Its weird to think that where we live determines who we are. We adapt traits and hobbies from the society around us. As Americans we're so different from any other country, as Illinois we're very different from Indiana, as the Stevenson district vs. libertyville, even from my house to my next door neighbor. We can all be so closely related yet so different. What exactly influenced me to be the person I am today? I guess that's something no one can every really answer exactly. Kids blame their parents in many ways for how they turned out. Like "the kid who never got a chance to go out and really party in high school so they party too much in college since they have so much freedom", or "their parents don't care so they're more level-headed". But I don't really think that that's it. My parents could care less about the extra-curriculars i do. They wouldn't even know what clubs i'm in if you asked them, even though i've been in the same ones for all 4 years of high school; so obviously they don't influence that factor in my life. You expect asian families to be really strict, the kids have tostudy a lot, get straight A's, take a lot of APs, but my parents aren't strict, i go out when I want, I don't get straight A's, and I didn't take my first AP until this year. That doesn't mean i'm not a hardworking student though. There are a lot of factors to what makes a person who they are.
Media:
I remember watching Disney movies when I was younger and still today I love them. When it comes to these, i fell right into the hands of the media(which sucks since a lot of times i can be pretty skeptical of society and people) and their "evil" perception on how people should act and look like. I never even realized that i played right into what they created until Sal said something. I have subconsciouly grown up to think that girly girls get all the attention-all the good attention anyway. Or that you have to be skinny and beautiful. There is so much in the media that we subliminally take in and it influences us. Subtle things like watching popular shows like "The Hills" on MTV where a bunch of rich, skinny, pretty, glamorous girls live in California and teens all over just wish they were them. These ideas are fed to us in the most influential system: media. Reality is, is that skinny doesn't mean pretty and in the entire world, not everyone will think you're pretty but a lot out there still will. It sucks to have grown up with all these body conscious/awareness ideas put in my head, but all of that has already been ground into my brain. What I am glad about is that society is aware of these obsurd goals of self image and hopefully the generation my kids are in won't have to believe that being skinny and made up is what makes you pretty.
Gender:
So I work in the children's department at Macy's and i think its there where you can really see the difference between boys and girls and their materialism. The department is split between boys and girls from toddler sizes and up and in the center are infant sizes with boys and girls still split. Needless to say, the infant area is obviously divided in color. Boys with blue outfits and girls with pink. It has become a distinct way to differentiate(sp?) the genders of babies by the color they are wearing. It isn't until they are older can the child themself decide their favorite color. Personally, blue is my favorite color and i actually hate the color pink. There isn't a single pink piece of clothing in my closet. I think my loathe for pink actually comes from the whole baby thing too.
Teens:
There has always been stereotypes for teen. When i was younger i remember watching movies with teens in them and i couldn't wait to be a teenager. I was so excited to be 15, then 16, and now i'm finally 18 its almost surreal to think about. Then older adults look down upon teens as a nuisance, rebellious, troublesome, etc. At the same time society depends on us for the future. I'd say the contradicting prejudices are annoying. I have, for the most part, always been pretty mature for my age. There are huge differences between the kinds of teens right here at stevenson. There are students who don't care about school, students who care too much about school, athletic students, etc. Being an active "school student" i have always had adults trust me or have no reason not to trust me. Now in stevenson when i come across a staff member i don't know and am actually treated like some delinquent, i absolutely hate it. I'm not used to not being trust by adults but i know that it is only because staff members such as security must assume that we'll be trouble. I myself even dread teens i don't know either. that prejudice of troublemaking ass holes gets to me too. I see people my age that i don't know when i'm out and i'm cautious of them too. Its pretty sad. But like any other stereotype, not everyone lives up to it.
Social Class:
Its funny to see the contrast in houses within a school district. we had said in class that the aptakisic area has very different types of house all right next to each other. near me we have duplexes, apartments, and houses just a street apart from each other. i always thought that i had a pretty good sized house but now going to stevenson and meeting new people from other areas, some of their houses make mine seem small. not that i don't like my house or find it small now, the differences in houses within our district is interesting to see.
Race:
Race is what stereotypes are mostly focused on. in my blog about race i said how i hated asian stereotypes because i don't follow them at all. but at the same time its hard not to see stereotypes of other races myself.
each one of these factors have been enground into every one of us and this class, to me, just seems to point out how messed up we are. not that thats a bad thing, at least we see it!
