February Blog Post

Although this month’s set of readings was overall very interesting, one reading that stood out specifically and sparked many ideas and questions in my head. The piece Man Up by Andreas Gomez. This entire reading was very intriguing to me, the part of it that sparked me personally though was towards the begining (39-40) when the author list his fears. He begins by listing outside factors that scare him such as the dark, his father and monsters under the bed. But then the author begins listing internal, personal factors that scare him, things about his looks that he can not necessarily help “And how was I ever going to get a girlfriend with flat feet, headgear, braces and glasses!?!” (40). All normal things that scare people. But why? This is something I have always struggled with. Why do people judge others on factors they can’t help? Factors regarding appearance and looks. Sure you can help the way you style your hair and the clothes you wear. But people can’t help having to have braces to straighten their teeth and glasses to correct their vision. So why is it seen as a negative thing? This topic hits home for me. When I was 2 years old I dumped a steaming hot glass of tea down my chest and in turn received third degree burns covering the entirety of my chest and abdomen. Growing up this was a huge factor in my social life. I remember always finding it necessary to wear t shirt when I went swimming and not buying any shirt that was even somewhat revealing. It wasn’t a huge issue to hide my scars, until after puberty. When young people, including myself started experimenting with risky wardrobe, developing body parts, and sexual desires. I wanted so badly to be normal and I always feared rejection based on an aspect of my looks that I couldn’t help. Looking back now I realize how silly I was for thinking that the important people, the people who care and who I should surround myself with would care. But I did, I worried more than anything. Much like the author I was scared. With maturity comes acceptance for many people, but judgment and stereotyping will always happen, we discussed this in great detail in my Communication 101 course. It is important to provide support for people with low self esteem and poor body image. Everyone regardless of the external view has something they are self conscious about something, it's human nature. Looks are important not just in romantic relationships, but friendships as well, but if we can overlook the aspects that people can't help, our social community can be much healthier. This is a societal issue, an issue that has no easy solution. Although this this wasn’t the author's main purpose of writing this piece, his purpose was to shed light on society's view of masculinity and identity, this was a huge aspect of the reading that stuck with me.

A connected blog that I found very interesting can be found with this link: https://livelifegetactive.com/blog/body-image-self-esteem/