Raising The Bar Analysis

Clothing has its own meaning in communication. We are being judged by our clothing every time we come in contact with someone. Human communication is accomplished by two ways, one third by words and the rest by nonverbal communication (Hickson, 1989). Clothes serve to be protection, social identification, sexual attraction, and many other services. Someone’s clothing can be different compared to others. Their clothing is based on their age, gender, occupation, personality, and values. According to William Thourlby, there are ten decisions that people around someone make based on their clothing along (Hickson, 1989). The ten decisions are:

After reading “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the reader is able to see that her essay focusses on personal appearance choices which she has compared and contrasted with her own early-life experiences. Based on how an individual appears at first sight, it dictates how others socially judge and stereotype us beyond the “beauty” dimension. For example, an individual may think about what he or she is going to wear when going out to eat at a restaurant. If the individual is going to go Buffalo Wild Wings to dine, obviously he or she is going to wear an outfit that fits them in society’s social norms which is a basic t-shirt, jeans, and shoes. However, if he or she shows up dressed up

He mentions several key factors that support his argument that looks do matter; Socially, attractive people are more likely to get paid more on the job, and mothers tend to look for attractiveness in their children. The way someone looks tends to determine their social status, physical activity, and their fitness level. From 1939 to 1989, the importance of looks to both men and women increased along with the change in trends in fashion, magazines, and the media, and that these trends will continue to develop along with technological changes that are not likely to change anytime soon. The author then mentions obesity, and its effect on someone's look. In a study, people that weighed more pounds were estimated to be older than the thinner person. As society further develops, the way both men and women dress changed in terms of the level of formality. The clothes we wear to school/work, private/public, and formal/informal are the same because America has been getting more casual ever year. There is no longer a distinction in clothing between gender, class, and age. Shorts used to be meant for youth only, but now you see people of all age wearing

Charles Sykes’ writing is very pleasant to read because the paper is not that long and is also very easy to comprehend. Another quote from Charles Sykes’ writing is “Looking like a slut does not empower you.” The quote “Looking like a slut does not empower you.” is very true and has a lot of meaning in the world today because as the years go on the less clothes girls wear to try to get their peers to notice them. Teenage girls especially are starting to wear less clothes because they think if they can show off their body that they may be liked more.

The idea of outward appearance has been a debated concept for a long time and both sides of the argument have reasons to believe what they do according to netfortris.com: “These basic steps will go a long way towards presenting the best possible outward appearance for your organization, and will ultimately make your company more successful.” The author of this article associates appearance with success. In this sense the success is that of a company but other sources may say that there is personal success in appearance. Some say that social success is dependent on how the person looks to others. These essays both say the opposite, that nothing is dependent on appearance, not on age, skin color, hobbies, or anything else.

When a topic such as this one has a flawless number of variables it is reliable to simply link problems like having a different view of yourself. In the article, “Just Walk on By”, Author Brent Staples states, “I began to take precautions to mold myself less threatening. I move about with care, particularly late in the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particularly when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans.” This statement involves some gentlemen whom has been wrongfully optic out to be an opposite individual. He is observed at to be a criminal. Therefore, he has to be cautions of his actions when he is either dressed in regular business casual with a pair of jeans. What this writer must understand is he is a black individual in a society where people are judged based on their personal identity for numerous reasons such as his appearance. A person that cares what people reflect of them has to put out a specific appearance. They must also look at themselves to set eye on if they come off as a different person than what they’re looking at in the mirror. Although, you may not consider how you view somebody it can’t affect them but it

As I was reading The Beauty Bias, by Deborah L. Rhodes, I came across a statistic that perplexed me, saying the total “annual global investment in grooming” comes to $115 billion (Rhodes, pg. 32). This shocking fact provokes a worrisome question: Why do we, humans, spend so much time, money, and thought on our appearance? As a complex question, there are several equally complex answers. However, the simple answer is that everyone else invests their time and thought into your outer shell, eliciting effort from you to improve what they study - your external image. The concern placed on one’s fashion choice or natural features by society takes away from larger, more pressing issues such as the declining economy, or feeding third-world countries.

Fashion reflects the attitudes of a society more than any other art form. Like art, fashion is a material record of the ideals that swayed the nations at the time of their creation. Through examining the styles, and tastes of a particular era, we can realize where the interests and priorities of a time lie. As Frank Parsons wrote in his 1920 study, The Psychology of Dress, "There is surly no better field in which to trace the devious paths of human thought than in that of clothes, where man has ever given free play to self expression, in a way which, thought not always a credit to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost self, whether he will acknowledge it or

Aggression and violence in and around drinking establishments remains a significant problem in most parts of the world, especially as the night-time economy expands. In a new monograph, Raising the Bar (2008), Kate Graham and Ross Homel comprehensively reviewed what is known about the causes of aggression in bars, clubs and pubs, drawing to a considerable extent on their own research over the past 20 years. They concluded that while there were some promising approaches there was little scientifically reliable evidence to guide policy. Nor, despite these promising approaches, was there evidence of sustainable reductions of violence in licensed environments. The challenge therefore to the field, appeared to be twofold. First, could a model be developed that was capable of reducing alcohol related violence, and of sustaining those reductions long term? Secondly, could a scientifically defensible research design be developed and operationalised, which could test such a model in a number of different settings, thereby indicating the flexibility of the model while also maintaining

77). Since my project was all about the outer appearance and to see if people’s perceptions of me had changed, I attach this to the work of Miner. Miner’s focus is the way western society sees the individual based solely off their appearance. This is a problem because it leads to body issues and extreme procedures to change how we look. On one of the days I took on my goth persona, I opted for a black metallic lipstick. Of course, I got my mother’s usual degrading comments on how I looked like a prostitute with my new look. Also, I got quite a few stares in the public eye at work. However, nobody made a rude comment to my face. Thanks to my coworker though, I was given information about another coworker critiquing the way I have decided to do my makeup. The coworker in question said she liked me as a person, but my makeup lately was terrible. Since I was in a uniform, all my creativity had to go onto my face. Although it did bother me for a moment, I got over it. It reminded me much of Regina George in ‘Mean Girls’. The part that the interaction reminded me of is when she complimented a girl’s skirt and once she walked away, Regina stated “That is the ugliest f-ing skirt I’ve ever seen” (Waters, 2004). It reminded me that we as a society are so afraid to speak our criticisms to someone’s face, but rather behind closed doors. I admit that I am no saint, and this is a struggle that society faces. People say that appearance and personal tastes do not matter, but

First a notable influence of fashion on self-perception is that it leads to a person developing confidence. The manner in which an individual has dressed will determine whether he will be confident or not. What an individual wears at a certain point leads him or her to develop power not only on himself but also on others. Evidence of this can be shown in a research carried out in the

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

As stated before, psychology is a form of self-expression, and a form of visual communication. The way one dresses may put one in a fashion subcategory. These subcategories are thought of as a whole and are subject to judgment and discrimination of sorts. For example, a person with many tattoos and a vintage style of clothing may be viewed as a “hipster”, and hence the viewer may assume many things of the individual. The fit of garments say many things about oneself. Made-to-fit clothing on men in the business world is more respectable than non-tailored clothes. With women, skirt suits create the balance between attractiveness and masculinity in order to appear respectable, much more than the overly aggressive pant suit. One may see the effect of clothing when one researches on how to dress for an interview in order to make an impression upon the hiring manager.

Wolf discusses the effect that these standards are having on women in the workplace. A woman’s beauty, or lack of it, can be used against her. In 1986, Mechelle Vinson lost a sexual harassment case. “Vinson was young and ‘beautiful’ and carefully dressed. The district court ruled that her appearance counted against her.” (Wolf 38) “In Hopkins v. Price-Waterhouse, Ms. Hopkins was denied a partnership because she needed to learn to ‘walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely,’ and ‘wear makeup’.” She brought in more business than any other employee. (Wolf 39)

Everyday, we see hundreds of people. Whether we see them on the street, at work, at school, or on television, people pass through our visual field. Fortunately or unfortunately, we judge these people. It may be intentional, it may be unintentional, or it may be somewhat intentional, but we form opinions about people based on their style of dress.