Category: Unit 05

The way a person dresses and customizes his or her appearance I believe is greatly influenced by the environment they grew up in.  In my case, I grew up on a farm with three older brothers.  For the first twelve years of my life I looked and for the most part acted like a boy, but I did this because I valued that quality of life. I wanted to wear athletic clothes because I loved playing sports and I definitely looked up to my brothers so I didn’t have a problem wearing their hand me downs. Not to mention my two best friends were tomboys so I never felt pressured to dress in feminine attire.  I even cut my hair short for two years in elementary school. Looking back on my elementary school and middle school years, I feel incredibly lucky because I never once was bullied or ridiculed for dressing the way I did.  My best friend, who also could care less, ended up moving to Washington in 7^th grade and she had to completely redesign her wardrobe because she was immediately shut down and harassed for dressing like a boy. This is why I think the culture/environment you are exposed to plays a major role in personal expression.

Towards the end of Middle School and throughout High School I began to dress in more feminine clothes. I got my ears pierced, grew my hair out, and started wearing makeup, but still compared to the rest of the girls stood out as being a little rough around the edges.  It’s funny because my friends and I all kind of made that transition together, even though we didn’t blatantly talk about it, I’m sure we influenced each other.  I also think my family influenced my choice of clothes as well. My mom is arguably the least materialistic person on this planet, and my brothers never went shopping, so I didn’t really value buying things. I would even find myself feeling embarrassed for wanting new things because I felt like a greedy consumer.

During my freshmen year of college I met one of my closest friends who happened to be the polar opposite as me but we became incredibly close friends. We’ve lived together for the past three years and I have to say she has definitely influenced my sense of style.  I wear flashier things now, which still isn’t saying much, and I have gotten a couple more piercings.  Overall, I really appreciate organic, rather ‘dull colors’, as my friends put it.  They tend to roll their eyes at my choice of going out clothes but I have to say, in my opinion I would much rather wear something cozy. Unlike many cities, I do feel like Eugene is it’s own bubble full of random styles, aka, people can wear whatever they want.  Sander’s talks about how western society limits the body piercings and tattoos people can wear while still fitting within the mainstream norms, but I feel like Eugene is an exception. I wouldn’t think twice if I saw someone with random body piercings or tattoos, its just part of the local culture, which I’ve now been exposed to for four years.  What’s odd is when I have friends who come from out of town, or even when I talk to people from other cities, and they comment on how odd people dress around here, because to me it seems normal. There have definitely been times were I wear things I wouldn’t think twice about in Eugene to other cities and I can tell that people are evaluating me and judging me because of my attire.

In Sander’s first chapter he addresses how a person’s appearance affects his or her self-esteem, identity, interactions with others, and even how others view them.  In general, I think this is absolutely true and I don’t think people realize the extent in which people judge off external appearances. I’ve definitely noticed that on a very minor level I assume the role of the clothes I’m wearing. For instance, when I wear one of my soft fuzzy sweaters I tend to be a little more quit and relaxed, if I dress up to go out I tend to assume a more sassy outgoing role, and when I wear my leather jacket with boots, people seem to be a little more intimidated by me, regardless of my 5’1” stature. Sander did say one thing that I didn’t fully agree with, “Attractive people express more feelings of general happiness, have higher levels of self-esteem, and are less likely than the relatively unattractive to expect that they will suffer from mental illness in the future.” This quote kind of irked me a little. The society we live in definitely makes life much easier for attractive individuals, but some of the happiest, most outgoing, loving and caring people I know wouldn’t be considered attractive by societies standards.  Additionally, I have a couple friends who are drop dead gorgeous and I have to say they seem more insecure than the others. People are drawn to them because of their appealing appearance, and it makes them question whether people want to hang out with them for their good looks or because they are fun and interesting.

 

References:

Sanders, C. R. (1989). Introduction: Body Alteration, Artistic Production, and the Social World of Tattooing. In Customizing the Body (Chap. 1). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

The first person I watched came into climb when I was at the rock wall.  He was white and tall, with short sandy blonde hair.  Right off the bat I noticed how happy he was, he was laughing with a friend as he walked in and seemed to be in an overall good mood.  By the way he stood tall and talked loudly to his friend I got the impression he was rather confident.  As he was putting his stuff in the cubby, I noticed under his coat he sported a sweater vest, turtleneck with three courter length sleeves, and tattoos all up and down his arms. Confusion.  To be honest I’ve never seen the sweater vest turtleneck tattoo combo before, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to think.  From the clothes he seemed studious and possibly a little shy, but the tattoos he had all over his arms made me think he was rather outgoing and bold.  He also had a giant hole through the septum of his nose, which makes me think at one point he gaged his septum.

The second person I watched I saw studying in the night library.  He had long brown hair, slight beard, and was probably a little less than six feet tall.  He looked like he was working on some sort of writing assignment he didn’t quite understand because he kept looking back at his books and then to the screen. Every so often he grabbed a strip of his long hair and brushes it back and forth across his lips in a rather contemplative way.  I could tell he was incredibly focused because it didn’t seem like he was bothered or distracted by anyone around him.  He was writing on a 17-inch mac computer and wore a Mountain Hardware down coat, suggesting that his family is financially stable.  In general, he was think and lanky, so he probably wasn’t an avid football or wrestler.  He looked like he had a mild case of restless leg syndrome, which could be a result of coffee or other caffeinated drinks.

The last person I observed was a female in the night library talking with two other girls and a guy.  She was white with dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.  Almost all of her clothes were athletic (tennis shoes, sweats, sweatshirt) and she had a strong healthy build that makes me think she is currently active in some sport.  She had three earrings on each ear, suggesting that she has some appreciation for body art.  The three other people sitting with her seemed be facing her and were laughing, so she must be funny and comfortable in her own skin.  She definitely seemed like a social butterfly and that perhaps she is one of those friends that you love but don’t want to study for a midterm with because of distracting qualities.  I also noticed that she had a camel pack water bottle and a black north face jacket, meaning to a certain extent she tends to conform to the norms.

Without talking to someone, it is difficult to gauge personality so I felt like during this people-watching project I was keying in on materials and behavioral qualities.  I notice that I tend to jump to conclusions about people’s personalities based on their mood, which I notice by their body language; not an entirely fair assumption considering everyone has bad days. Additionally, I noticed that I would draw conclusions about a person’s athletic or financial status depending on the clothes they wore.