This semester I'm taking a sociology class. Sociology has always fascinated me, but unfortunately I am taking this class online. I find myself forgetting to check and see what assignments are due because it's not like going to a classroom and being instructed by the professor in person. There is something about being in person that makes class so much better. While I sometimes treat this course as an afterthought, I really do like the questions that are asked of me in this class.
One of the questions we had to answer this week was about self-image and its role in our society. My professor asked us if we believe that we as a whole only focus on appearances, and if we think that attractive people receive more benefits because of their looks.
Naturally, I answered the question to the best of my ability, and went about my day. Later on, I started to really think about what it meant to care about appearances. I am very consciously aware that they matter. However, the question is: did I come to that conclusion myself, or was I taught to believe that what we look like is important to our success as a person?
We as a society are very visual people. We simply love to look at stuff that makes us feel something. There is nothing wrong with finding people or things attractive, but there is something wrong with solely focusing on an exterior appearance. I know for a fact that I am definitely at fault for putting too much emphasis on what is on the outside.
I find myself deciding which movie to watch based on the cover photo, what makeup to buy based on what I feel will make me look more attractive, or what food to eat based on how appetizing it looks while completely disregarding the nutritional value. I know I am not alone here. There are so many like me who do the exact same thing, and it is somewhat alarming.
What I really want to find out is when this type of thinking started. As a child, you make friends based on how they make you feel or who your parents forced you to play with. Appearances did not matter as much because you were too worried about nap time and getting a Drumstick when the ice cream truck came around the neighborhood.
Growing up, what you looked like started to matter more, and bullying people based on their appearance started to become something you would worry about. For me, I got made fun of for wearing glasses. Looking back, it's funny to see how I got teased for a part of me that was completely out of my control. It wasn't like I chose to have poor eyesight.
The older I get, the more I notice that I am constantly being influenced and pressured to be more attractive in order to fit in. I can't watch TV for an hour without seeing at least three commercials that tell me to buy this or try this diet and I'll be happier and better looking than ever. Why is our society so superficially into what is on the outside?
This message is so dangerous to people my age and those younger than me. By constantly telling us that we are not good enough until we are "perfect," we are setting this standard that we will never live up to. We need to go back to caring about who someone is on the inside instead of judging a book by its cover.
Ideally, I would love to live in a world that cared more about my intelligence and the way I treat others than my waist size. The way we look should only matter to ourselves, and others would accept who we are regardless of how we look. While I know this is only a thought, maybe one day it will become a reality.