mask essay
Agitur Meum
I used to think that I never wanted to grow up because everyone said it was hard. Now that I am older, I see that its just kind of confusing.Being a teenager in today’s society is like being a flower before bloom. It doesn’t quite know what kind of flower it is yet or if it will even succeed in blooming at all. There is a lot of pressure on teens to do well in school and know what they want to be when they grew up and to “fit in”. The experience of being in your teens can also vary depending on gender and socialization. I have been positively and negatively socialized as a 14 year old girl in America.
Socialization is a cycle within which people are adopted into their society. There are many stages to socialization. First socialization is where you are taught how to act and what to believe in from an early age by people around you such as your parents. Institutional and cultural socialization is the second stage. This stage refers to what we learn about society from the people around us and the places we go like friends and school. Socialization shapes us and our actions. There are certain categories that you can be socialized into. These categories are race, gender, class, religion.
Everyone is judged based on their appearance and their skill but I would say females in this society are judged more harshly in the appearance category. In my experience as a teenager, it is hard for young girls to ignore the judgment because teenagers are more likely to be self conscious. The media shows images of the “perfect” woman who is not necessarily fit or muscled but is perfectly slim. Magazines, such as the “Marie Claire” July 2014, and movies like “Mean Girls”, present women as people without bodily imperfections. This can create a lot of body image issues in people. Problems with eating disorders have increased almost 400% since 1970. 69% of girls concurred that models found in magazines had a major influence on their concept of what a perfect body shape should look like(Miller, Joel. "Media and Body Image." AdMedia Online Ad Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014).I think there is now a misunderstanding among some girls that if this model look does not come naturally for them then they are ugly. Most women including myself were socialized to prize beauty by the people around us and institutions such as modeling and fashion agencies told us what that standard of beauty was. This is a way in which I have been negatively socialized. Like a lot of people I have been told that I have to look a certain way and if that look is not one that society approves of then I have “failed.” But is this really true? These things have shaped my socialization because I believed that they had power over me. I believed that it was important to be “perfect”.
Something else that has had the effect of negative socialization on me is sports. The place that I grew up (Durango) has a lot of athletic people. Sports and fitness is a something that keeps this particular place populated. Kathryn Samaltanos, who moved here from Florida says that she enjoys biking here and says that almost all of her friends engage in some sort of sport or activity. People come here to hike and paddle board and raft rivers. This is also how people make friends. They go to football games or play sports together like soccer or they join a swim team. But I have never been much of an athletic person, so used to have trouble making friends because I didn’t understand their hobbies. Society, as well as valuing beauty, values sports games and if other kids went to a football game I wouldn’t go because I wouldn’t know what was happening. Even if I did I don’t think I would find it entertaining.
It used to be that the general population thought that girls couldn’t do certain jobs. In today’s society that is not true. There are women astronauts and mechanical engineers and scientists. There are so many women that have set an example for younger girls like me saying we can be whatever we want. Society now relies not only on strong men but strong girls as well. This is one way in which I have been positively socialized. All my life have been told that if I wanted something all I had to do was work for it and my dream would come true. If I had been born years earlier this might have been the reason for a negative socialization. I think that this is important because if I wanted to be in a profession that helped people I could become a doctor, or if I wanted to build cars I could do that and not be considered un-lady like.
The pressure to know what you want to do to make a living in your adulthood has always been present in this society. Sometimes parents want their kids to do what they do and they might unknowing force them into a job that they don’t desire. Sometimes kids just don’t know what they want to do at all. You might have to assess your skills to figure out what you want to do. I have never really had this problem because I have, for the most part, always known what I want to be and my mom has always been supportive of my dreams. I have been socialized positively to love animals from a young age. When I was I little girl I always had lots of pets, such as horses, dogs, cats, chickens, lizards, and hamsters.This type of socialization led me to want to be someone that helps animals. Every summer I would go to the beach with my family and we would stay in a condo. This place didn’t allow pets but I loved the ocean so much. When I was about ten I realized that I wanted to be a marine biologist. I think that knowing what I wanted to do reduced some of the pressure of growing up which created a positive socialization environment.
With a combination of positive and negative socializations, the still-budding flower has a better understanding of the way its flower society works. Being a girl has its disadvantages, like being self-conscious about appearances and, for some, not being a sporty person, but being a teenage girl also has its advantages such as having a world full of female role models cheering you on and knowing that you can be whoever you want to be. I have changed in the way that I no longer really listen to the bad side of my socialization. No one is perfect, but no one is completely flawed. And, with help from socialization, everyone gets to choose their dreams.
I used to think that I never wanted to grow up because everyone said it was hard. Now that I am older, I see that its just kind of confusing.Being a teenager in today’s society is like being a flower before bloom. It doesn’t quite know what kind of flower it is yet or if it will even succeed in blooming at all. There is a lot of pressure on teens to do well in school and know what they want to be when they grew up and to “fit in”. The experience of being in your teens can also vary depending on gender and socialization. I have been positively and negatively socialized as a 14 year old girl in America.
Socialization is a cycle within which people are adopted into their society. There are many stages to socialization. First socialization is where you are taught how to act and what to believe in from an early age by people around you such as your parents. Institutional and cultural socialization is the second stage. This stage refers to what we learn about society from the people around us and the places we go like friends and school. Socialization shapes us and our actions. There are certain categories that you can be socialized into. These categories are race, gender, class, religion.
Everyone is judged based on their appearance and their skill but I would say females in this society are judged more harshly in the appearance category. In my experience as a teenager, it is hard for young girls to ignore the judgment because teenagers are more likely to be self conscious. The media shows images of the “perfect” woman who is not necessarily fit or muscled but is perfectly slim. Magazines, such as the “Marie Claire” July 2014, and movies like “Mean Girls”, present women as people without bodily imperfections. This can create a lot of body image issues in people. Problems with eating disorders have increased almost 400% since 1970. 69% of girls concurred that models found in magazines had a major influence on their concept of what a perfect body shape should look like(Miller, Joel. "Media and Body Image." AdMedia Online Ad Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014).I think there is now a misunderstanding among some girls that if this model look does not come naturally for them then they are ugly. Most women including myself were socialized to prize beauty by the people around us and institutions such as modeling and fashion agencies told us what that standard of beauty was. This is a way in which I have been negatively socialized. Like a lot of people I have been told that I have to look a certain way and if that look is not one that society approves of then I have “failed.” But is this really true? These things have shaped my socialization because I believed that they had power over me. I believed that it was important to be “perfect”.
Something else that has had the effect of negative socialization on me is sports. The place that I grew up (Durango) has a lot of athletic people. Sports and fitness is a something that keeps this particular place populated. Kathryn Samaltanos, who moved here from Florida says that she enjoys biking here and says that almost all of her friends engage in some sort of sport or activity. People come here to hike and paddle board and raft rivers. This is also how people make friends. They go to football games or play sports together like soccer or they join a swim team. But I have never been much of an athletic person, so used to have trouble making friends because I didn’t understand their hobbies. Society, as well as valuing beauty, values sports games and if other kids went to a football game I wouldn’t go because I wouldn’t know what was happening. Even if I did I don’t think I would find it entertaining.
It used to be that the general population thought that girls couldn’t do certain jobs. In today’s society that is not true. There are women astronauts and mechanical engineers and scientists. There are so many women that have set an example for younger girls like me saying we can be whatever we want. Society now relies not only on strong men but strong girls as well. This is one way in which I have been positively socialized. All my life have been told that if I wanted something all I had to do was work for it and my dream would come true. If I had been born years earlier this might have been the reason for a negative socialization. I think that this is important because if I wanted to be in a profession that helped people I could become a doctor, or if I wanted to build cars I could do that and not be considered un-lady like.
The pressure to know what you want to do to make a living in your adulthood has always been present in this society. Sometimes parents want their kids to do what they do and they might unknowing force them into a job that they don’t desire. Sometimes kids just don’t know what they want to do at all. You might have to assess your skills to figure out what you want to do. I have never really had this problem because I have, for the most part, always known what I want to be and my mom has always been supportive of my dreams. I have been socialized positively to love animals from a young age. When I was I little girl I always had lots of pets, such as horses, dogs, cats, chickens, lizards, and hamsters.This type of socialization led me to want to be someone that helps animals. Every summer I would go to the beach with my family and we would stay in a condo. This place didn’t allow pets but I loved the ocean so much. When I was about ten I realized that I wanted to be a marine biologist. I think that knowing what I wanted to do reduced some of the pressure of growing up which created a positive socialization environment.
With a combination of positive and negative socializations, the still-budding flower has a better understanding of the way its flower society works. Being a girl has its disadvantages, like being self-conscious about appearances and, for some, not being a sporty person, but being a teenage girl also has its advantages such as having a world full of female role models cheering you on and knowing that you can be whoever you want to be. I have changed in the way that I no longer really listen to the bad side of my socialization. No one is perfect, but no one is completely flawed. And, with help from socialization, everyone gets to choose their dreams.
Project reflection
Socialization is a process in which people are adopted into their society and are taught to act and think a certain way by the people around us and the places we go. There are many stages of socialization. the first stage is First Socialization. First socialization is where you are taught how to think and act by adults like your parents in your infancy. Institutional and Cultural socialization is the second stage. This stage refers to the behaviors you learn from places like school. Socialization affects my life and society because people around us learn biases against each other. They might like or dislike you based on things like appearance or the way you talk or even what family you were born into.
The Mask Project is an assignment in which we write an essay and then make a mask representing the essay. The essay is about our socialization. We had to choose the categories we were socialized into to write about. These categories include age, gender, race, and class among other things. I wrote my essay on how I was socialized as a 14 year old girl. In my essay I included the effect media has on teenagers and the pressure to know what you wanted to do for a career; if you wanted to go to college or not. My mask has differing meanings between the left and right side. The left side represents my good socialization. The blue swirls represents the ocean because of my love for marine biology. The right side represents the bad side of my socialization surrounding the media such as magazines and commercials.
The first thing that we did in writing our essays is we wrote three topic sentences and added two pieces of evidence for each. we added on to those three slowly. We had pier critiques along the way then we added a hook and introduction. The introduction included a metaphor. We started writing the conclusion after that. We had our fellow students edit it as well as the teacher. I learned that it takes time to write a good essay and that you need many people to help you to improve it.
There are some things that I am proud of this year at Animas. I am proud of my mask and my mask essay. In humanities I am proud that I have kept up with my work and that I turned in most things on time. I am also proud that I have done less procrastinating since last year. I am also proud that I am less shy of presenting in front of people and I learned to act more professional since coming to Animas. I am proud that i have learned more about technology because of Digital Arts class.
The Mask Project is an assignment in which we write an essay and then make a mask representing the essay. The essay is about our socialization. We had to choose the categories we were socialized into to write about. These categories include age, gender, race, and class among other things. I wrote my essay on how I was socialized as a 14 year old girl. In my essay I included the effect media has on teenagers and the pressure to know what you wanted to do for a career; if you wanted to go to college or not. My mask has differing meanings between the left and right side. The left side represents my good socialization. The blue swirls represents the ocean because of my love for marine biology. The right side represents the bad side of my socialization surrounding the media such as magazines and commercials.
The first thing that we did in writing our essays is we wrote three topic sentences and added two pieces of evidence for each. we added on to those three slowly. We had pier critiques along the way then we added a hook and introduction. The introduction included a metaphor. We started writing the conclusion after that. We had our fellow students edit it as well as the teacher. I learned that it takes time to write a good essay and that you need many people to help you to improve it.
There are some things that I am proud of this year at Animas. I am proud of my mask and my mask essay. In humanities I am proud that I have kept up with my work and that I turned in most things on time. I am also proud that I have done less procrastinating since last year. I am also proud that I am less shy of presenting in front of people and I learned to act more professional since coming to Animas. I am proud that i have learned more about technology because of Digital Arts class.