So we
have officially completed the first section that as we all know revolved around
beauty. In this section beauty was reflected in different ways and
led us to see that over time, woman became more independent but also
more insecure like one of our classmates had pointed out. The birth Mark is an
old short story from the 1800’s, which clearly portrayed the way men were more
in control. As we moved onto other stories like Barbie-Q and The Necklace, that
is where we start to see where the “social norm " comes in.
In
my Women Studies class last summer, we touched upon this topic that is known by
everyone as the “social norm.” Many do things like plastic surgery, starvation,
use an excessive amount of makeup just so they can feel like they fit in. We also
looked at music videos where women have to look good in order for them to be in
these videos so when some women look at these videos, it makes them believe
even more in the social norm. We all know that some people may not realize this
but most of us do things to cover up what we feel insecure about. An example from
Barbie-Q is where she says “If you dress her in her new “Prom Pinks”
outfit, satin splendor with matching coat, gold belt, clutch, and hair bow
included, so long as you don’t lift her dress, right?—who’s to know “ (
Cisneros). Why hide our imperfections? It is like you cannot be the real you.
Not
only one story impacted me, all the stories impacted me because it is just so
real. We live in such a cruel society where we have to pretend to be something
that in reality we are not. According to The
Wall Street Journal this affects us mentally, emotionally and also tends to
lead it onto depression and anxiety. From a girl’s point of view, we see that
there are certain standards men often attempt to achieve. We picture men with
this muscular body and manly self. In reality, it does not have to be this way,
all these norms could be broken if we did not just set it aside as we usually
do. Why must we belong to a group? Have
you ever actually wondered how norms actually start and become such a big
impact on us humans?
