You might raise some eyebrows. And it might be frowned upon to have derogatory terms written on your clothes. But for the greater good, we need to stop caring about such insignificant matters. For sure, a person's outfit can say something about them. But keep it to yourself, as a mere assumption. You don't know who this person is, or what they're like. Stop being so quick to judge. I'd insert the cliché, "don't judge a book by its cover" here, but honestly we shouldn't need such overused sayings to point out such obvious things. The fact that we judge people based on what they happened to wear one day is only one step away from racial profiling. And omg literally Tannen also talked about the connotations that hair has. How exactly can you deduce someone's personality from their hair??? Like seriously lol.
I might be being dangerously closed-minded here, but seriously. Think about it for just a few seconds. Just a few seconds is all it takes to realize that we, as humans, are way too quick to judge others. We assume that because someone looks different from us, wears different clothing, or acts a certain way, they are "marked." As a society, as a population, as a species, we need to be more accepting of others' preferences and literally stop assuming an individual's personality based on their clothing.
I agree, your choice of clothing or your hairstyle is not an accurate representation of your personality. We naturally make assumptions from others' appearances, the "marking" that Tannen describes. However, it is one's actions that should really define who they are, not his or her clothing or hairstyle.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing post. I agree, we should definitely be more accepting of people's preferences, but I do think that, although it might not matter to you alone, people do prioritize their appearance. And, in this society, it's impossible to take away appearance as a factor of first impressions. Anyways, I like the sarcasm and humor you used. Great job! 3
I agree with your statement that people are quick to judge. In a world where there are expected norms, especially for clothing, it is easy to view a divergent who dresses uniquely as problematic and detrimental to societal standards. However, let's break that notion with some biology. Sexual reproduction is favorable for animals like humans because it creates new and distinct offspring. It leads to genetic diversity. Human evolution is based on the fact that each person should be different, so why try to reject it?
ReplyDeleteWhat you wear does not matter to you because you are male. As a female the pressure to accurately represent yourself based on only what you ware is forced upon us by men not like you. Without the clothing and makeup we really are generally all the same; because of this we have to dress our bodies as though they were our personalities so that men know what they're getting themselves into when they approach you. No one likes to be catfishes and I can tell you from experience that If what I look like does not match the expectations of an interested male they don't know how to react to me. Sure the contents of the book are important but what prompts you to pick it up is the cover. You most wouldn't be interested in reading a book in Russian so you choose a book with English text and an intriguing image on the front. Its the same thing with choosing who you wish to associate yourself with :)
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