I am a 20 year old young woman who is half Trinidadian and half Haitian from Brooklyn, New York but when someone just glances at my cover they would not have a clue. If I am wearing my natural hair I am asked “Ohh my what are you mixed with? Your curls are so defined!” but if I have a weave sewn in, those same people believe that I am just a “regular African-American” girl who does not like her own hair. Depending on how I’m dressed I can view as a businesswoman or girl who is trying to show off her body. That’s the problem when someone is judging a person by his or her cover; you never know what their cover will look like on a particular day. In this YouTube video it became obvious that certain groups associate African’s who are not directly from Africa as African American first. For instance when one gentleman was asked what is an Aftolatina he said an “African American Latino cross person” even though the term “Afrolatina” has no mention of American. This YouTube video supports my belief that it is almost impossible to know where a person is from solely based on their picture. …show more content…
Unfortunately in our world there is a general idea of how people from certain cultures and/or ethnicities conduct themselves, dress, and look, and these general ideas are why it is so hard for members of our society to look past the “cover” of one’s “book” and begin to read through the pages of their
To be frank, I also once had a view that only people who are skinny can be considered as beautiful. However, there is one incidence that changes my perception on the idea of what is the meaning of beauty and ‘perfect’ body. When I was in high school, I had a best friend named Alice—she was chubby and curvy. She was so obsessed with the America’s next top model shows. One day she expressed her desire to lose weight to me and I supported her. She also said that her boyfriend asked her to lose some weight to be more beautiful. She said that she really wants to look like the models and also to fulfill her boyfriend’s wish. After three months, she was hospitalized and I was so shocked with that news. She was hospitalized because there was something wrong with her intestines caused by her unhealthy diet. When I went to visit her, she looked very different—she looked sunken and sick. Begin on that day; I realized that it is really impossible to be like the models that we see everyday in the media and I also afraid on how good media is in order to distort society’s idea of beauty.
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
It is very common in the world to be judged by cultural traits and be associated to these traits in daily situations. Similarly, Drew Hayden Taylor discusses, in his article, “Pretty Like a White Boy” how he got questioned about being an Aboriginal based on his looks. He uses his personal experiences, in arguing the difficulties others gave him based on Aboriginal stereotypes about how one should act and behave. Taylor effectively persuades the reader by discussing these personal experiences that indulge the reader to understand that an individual may look different from the majority of the cultural background, but they still have the cultural upbringing within them. These significant personal experiences intrigues that he has actually faced
In his essay, “Racial Identities”, Kwame Anthony Appiah addresses the topic of racial identification. He describes how and why it’s hard not to identify someone based on their race. Today in the United States, racial identification is quite relevant. People judge and stereotype others based on race. Classifying people based on their looks isn’t bad, it’s the negative attitudes and labels that come with it. Racial identification is hard for most people to avoid, is detrimental due to the bad attitudes people have, negatively affects people’s lifestyles, and divide people.
Americans live in a media-saturated world, where images constantly flow from the pages of magazines, television, and computer screens. Media creates a brand of beauty by helping the viewer identify the item with the beautiful people that are selling it. They are selling a “brand” of beauty. Hundreds of years ago, a brand was sometimes burned into the skin of some slaves. The damage of the brand was not only horrible physical scars, but also emotional trauma. When society begins accepting the media’s brand as their standard for their own physical identity, or when ethnic groups are defined by these brands, the results can be just as devastating.
Defining someone by their skin color is an everyday phenomenon. Many people see a specific shade of skin and believe they know exactly how that person is going to speak, carry, and illustrate themselves. It seems to be embedded in one’s head at a young age to have specific views given by family, friends, and coworkers such as, believing interracial relationships are immoral, or it being acceptable to judge others according to their skin color. In the articles “Race is a Four Letter Word” by Teja Arboleda and “Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman, the color of the authors skin plays a substantial role on how they are treated and perceived. Living in a society that doesn’t understand one’s culture can make their life extremely difficult.
Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a
People are judged for their appearance all over the world, every day. People with brown, ragged clothes are assumed to be less intelligent, or homeless. People with long hair are assumed to be female. There are many stereotypes that limit the social actions of many people, and it is not just in real life. Rodman Philbrick shows that these stereotypes are not always true in the book “Freak The Mighty” in the form of Maxwell Cane, Kevin, Loretta, and Iggy Lee. All of those characters are misjudged by others, and in some cases, even by themselves. The message that your appearance does not determine who you are is very important, and applies to everyone everywhere.
For my generation, we have been conditioned into thinking that calling someone ‘black’ is frowned upon and seen as offensive. We were taught that the correct term for someone of a darker skin tone is a ‘person of colour’ or an ‘African-American’. The irony of calling someone an ‘African-American’ so as not to offend them, is that many black people are neither African nor American. For example, someone from the Caribbean currently living in Canada does not identify with this label
We all have been young, with our parents telling us not to judge a book by its cover. However, we still do. Stereotyping has started to become a huge problem, not just in my hometown but all across the nation. This is happening every day, from someone’s personality to a person’s skin color. Society has put people in groups, and associating certain things, with each type of person. In the story “Brownies,” by, ZZ Packer they judge Troop 909 once they got off the bus off of looks, without thinking about personalities or issues that they might have which brought out the theme of not judging a book by its cover.
You can never really know what ethnicity someone is based on physical appearance or his or her name. The article “Why Race Isn’t As “Black” and “White” As We Think” by Brent Staples, does a good job explaining that physical appearance is not always what it seems. The majority of people do not even realize they are a certain race. They do not take the time to get to know their ancestors. All people ever believe is what family members tell them about their ethnicity. People get judged based on how their name sounds, for example if an African American has a name that is typically a “white” person name. African Americans also did not have any rights in the 1950’s and 60’s. But later, African Americans were granted equal rights and people start to overcome racism.
Being a woman this heightens my social awareness as how others perceive me. Society dictates ‘the body beautiful’. Magazines, Bill-boards, TV and newspapers constantly suggest the need to have a perfect complexion. This influences
I learned the keys to recognizing and working around cultural differences at a very young age and it is this that helps me navigate the myriad differences I encounter among people and nationalities. It is a thin line to walk – to determine where cultural differences bring colour to life and where they limit growth and progress – and that is why my open mindedness matters to me most: it is a constant debate and one that keeps me focused on both people and purpose in every
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.
When I look in the mirror I know whom I am, but society makes it difficult to understand who I am, because I was born to immigrants of Nigerian descent, and I am a first generation American, that term is sometimes used so loosely. By looking at my name they assume that I am from some island, but I am so quick to tell them that “I am Nigerian”, there is another statement that normally follows this. “You do not have an accent”. I wonder if I had an accent would I be considered Nigerian and not American; then I say that “My parents are Nigerian” and then that changes, so to them I am just associated with the Nigerian culture it does not make me Nigerian, there has been many discussion between my friends who are the same like me confused to