identity mask project
Looking through the goggles of society
When I first started learning about the concept of identity I thought I knew all about it. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Through this month of learning about identity I learned that everyone discriminates against certain people even if they don't think they do. Everyone notices things that someone does that they don't find “right”. It could be big or small. For instance, once when I was riding the trolley I saw a teenage boy get on at the same time as middle aged woman was exiting the bus. As they passed each other the teenage boy's backpack bumped the woman. She turned around and exclaimed, “What's your problem? Does everyone in your family do that?”. The boy apologized, stating that it was an accident but she just turned around and left the bus. Little things like this make me wonder what makes people act like this. Did she have a bad day at work or is she having trouble at home? Whatever the reason I think people should make an effort at accepting people even if they are frustrated about something going on in their personal life. I really think that people should be judged based who they are as an individual, not based on what category people put them in.
When I was younger I noticed a lot of disgust directed at teenagers and the way they act, especially from middle to elderly adults. On my 13th birthday I remember my mom turning to my dad and exclaiming, “Life is about to get harder now that we have two teenagers in the family!”. It made me think, what's so bad about teenagers? Why am I suddenly being labeled as “something hard to deal with” even though I'm not a day past 13? A lot of adults find teens to be irresponsible and untrustworthy because the only times they hear about teens is when they do something that's considered “wrong”. A lot of adults don't realize that there are a lot of teenagers that do act like adults, and don't disrespect their elders. It would be good to see teens treated based on their individual actions and not based on what society has labeled them to be.
Most people don't realize how lucky they are to be part of the subcultures that they belong to. Some forces that shape my identity are my social class, my race, and my gender. On my mask is a crown, which represents my ethnicity, the wealth of my family and my gender. Being a white, middle class, male is a great example of the agent group, an agent group is a group of people who have more privileges than others. People are more likely to trust wealthy, white people more than someone that is considered a minority. I experience these differences in my everyday life everyday. The crown does a good job of showing that people who are white, and who are middle class males have the advantage. I think that a lot of males don't realize that they do have an advantage over women. I read something recently that said males would help women be more equal to men, but they would not give up some of their power to do so. Being a white, middle class, male has taught me that people in the agent group judge targets, the less privileged, because they think it's ok and they think they are better off than them. A lot of people don't realize how privileged they really are.
If you notice, my mask is also wearing ski goggles. The goggles represent two things different things, the first being my love of skiing. Skiing has influenced me much more than just a hobby. The fact that I love skiing changes who I hang out with, the clothes I wear, the way I talk, etc. I have a really good group of friends that I hang out with and I might not have these same friends if we didn't all have the same love for skiing. I think it's good that I have friends that can relate to the things I enjoy doing. As well as influencing who I hang out with, skiing also influences the different types of clothing that I wear. I sometimes wear shirts that have ski company logos and I also wear a lot of ski clothes in my daily life. The goggles on the mask also represent society. I put them on my mask to show the metaphor of looking through the goggles of society. They represent me viewing the world based on how society wants me to view the world. For example, TV shows and magazines teach you that you need to wear a certain brand of clothing or do something like the people in the advertisement are doing, or else you won't fit in. I don't comply with this because I don't go out and get a certain pair of shoes just because the guy on TV says I should. I base my decisions on the people around me and what I think is right for myself. In the goggles there are words such as weird, lame, looser, ugly, etc. These words represent how society wants us to see people if they don't follow or fit in to the social norms. Sometimes I try to break away from the social norms and it succeeds but sometimes I get socially punished for it.
The quote on my mask represents my friends and how they play a huge role in my life. My friends perhaps make the most difference in how I act and who I am. If all my friends decided that they all liked this new brand of shoe and they went and bought them, chances are I would go out and get a pair also. People are deeply influenced by their peers and they will do a lot in order to fit in with the people that they want to be friends with. I really think that the people I choose to hang out with play a very positive role in my life because they are the people I can be myself around. They're the ones I can laugh and reek havoc with. My friends are what hold me together.
Another important part of my identity is simply the fact that I haven't fully formed my identity. The plain white area on my mask represents this. I think that people are constantly forming their identity throughout their lives and no one really knows their true identity until they die. There's no way to tell what might happen in someone's future that might change how they think about the world. As new experiences are gained and life is lived people grow and change and with that so does their identity. I just started high school and I am unsure of what I'm going to do when I'm older or who I am going to be. As I continue to form my identity I hope to have my own opinions and base my actions on many different factors, not just what society thinks is right. I think that we should try to break away from the social norms sometimes and not give in to the way society has taught us to view other people. The world would be a lot better if people treated each other based on their actions and not on what they look like, how they talk, what they believe in, and how they chose to live their lives.
When I was younger I noticed a lot of disgust directed at teenagers and the way they act, especially from middle to elderly adults. On my 13th birthday I remember my mom turning to my dad and exclaiming, “Life is about to get harder now that we have two teenagers in the family!”. It made me think, what's so bad about teenagers? Why am I suddenly being labeled as “something hard to deal with” even though I'm not a day past 13? A lot of adults find teens to be irresponsible and untrustworthy because the only times they hear about teens is when they do something that's considered “wrong”. A lot of adults don't realize that there are a lot of teenagers that do act like adults, and don't disrespect their elders. It would be good to see teens treated based on their individual actions and not based on what society has labeled them to be.
Most people don't realize how lucky they are to be part of the subcultures that they belong to. Some forces that shape my identity are my social class, my race, and my gender. On my mask is a crown, which represents my ethnicity, the wealth of my family and my gender. Being a white, middle class, male is a great example of the agent group, an agent group is a group of people who have more privileges than others. People are more likely to trust wealthy, white people more than someone that is considered a minority. I experience these differences in my everyday life everyday. The crown does a good job of showing that people who are white, and who are middle class males have the advantage. I think that a lot of males don't realize that they do have an advantage over women. I read something recently that said males would help women be more equal to men, but they would not give up some of their power to do so. Being a white, middle class, male has taught me that people in the agent group judge targets, the less privileged, because they think it's ok and they think they are better off than them. A lot of people don't realize how privileged they really are.
If you notice, my mask is also wearing ski goggles. The goggles represent two things different things, the first being my love of skiing. Skiing has influenced me much more than just a hobby. The fact that I love skiing changes who I hang out with, the clothes I wear, the way I talk, etc. I have a really good group of friends that I hang out with and I might not have these same friends if we didn't all have the same love for skiing. I think it's good that I have friends that can relate to the things I enjoy doing. As well as influencing who I hang out with, skiing also influences the different types of clothing that I wear. I sometimes wear shirts that have ski company logos and I also wear a lot of ski clothes in my daily life. The goggles on the mask also represent society. I put them on my mask to show the metaphor of looking through the goggles of society. They represent me viewing the world based on how society wants me to view the world. For example, TV shows and magazines teach you that you need to wear a certain brand of clothing or do something like the people in the advertisement are doing, or else you won't fit in. I don't comply with this because I don't go out and get a certain pair of shoes just because the guy on TV says I should. I base my decisions on the people around me and what I think is right for myself. In the goggles there are words such as weird, lame, looser, ugly, etc. These words represent how society wants us to see people if they don't follow or fit in to the social norms. Sometimes I try to break away from the social norms and it succeeds but sometimes I get socially punished for it.
The quote on my mask represents my friends and how they play a huge role in my life. My friends perhaps make the most difference in how I act and who I am. If all my friends decided that they all liked this new brand of shoe and they went and bought them, chances are I would go out and get a pair also. People are deeply influenced by their peers and they will do a lot in order to fit in with the people that they want to be friends with. I really think that the people I choose to hang out with play a very positive role in my life because they are the people I can be myself around. They're the ones I can laugh and reek havoc with. My friends are what hold me together.
Another important part of my identity is simply the fact that I haven't fully formed my identity. The plain white area on my mask represents this. I think that people are constantly forming their identity throughout their lives and no one really knows their true identity until they die. There's no way to tell what might happen in someone's future that might change how they think about the world. As new experiences are gained and life is lived people grow and change and with that so does their identity. I just started high school and I am unsure of what I'm going to do when I'm older or who I am going to be. As I continue to form my identity I hope to have my own opinions and base my actions on many different factors, not just what society thinks is right. I think that we should try to break away from the social norms sometimes and not give in to the way society has taught us to view other people. The world would be a lot better if people treated each other based on their actions and not on what they look like, how they talk, what they believe in, and how they chose to live their lives.