Target ≠ Inferior
We have all had one of those moments where something goes off like a trigger in our minds. In the past unit, I have learned many new aspects and ideas, of socialization. But that trigger finally went off for me as I was listening to the song, “Same Love” by Macklemore. “Gay is synonymous with the lesser,” is one line from this song that preaches the unfairness we have been taught to bestow on each other. Before I heard this song I thought there was this simple philosophy of “we are who we are.” However, the society doesn’t work that way. Socialization influences the way people think about class, race, sexuality, religion, gender, able/disable, and age. There are two subcategories that truly classify each of us in society. There is the “dominate” people who are called the agent group in society and then the “non-dominate” people who are know as the target group. Being apart of the target group can make you feel as if you do not have a substantial place in society, and can make you feel inferior. Macklemore is telling us clearly that being gay is a target group even though he wishes to change it. In society, I am only a part of the agent in three categories; this is because I am white, have my full abilities, and I am attracted to the opposite gender, which are the norms of American society. I have been negatively and positively socialized to believe that the lower class is worthless and as a girl, I have been taught to be submissive and emotional.
As target in gender, there have been certain norms that society has negatively enforced upon me. Being submissive is one of these many norms. On December 9, 2010, a man named Tony Porter attended the TEDWomen* in D.C. and spoke about men. Tony stated simply, “My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.” I think that what most women do is blame men for having to wear makeup and having to have the “perfect” body. But it is all just about how we have been socialized. I have been socialized to be meek and obedient to men, because of my gender. And again it is not completely their fault, they’ve been taught that to be a “man” you need to be dominant over women. Sadly this isn’t the only negative way I have been socialized. To follow the norms of being a “girl” I try to act and look a certain way that won’t have people negatively sanction me, which can include becoming an outsider, being turned on, and not being considered “normal.” Even though I am very confident in my own skin, every once in awhile, I feel like I need to wear makeup to become more “appealing.” We all concede to at least some of these norms that society claims to be normal.
As girl I am classified as being a target in society, but I believe I have been positively socialized in that I am aloud to be emotional and that gives me more opportunities to create a personality that is based more upon of who I actually am, and who I want to be. I have been positively socialized subtly throughout my life as well as negatively. When I was in elementary school, my teacher would often tell me that I was more “intelligent” than the boys in my class because I was more mature as a girl. It was not a positive socialization for boys, but for me it was and it caused me to become more interested in school and provided me with the need to prove the teachers correct. From that one moment, I have always strived to be the best that I can be even though I know that as a female, will not always be smarter than men. Even though I have been taught to be obedient to men because they are the dominant group in our society I feel, as a girl, that I have more power because I am aloud to show my emotions and express myself. This also then gives me the power to be more expressive of who I think I am. Though I am thankful for being a girl because of these reasons, the fact still remains that society is trying to make us into models of perfection that they can control. We still deny the need for change.
When I was born, I went through the first step of the cycle of socialization (The Beginning, what gender, class, race and religion you are born into) and was claimed by society as a poor white girl. In the previous unit, my humanities teacher simulated a scenario of how wealth is distributed in America. We all had to physically fight for pennies, and the amount of pennies we had in the end decided which economic class we were placed into. I only got one penny, which put me in lower class. My teacher was the facilitatory and told the lower class that we were lazy and insignificant, because this is the opinion of society towards lower class citizens. I felt like this was an unfair judgment, however, because it was mainly chance for how many pennies you received. I was partly unaware that I had been socialized to look down on people who didn’t have enough money to support themselves or family members. What hurt me most was how it had brought back memories from my childhood and made me remember the feeling of being ashamed because I was poor. I thought that the kids who had all that they needed were lucky and the reason that I didn’t have the newest clothes or have the coolest toys was because something was wrong with me. But as I grew up, I began to realize that how much money I had had nothing to do with me or my character. The economic class that I grew up in actually positively socialized me. Not always having enough made me conscience of what I did have and didn’t make me greedy to have more. I realized that I am not worthless and am just as important as anyone. I am who I am, and even as a target I will not let society control me.
On my mask I used key ideas of how I have been socialized in a symbolic and artsy manner. The two sides of semi-see through plastic that go around my face shows the walls that society had built to obscure the reality of what is really happening around me. The space that they do let me see out of only shows the perfection and stereotypes that they want me to mold into. I don’t know how to break all the way through these harmful walls that are containing me more like a prison, but I’m just gonna keep hitting them till I break the destructive cycle of socialization that has engulfed me. On my actual mask it is a light blue color with words associated with how I have been socialized written on it. Only about one fourth of my face that even resembles a face. This one “pretty” or “normal” part of the face shows that even though I acknowledge that socialization is dangerous, it is still pulling me into its trap.
Society abuses our freedom of becoming who we want to be. It has socialized me to interpret who I should be based on what is claimed as normal. This has altered my personality in both negative and positive ways giving me freedom, making me docile, and changing my view on people who are in a lower class than my own. Tony Porter brought me to the realization that we don't need to blame men for societies faults that are forced upon us in academics, extracurricular activities, appearances, and confidence we have in ourselves. By sharing what I have learned with you I am hoping that I can let you into the world of inequality that you may have not seen before, and that you can also share this others who are unaware so that we can be the start to a better and more substantial society where we choose who we want to be.
*Porter, Tony. “A call to Men”, TEDWomen. December, 2010.
We have all had one of those moments where something goes off like a trigger in our minds. In the past unit, I have learned many new aspects and ideas, of socialization. But that trigger finally went off for me as I was listening to the song, “Same Love” by Macklemore. “Gay is synonymous with the lesser,” is one line from this song that preaches the unfairness we have been taught to bestow on each other. Before I heard this song I thought there was this simple philosophy of “we are who we are.” However, the society doesn’t work that way. Socialization influences the way people think about class, race, sexuality, religion, gender, able/disable, and age. There are two subcategories that truly classify each of us in society. There is the “dominate” people who are called the agent group in society and then the “non-dominate” people who are know as the target group. Being apart of the target group can make you feel as if you do not have a substantial place in society, and can make you feel inferior. Macklemore is telling us clearly that being gay is a target group even though he wishes to change it. In society, I am only a part of the agent in three categories; this is because I am white, have my full abilities, and I am attracted to the opposite gender, which are the norms of American society. I have been negatively and positively socialized to believe that the lower class is worthless and as a girl, I have been taught to be submissive and emotional.
As target in gender, there have been certain norms that society has negatively enforced upon me. Being submissive is one of these many norms. On December 9, 2010, a man named Tony Porter attended the TEDWomen* in D.C. and spoke about men. Tony stated simply, “My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.” I think that what most women do is blame men for having to wear makeup and having to have the “perfect” body. But it is all just about how we have been socialized. I have been socialized to be meek and obedient to men, because of my gender. And again it is not completely their fault, they’ve been taught that to be a “man” you need to be dominant over women. Sadly this isn’t the only negative way I have been socialized. To follow the norms of being a “girl” I try to act and look a certain way that won’t have people negatively sanction me, which can include becoming an outsider, being turned on, and not being considered “normal.” Even though I am very confident in my own skin, every once in awhile, I feel like I need to wear makeup to become more “appealing.” We all concede to at least some of these norms that society claims to be normal.
As girl I am classified as being a target in society, but I believe I have been positively socialized in that I am aloud to be emotional and that gives me more opportunities to create a personality that is based more upon of who I actually am, and who I want to be. I have been positively socialized subtly throughout my life as well as negatively. When I was in elementary school, my teacher would often tell me that I was more “intelligent” than the boys in my class because I was more mature as a girl. It was not a positive socialization for boys, but for me it was and it caused me to become more interested in school and provided me with the need to prove the teachers correct. From that one moment, I have always strived to be the best that I can be even though I know that as a female, will not always be smarter than men. Even though I have been taught to be obedient to men because they are the dominant group in our society I feel, as a girl, that I have more power because I am aloud to show my emotions and express myself. This also then gives me the power to be more expressive of who I think I am. Though I am thankful for being a girl because of these reasons, the fact still remains that society is trying to make us into models of perfection that they can control. We still deny the need for change.
When I was born, I went through the first step of the cycle of socialization (The Beginning, what gender, class, race and religion you are born into) and was claimed by society as a poor white girl. In the previous unit, my humanities teacher simulated a scenario of how wealth is distributed in America. We all had to physically fight for pennies, and the amount of pennies we had in the end decided which economic class we were placed into. I only got one penny, which put me in lower class. My teacher was the facilitatory and told the lower class that we were lazy and insignificant, because this is the opinion of society towards lower class citizens. I felt like this was an unfair judgment, however, because it was mainly chance for how many pennies you received. I was partly unaware that I had been socialized to look down on people who didn’t have enough money to support themselves or family members. What hurt me most was how it had brought back memories from my childhood and made me remember the feeling of being ashamed because I was poor. I thought that the kids who had all that they needed were lucky and the reason that I didn’t have the newest clothes or have the coolest toys was because something was wrong with me. But as I grew up, I began to realize that how much money I had had nothing to do with me or my character. The economic class that I grew up in actually positively socialized me. Not always having enough made me conscience of what I did have and didn’t make me greedy to have more. I realized that I am not worthless and am just as important as anyone. I am who I am, and even as a target I will not let society control me.
On my mask I used key ideas of how I have been socialized in a symbolic and artsy manner. The two sides of semi-see through plastic that go around my face shows the walls that society had built to obscure the reality of what is really happening around me. The space that they do let me see out of only shows the perfection and stereotypes that they want me to mold into. I don’t know how to break all the way through these harmful walls that are containing me more like a prison, but I’m just gonna keep hitting them till I break the destructive cycle of socialization that has engulfed me. On my actual mask it is a light blue color with words associated with how I have been socialized written on it. Only about one fourth of my face that even resembles a face. This one “pretty” or “normal” part of the face shows that even though I acknowledge that socialization is dangerous, it is still pulling me into its trap.
Society abuses our freedom of becoming who we want to be. It has socialized me to interpret who I should be based on what is claimed as normal. This has altered my personality in both negative and positive ways giving me freedom, making me docile, and changing my view on people who are in a lower class than my own. Tony Porter brought me to the realization that we don't need to blame men for societies faults that are forced upon us in academics, extracurricular activities, appearances, and confidence we have in ourselves. By sharing what I have learned with you I am hoping that I can let you into the world of inequality that you may have not seen before, and that you can also share this others who are unaware so that we can be the start to a better and more substantial society where we choose who we want to be.
*Porter, Tony. “A call to Men”, TEDWomen. December, 2010.
Mask Reflection
I am very proud of the outcome of my mask for several different reasons. In the process of creating my mask I really began to break down who I am in ways that I had not before. The eye that I spent a couple hours on shows my love of art and the motivation I have to make my work the best that I can. This also was the case for the words that represent my identity on the other side of my mask.
Through out the revision process for our writing in this project I truly began to connect with my writing and had it represent my feelings towards society. This is just a part of my third body paragraph where I think I made one of the deepest connects to my writing; “I thought that the kids who had all that they needed were lucky and the reason that I didn’t have the newest clothes or have the coolest toys was because something was wrong with me. But as I grew up, I began to realize that how much money I had had nothing to do with me or my character. The economic class that I grew up in actually positively socialized me. Not always having enough made me conscience of what I did have and didn’t make me greedy to have more. I realized that I am not worthless and am just as important as anyone. I am who I am, and even as a target I will not let society control me.” Though I am proud of all my writing this is where I began to start thinking about how I can take what I have learned and change it. My realization of learning made me a better writer. |
This project has impacted me greatly and I don’t think there is specifically one thing that I will pull away from it. Everything that we have learned has already impacted the way that I think and act. When I watch a tv show with my family the social norms that are put upon us are very visible and all I can think now when I watch is, why? The greatest impact on me has been the awareness created inside of me to react and act differently when I see societies negative norms being enforced upon us.
This project has taught me that I am not perfect and that I need to always be using the the five habits of heart and mind to create the ideal project the shows my best work. I think that each of the habits of heart and mind are important and that we are all still working on grasping onto how to use them all the time. All of the habits create beautiful and meaningful work so my goal is to take them and make own beautiful work. |