a rare example of a 16 year old girl who hasn’t undergo plastic surgery and was sent to the Smoke, a small town where those who don’t believe in plastic surgery or the society's ambitions go to live like the people of today. However Shay, a friends of Tally’s, is an example of an “ugly” who has a very strong opinion about the surgery, a very negative opinion about it.

Body image and beauty standards have changed drastically over the years. By establishing impossible standards of beauty and bodily perfection, the media drives people tobe dissatisfied with their bodies. This dissatisfaction can result in disorders of behavior as people try to achieve unreachable goals with unhealthy

Cultural and societal norms are based on aspects such as differences in opinion, beliefs, and backgrounds. New norms are constantly created as generations come and go, with societal changes taking place daily. Norms are shaped based on the way people are raised, the individuals we surround ourselves with, and the transformations that occur in our lives. Although groups identify and set norms, these can change in our personal lives based on the social groups we interact with as we grow through life, such as groups of friends from childhood that may be different from groups of friends we make as we enter adulthood. As we change from one group to another and transition through life, the result of social norms can be seen through new behavior. For example, an individual who did not grow up regularly attending church or practicing a religion, but later in life decided to start attending religious services and practicing, behavior changes would be evident based on guidelines set by that religion That individual may stop

In society, many people act different ways and were raised differently, making a divergent society. The reason people are different is because of their nurturers, there are a lot of people that influenced others in their lives helping them become the person they are whether it was good or bad. There are many people that think that everyone is born the way they are and live by their nature. And others who think people influence and make other people do the things they do. The way people act and the beliefs they hold stem purely from their nurturer; people will act a certain way based on how they were raised and nature has a lesser impact on the actions people take.

The world is filled with many different types of societies and cultures. This is due to the fact that many people share dissimilar beliefs and ideas, as well as diverse ways of life. People lived under different circumstances and stipulations, therefore forming cultures and societies with ideas they formulated, themselves. These two factors, society and culture, are what motivate people to execute the things that they do. Many times, however, society and culture can cause downgrading effects to an assemblage if ever it is corrupt or prejudiced. Society and culture not only influences the emotions individuals have toward things like age differences, religion, power, and equality but also the actions they perform as a result.

In the book, Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud, Freud focuses on the commonly acknowledged cultural taboo against incest and studies how it structures primitive societies. He speculates on his concept of the Oedipal Complex and how it affects society as a whole. He wishes to establish a connection between the Oedipal Complex and the phenomenon of conscience, which involves the sense of a moral code governing our lives and our sense of guilt. In order to establish this connection, Freud discusses ambivalence, our belief in the omnipotence of our thoughts, and animal phobias and sacrificial rituals in order to make a sound, reasonable argument.

In, the three stories that we have explored this semester, Passing, A Raisin in the Sun, and Mama Day all have the same theme of how identity is based off of the appearance of someone, and how that appearance reflects how they will behave. So the behavior of someone is based off the outward appearance of someone. This is shown by the fluidity of Clare and her ability to assimilate into different culture easily, in Passing, the various examples of the various the conflicts between Cocoa and George in, Mama Day, and the how the characters in Mama Day, present themselves.

Every morning, I make the decision of whether or not to wear my headscarf to school, where I am the sole teenager, among four hundred others, to do so. This was undoubtedly frightening the first few weeks of freshman year, bringing on obstacles, but it soon became integrated into my everyday routine. I throw it on everyday the same as I do with the rest of my clothing, not thinking twice about it. With this being normal to me, I constantly forget that it catches other’s eyes. Jumping through hurdles, I learned how to use what others saw as a disadvantage to my own advantage, enabling me to completely change my view about myself.

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

Ever since their invention many centuries ago, clothes have been used as a way of communicating. The message communicated relies on a number of factors including the social background of both the communicator and the receiver, and the context in which the message is communicated. Although at times the exact message or symbolism one is trying to portray may not be clear, it is evident that clothing has long been embraced as one of the best ways to project one’s desired personal image to those around them.

This experience made me start questioning the idea of normality. I realized that norms measure a person's happiness. If a person is normal, then he or she has found security and happiness. But, what about the rest of us? Just because I have not achieved, and in most cases unwilling to achieve, the norms of society, does this make me inferior to the norms?         Beside myself, many people have internally agonized over the idea of norms and how they serve society, especially dealing with appearances. Everyone comes to a point when they evaluate their lives against these standards. Often times, in a person's quest for normality, they have to conform and try to destroy their differences from what they perceive to be normal. Before they realize they are different, they are, in a sense, content with their lives. This idea can be found my many writings such as Elizabeth MacDonald's Odalique. "My hair is short can less feminine at this time, my face rounder, my body plumper.

Society is full of ideas pertaining to the definition of beauty and has been controversial for centuries. Beauty is visually pleasing and can satisfy the other senses as well, but it cannot be fully defined through only the senses. It blossoms from the soul; it is an epitome of serene emotion. Beauty is imperative to the mentality our society maintains as if the world would transform to be completely dark without it. The word “Beauty” originates from the Anglo-French term beute meaning “physical attractiveness” and “goodness and courtesy” (dictionary.com, n.p.) Beauty is charming, mesmerizing, graceful, and captivating. Brutality is invaluable because beauty brings peace to the mind.

Beauty standards have been a major issue for many years now and women have been willing to change their bodies over and over to please themselves and others. Beauty standards are often defined in terms of hairstyles, skin color, and body size. The measures involved in having to live up to these standards are often risky in nature. For decades, what is seen as beautiful is centered around a women’s weight and size. Today, that standard is often defined as being thin. Women often resort to drastic means to attain that ideal image. However, achieving these standards can be expensive, can lower self-esteem and can be a threat to a woman’s health and life.

Overall people perceived as beautiful have more job opportunities as well as a higher chance for advancement in their carriers. A study was conducted by the University of North Carolina at Pembroke on the topic of the relationship between attractiveness of professors and the perceived quality of their teaching. What the study found out was a strong relationship between the two – “results indicated that as hotness ratings increased, so did ratings on overall quality, clarity, and helpfulness. Additionally, further analysis indicated that the greater the percentage of hotness ratings to overall ratings, the more likely that students rated the professors favorably.” Moreover research shows that attractive people perform better when interviewed. An interesting fact is

Beauty standards have been socially constructed in diverse and various shapes in every society or culture in the world, and cause people to think they are not beautiful if they do not fit the common standard of beauty that has been set by the society. Most people are pressured into the standard by the social milieu. The people who are different from the socially pursued standard of beauty do not think the standard itself is absurd, but they rather tend to be insecure about their appearance. Once people see the beauty through individual’s perspective, not through the socially constructed standard, they would realize how much they have unconsciously forced each other to be fit in the beauty standard. This is something that I have also experienced. I was not a person who fit in the standard of beauty, and that made me shy and timid. However, once I saw myself through a different perspective of beauty, I could see it as a social problem that unconsciously forces one particular standard of beauty.