MY MASK
ARTIST STATEMENT
My mask represents how I’ve been socialized as a white, upper middle class female.
On the bottom half of the mask and covering the mouth is a cocoon. This symbolizes the beginning of my life where I was small, innocent to the world around me and had no control. The cocoon does not pressure you into anything. It also symbolizes how sometimes I’m scared to say what I really feel, my mouth is covered and I cannot open it. Going up to the left side is how I’ve been socialized, how society wants and expects me to be. On the right side is my authentic self. The colorful swirls and filigree patterns represent my inner and outer beauty and the butterfly wing represents how I will grow if I follow who I really am. A picture of my real eyes are on both sides. The left eye is me, following societies norms and expectations. The right eye shows me with nothing, the real me, who I am under the makeup. If I do what society expects and act exactly how it wants me to be I won’t get anywhere, as shown on the left side with no butterfly wing growing from it. You will not grow stronger if you perpetuate the cycle of socialization. It’s your choice which path you want to follow.
On the bottom half of the mask and covering the mouth is a cocoon. This symbolizes the beginning of my life where I was small, innocent to the world around me and had no control. The cocoon does not pressure you into anything. It also symbolizes how sometimes I’m scared to say what I really feel, my mouth is covered and I cannot open it. Going up to the left side is how I’ve been socialized, how society wants and expects me to be. On the right side is my authentic self. The colorful swirls and filigree patterns represent my inner and outer beauty and the butterfly wing represents how I will grow if I follow who I really am. A picture of my real eyes are on both sides. The left eye is me, following societies norms and expectations. The right eye shows me with nothing, the real me, who I am under the makeup. If I do what society expects and act exactly how it wants me to be I won’t get anywhere, as shown on the left side with no butterfly wing growing from it. You will not grow stronger if you perpetuate the cycle of socialization. It’s your choice which path you want to follow.
SONGS OF SOCIALIZATION
“I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be…”
- The Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w)
If only every child was raised in this reverence. It is said that when the first baby laughed, it broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about and that was the beginning of fairies. (quote by James Matthew Barrie) Every baby is innocent when they are born. They know nothing of how society is run or the norms of their social identities. We should protect our babies and children. Try to keep them innocent for as long as possible but in the present day I believe it is getting harder and harder. A child like a caterpillar, can seem powerless, but then the caterpillar turns into a butterfly and the world sees it as beautiful and influential. (based on quote by Lao Tzu) This is a metaphor for what children can become, they are the future. As a child I feel as though my parents did do this, they “received me in reverence, educated me in love and sent me forth in freedom,” (Rudolf Steiner). The world is not as safe and loving as Rudolf Steiner would have us believe. It most definitely does not do as the quote above says. People are judged, socialized and put into society’s set categories. As a direct result of this beginning in my early life I was socialized both negatively and positively as a white upper class female.
Socialization is a process, a cycle, a division in our society and the world. If only society was as functional as Rodney King suggested “ People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sONfxPCTU0) I think that this question is still something many of us continue to ask ourselves today. Socialization is a cycle that we perpetuate by doing nothing and by remaining silent. Socialization is the process of norms we follow in our individual subcultures, countercultures and around the world. It’s what we are taught to think, what we think and how we judge others and how others judge us. Consciously or subconsciously, when we see or meet someone for the first time we form an opinion about them based on what they look like and how they present him/herself. (Harro, 15-21) The judgement could be based on fact, something you were taught by a family member or friends, maybe it was your own opinion. It could be right or wrong , but no matter what, it’s an assumption, a conclusion that once placed on that person is hard to remove. A prime example of this is in My Fair Lady an Audrey Hepburn film about a poor street urchin learning how to act like a noble woman. Eliza Doolittle was socialized by Henry Higgins when he scoffed at her accent saying “Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters! Condemned by every syllable she utters.” (beginning of the song, Why Can’t the English? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAYUuspQ6BY ) In England during the early 1900s, your accent told what place you held in society. Eliza’s was cockney, a low born class, but does her accent define who she is? That is what socialization is. In the Cycle of Socialization, an article telling the harsh truth of our society, there are six stages of socialization. The beginning, first socialization, institutional and cultural socialization, enforcements, results and directions for change. The article shows us the pre set groups we have already made in our society: target and agent groups. Although breaking out of this cycle is an ultimate goal, it will take much more than one person, but one can make a difference.To break the cycle it will take speaking out, standing up for what you believe and trying to see underneath, deeper than the basic six social identities. These are sexual orientation, race, class, religion and mental/physical ability or disability. It may seem as though we are taking great strides in our world and especially the U.S. to becoming accepting to all, but until we can remove the labels and break through the cycle of socialization it will never truly be an equal society. Nellie Mckay sings in “No Equality”, “Baby, baby can’t you see what this absurdity is doing to me? We should’ve kicked over the ladders, from the start, there’s no equality.” (http://www.metrolyrics.com/no-equality-lyrics-nellie-mckay.html )
During my life I have been socialized by many institutions, cultures and people in predominantly positive ways. My parents and the Austin Waldorf School have had the greatest impact thus far in my life. My parents are the largest source of positive socialization for me. I was raised in an environment that allowed me to form my own opinions about how I feel towards political decisions and that I can be whatever I want. On a more social stance I was taught to see everyone as equal. Being kind, generous and practicing random acts of kindness were some things that were very important to my parents. Through their actions they demonstrated these qualities to me. My parents wanted me to do what made me happy. One day my mom was listening to her favorite artist, Michael Franti, the song was Do it for the Love and he said “Here’s what my mama said, Do it for the love, not for the money...Do it cause it makes you feel alive,”(https://www.michaelfranti.com/music/songs/do-it-love). I feel like this sums up a lot of what my parents wanted me to feel. When I was younger my parents and I attended Unitarian Universalist church. The Unitarian Universalist philosophies embodied seven principles, the first being; the inherent worth and dignity of every person. (http://www.uua.org/beliefs/principles/). This is a good example of how I was socialized by both an institution and my parents. Then my parents made the life- changing decision to send me to the Austin Waldorf School. The Austin Waldorf School mission statement was “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives”(Steiner, http://www.austinwaldorf.org/index.php/about/waldorf_education/). They were fortunate enough to have the choice to send me to the Waldorf school. They felt it taught the importance of the magic we all have in our hearts. When I questioned my mom and dad about why they chose to send me here my dad responded that he had attended a German elementary school. He appreciated how the Austin Waldorf School campus and teachings felt safe and inviting, like his time in Germany had been. Both my parents were impressed with how confident and well mannered the students that were going to the Waldorf School at the time, were. My mom personally loved how each child was celebrated for their uniqueness and allowed to relish in early childhood learning through the senses. The Waldorf School philosophy is based on the ideas of “harmonious development of all the powers and talents in the child” and that “Love starts when we push aside our ego and make room for someone else”(Rudolf Steiner). Once my dad told her that they had both gone to public schools and they had turned out fine, so why shouldn’t I go to one as well and my mom replied, “Education is the greatest gift we can provide our children, why wouldn’t we give them or seek out something better for them?”(Bisantz and Joselyn, interview) Overall what the school taught was a reinforcement to what I was learning at home. The importance of every person, that effort is more important than outcome, independent thinking, seeing beauty in everything around you, doing what you love and at the end of the day finding a reason to believe. I grew up listening to Bruce Springsteen. Many of his songs are about working hard and that life won’t always be easy, in fact it will be really hard. In his song Born to Run he talks about how around every corner in life there will be challenges but you should never give up. If you don’t keep moving forward and attempting to find love and happiness you will drown in these life ‘tests’ per se, “In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American Dream, At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines...Together Wendy we’ll live with the sadness, I’ll love you with all the madness in my heart.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuThNgl3YA) This is the mentality my parents wanted me to have growing up. All of these ideas have become a fundamental part of who I am today. I attempt to see the beauty in people and the earth and I try to find the light in the dark of a hard time. Without my parents decision to send me to the Austin Waldorf school, I have no idea where I would be today.
Through various life experiences I have not only been taught but encouraged to see a diversity of people and cultures as a positive part of society. Through these experiences I have also learned how important it is to have a place where you can be yourself. Even though I have not spent a huge amount of time with people from all walks of life I consider myself to have an open mind and for me it doesn’t matter where you came from. I hope that in the future I can spend more time with people of a diversity of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. When I asked my aunt her favorite quote she said, “Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean” (Ryunosuko Satoro). My parents and school have made available to me many experiences and cultures that have taught me so much about the world. To start, in my class of 30 kids there were a variety of cultures. Many of them were upper-class, wealthy and privileged. This could be a source of both negative and positive socialization in my life. I have never really been completely immersed into group of people encompassing all socioeconomic dispositions. This is unfortunate. Many of my peers were very wealthy Mexican families that moved from Mexico to attend this school. With Spanish, Jewish, Indian and Eastern European cultures mixed into my everyday life because of what my friends did, I got a sense of many different ideals. Two summers ago, I had the opportunity to take part in two experiences that changed my life for the better. First, my parents made me go to a 30 hour comprehensive Sexuality Education class. I was so against it because I was a little nervous of what people would think of me for going and also I thought I knew everything. In the end I went. It taught me so much about socialization. It strongly supported in a way I hadn't previously appreciated that you have no idea another person’s situation and that you shouldn’t judge them based on their situation. Shortly after that I had another experience way out of my comfort zone. I went on a remote wilderness canoe trip with five other girls. It was transformational. I felt so comfortable with myself there. There was no judgement and I could be the me that did not need or wear my mask that I usually wore. Not that I hadn’t had that in the past but it took it to a whole new level. One of my counselors that I became very close with told me that I was a beautiful, amazing young lady and that she would always support me with whatever I do in life. It meant so much to me and I carry a confidence with me today that I did not previously have. The one thing I noticed was everyone at the camp was of a higher socioeconomic status. It wasn’t a bad thing, it was just an observation. I recently did a retreat with my class through the Amala Foundation. This retreat was a chance for us to show each other who we really were, removing those masks we had been wearing the last eight years together. Spending 8-10 years with the same 30 classmates and teachers allowed for labels to be applied both positive and negative. Maybe that label was put on you in the first grade. We all had changed and those labels weren’t necessarily accurate, many of us didn’t even know what our personal label was. This retreat was a chance for us to remove these masks. The people I knew best were going through personal and family challenges I was completely unaware of. Before we started each session we all held our fists in the air and chanted, “One Village, I am you.” It was powerful and I say this to myself on occasion when I begin to unnecessarily judge someone. This retreat showed me that a lot of times you really have no idea what other people’s struggles are or who they are under their mask. In the end we should celebrate everyone for who they really are and that our differences or struggles are what makes us unique.
Being socialized, at a glance, as an upper middle class white female, at its core leaves room for unjust assumptions. If someone saw me walking along the street with my friends, laughing and having a good time, they might think that I was a spoiled, rich, stuck up brat. Everyone either consciously or subconsciously judges every other human being you see. I catch myself doing it all the time. The judgements we make are the basis of what socialization is. It’s not who you really are, it’s how other people see you at a glance. An example of how people treat each other based on their social identities is the Stanford Prison Experiment. This was a psychology experiment conducted by Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University. The question he wanted to answer was “What happens when you put good people in an evil place?” Normal citizens were selected to be apart of the experiment and they were given their specific roles: guards and prisoners. Although the guards weren’t really the guards and the prisoners not really prisoners, they quickly began acting as those roles to each other and themselves. The guards were all-powerful and the prisoners obeyed. It soon became a prison of its own, for even though the roles were not the truth, it felt so real, that it became a reality. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760lwYmpXbc )It is discriminatory to put these immediate judgements on people, but it is something we all do. Just because I enjoy nice things, doesn’t mean I’m spoiled or stuck up. Going to a private school doesn’t make me rich. Personally I feel as though wealth and money are very different. Wealth is a mindset, you can be wealthy in happiness, love and experiences good or bad; or you can be rich and greedy or rich and extremely generous, always giving to those in need. Everything in our society is based around money and getting more. Becoming richer and always wanting what you don’t have, you can’t live in our society without it. Although one person did; Daniel Suelo has lived for 12 years without using any money. When asked about this and why he did it he responded, “ Our whole society is designed so that you have to have money. You have to be a part of the capitalist society. It’s illegal to live outside it.” (Mihai, http://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/man-gave-money-lives-cave-utah/) While I have been socialized negatively and positively around my gender and race, it hasn’t been as profound an impact. Yes, girls in today's media are shown in a light of complete unfairness. Why are we supposed to look perfect all the time? It’s not fair. Many songs, commercials and TV shows portray women as needy, sexy and always beautiful. Commercials sell the perfect women, which isn’t even real. Most of the time the commercial barely sells the product it’s advertising, it sells the woman’s body. It is disgusting and then people expect us to be skinny, polite and sexy but not “slutty” all the time. It puts an insane amount of pressure on adolescents. I personally have been told by my family to be ladylike. It is not socially accepted or expected to do many things that men do. For example, playing football, eating as much as we want, not having as much power as men, doing many jobs that men do for example: being a car mechanic. There are so many other aspects that we wouldn’t realize is inequality until we actually thought about it. We have learned to deal and let it pass us by, but we need to break the cycle and stand up for ourselves. Many female teens and young adult suffer from eating disorders. It was surveyed on a college campus that 91% of the girls were dieting because they felt pressure to be a certain weight (http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/) . People wonder why so many teens and young adults are suffering from body image diseases mentally and physically, the answer is in the way society shows woman. I personally feel confident in my body and with who I am. Although I have been generally socialized around my race, I haven’t been personally targeted in a large way. Is that because I am a white, upper middle class female? I will never know. Sometimes I am embarrassed to be generalized as a white upper middle class American, they have done so many terrible things in our history and even today, with shootings, slavery, educational debates and white supremacy issues (while their are some in America, I think more of Nazi Germany). An example of a recent and ongoing issue, to support this notion is the Tuscon Independent School District Ethnic Studies Program. This small debate began a couple years ago when white, state representatives accused the schools of teaching anti-American beliefs and racially dividing the students in the school. It in fact was only supporting the large percentage of Latino students in the district and making them proud of their heritage. This is a prime example of a time when powerful white Americans have become too controlling and felt threatened by a minority. In the process these state representatives suppressed this Latino group and put their education in detriment. This instance initiated the formation of House Bill 2281. I feel as though many Americans of another race or different countries altogether think of white Americans as greedy, power hungry and controlling, that is not how I want to be seen. I hope someday we can all be colorblind even to ourselves, as in the song that The Counting Crows sing, “ I am colorblind, Coffee black and egg white, Pull me out from the inside.”(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0s7ycdUcHk ) Hopefully one day we can all look deeper than the surface. Take a step back and try to see who that person really is under their mask of socialization. We are all human and we will all continually make mistakes. Sometimes your judgement will prove true but it doesn’t mean that its true for every person socialized in that way, or maybe it’s true but no matter what, there is so much more to a person than their skin color, gender and socioeconomic status.
“I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity…”
- The Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston
Learning about the Cycle of Socialization has taught me much about the truth of society and the truth about myself. It has empowered me to not only become stronger and live out my authentic self even in moments of doubt and adversity, (as Whitney Houston so eloquently said, “no matter what they can’t take away my dignity”), but to also become more aware of my interactions with all people. These will be qualities I continue to strive for into the rest of my life. I’m sure I will continue to be socialized forever and my social identities will never change. However the way I react to them and socialize other people, will. As a result of positive and negative school, family and life experiences I have learned and grown so much from the caterpillar I once was. I feel as though now I am beginning to turn into a butterfly and I can make a difference and be influential in the world around me. Throughout my life I have been socialized according to my race, socioeconomic class and gender but without these stereotypes and socialization put on me, I would not be who I am today and this paper has helped me realize that.
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be…”
- The Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w)
If only every child was raised in this reverence. It is said that when the first baby laughed, it broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about and that was the beginning of fairies. (quote by James Matthew Barrie) Every baby is innocent when they are born. They know nothing of how society is run or the norms of their social identities. We should protect our babies and children. Try to keep them innocent for as long as possible but in the present day I believe it is getting harder and harder. A child like a caterpillar, can seem powerless, but then the caterpillar turns into a butterfly and the world sees it as beautiful and influential. (based on quote by Lao Tzu) This is a metaphor for what children can become, they are the future. As a child I feel as though my parents did do this, they “received me in reverence, educated me in love and sent me forth in freedom,” (Rudolf Steiner). The world is not as safe and loving as Rudolf Steiner would have us believe. It most definitely does not do as the quote above says. People are judged, socialized and put into society’s set categories. As a direct result of this beginning in my early life I was socialized both negatively and positively as a white upper class female.
Socialization is a process, a cycle, a division in our society and the world. If only society was as functional as Rodney King suggested “ People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sONfxPCTU0) I think that this question is still something many of us continue to ask ourselves today. Socialization is a cycle that we perpetuate by doing nothing and by remaining silent. Socialization is the process of norms we follow in our individual subcultures, countercultures and around the world. It’s what we are taught to think, what we think and how we judge others and how others judge us. Consciously or subconsciously, when we see or meet someone for the first time we form an opinion about them based on what they look like and how they present him/herself. (Harro, 15-21) The judgement could be based on fact, something you were taught by a family member or friends, maybe it was your own opinion. It could be right or wrong , but no matter what, it’s an assumption, a conclusion that once placed on that person is hard to remove. A prime example of this is in My Fair Lady an Audrey Hepburn film about a poor street urchin learning how to act like a noble woman. Eliza Doolittle was socialized by Henry Higgins when he scoffed at her accent saying “Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters! Condemned by every syllable she utters.” (beginning of the song, Why Can’t the English? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAYUuspQ6BY ) In England during the early 1900s, your accent told what place you held in society. Eliza’s was cockney, a low born class, but does her accent define who she is? That is what socialization is. In the Cycle of Socialization, an article telling the harsh truth of our society, there are six stages of socialization. The beginning, first socialization, institutional and cultural socialization, enforcements, results and directions for change. The article shows us the pre set groups we have already made in our society: target and agent groups. Although breaking out of this cycle is an ultimate goal, it will take much more than one person, but one can make a difference.To break the cycle it will take speaking out, standing up for what you believe and trying to see underneath, deeper than the basic six social identities. These are sexual orientation, race, class, religion and mental/physical ability or disability. It may seem as though we are taking great strides in our world and especially the U.S. to becoming accepting to all, but until we can remove the labels and break through the cycle of socialization it will never truly be an equal society. Nellie Mckay sings in “No Equality”, “Baby, baby can’t you see what this absurdity is doing to me? We should’ve kicked over the ladders, from the start, there’s no equality.” (http://www.metrolyrics.com/no-equality-lyrics-nellie-mckay.html )
During my life I have been socialized by many institutions, cultures and people in predominantly positive ways. My parents and the Austin Waldorf School have had the greatest impact thus far in my life. My parents are the largest source of positive socialization for me. I was raised in an environment that allowed me to form my own opinions about how I feel towards political decisions and that I can be whatever I want. On a more social stance I was taught to see everyone as equal. Being kind, generous and practicing random acts of kindness were some things that were very important to my parents. Through their actions they demonstrated these qualities to me. My parents wanted me to do what made me happy. One day my mom was listening to her favorite artist, Michael Franti, the song was Do it for the Love and he said “Here’s what my mama said, Do it for the love, not for the money...Do it cause it makes you feel alive,”(https://www.michaelfranti.com/music/songs/do-it-love). I feel like this sums up a lot of what my parents wanted me to feel. When I was younger my parents and I attended Unitarian Universalist church. The Unitarian Universalist philosophies embodied seven principles, the first being; the inherent worth and dignity of every person. (http://www.uua.org/beliefs/principles/). This is a good example of how I was socialized by both an institution and my parents. Then my parents made the life- changing decision to send me to the Austin Waldorf School. The Austin Waldorf School mission statement was “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives”(Steiner, http://www.austinwaldorf.org/index.php/about/waldorf_education/). They were fortunate enough to have the choice to send me to the Waldorf school. They felt it taught the importance of the magic we all have in our hearts. When I questioned my mom and dad about why they chose to send me here my dad responded that he had attended a German elementary school. He appreciated how the Austin Waldorf School campus and teachings felt safe and inviting, like his time in Germany had been. Both my parents were impressed with how confident and well mannered the students that were going to the Waldorf School at the time, were. My mom personally loved how each child was celebrated for their uniqueness and allowed to relish in early childhood learning through the senses. The Waldorf School philosophy is based on the ideas of “harmonious development of all the powers and talents in the child” and that “Love starts when we push aside our ego and make room for someone else”(Rudolf Steiner). Once my dad told her that they had both gone to public schools and they had turned out fine, so why shouldn’t I go to one as well and my mom replied, “Education is the greatest gift we can provide our children, why wouldn’t we give them or seek out something better for them?”(Bisantz and Joselyn, interview) Overall what the school taught was a reinforcement to what I was learning at home. The importance of every person, that effort is more important than outcome, independent thinking, seeing beauty in everything around you, doing what you love and at the end of the day finding a reason to believe. I grew up listening to Bruce Springsteen. Many of his songs are about working hard and that life won’t always be easy, in fact it will be really hard. In his song Born to Run he talks about how around every corner in life there will be challenges but you should never give up. If you don’t keep moving forward and attempting to find love and happiness you will drown in these life ‘tests’ per se, “In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American Dream, At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines...Together Wendy we’ll live with the sadness, I’ll love you with all the madness in my heart.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuThNgl3YA) This is the mentality my parents wanted me to have growing up. All of these ideas have become a fundamental part of who I am today. I attempt to see the beauty in people and the earth and I try to find the light in the dark of a hard time. Without my parents decision to send me to the Austin Waldorf school, I have no idea where I would be today.
Through various life experiences I have not only been taught but encouraged to see a diversity of people and cultures as a positive part of society. Through these experiences I have also learned how important it is to have a place where you can be yourself. Even though I have not spent a huge amount of time with people from all walks of life I consider myself to have an open mind and for me it doesn’t matter where you came from. I hope that in the future I can spend more time with people of a diversity of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. When I asked my aunt her favorite quote she said, “Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean” (Ryunosuko Satoro). My parents and school have made available to me many experiences and cultures that have taught me so much about the world. To start, in my class of 30 kids there were a variety of cultures. Many of them were upper-class, wealthy and privileged. This could be a source of both negative and positive socialization in my life. I have never really been completely immersed into group of people encompassing all socioeconomic dispositions. This is unfortunate. Many of my peers were very wealthy Mexican families that moved from Mexico to attend this school. With Spanish, Jewish, Indian and Eastern European cultures mixed into my everyday life because of what my friends did, I got a sense of many different ideals. Two summers ago, I had the opportunity to take part in two experiences that changed my life for the better. First, my parents made me go to a 30 hour comprehensive Sexuality Education class. I was so against it because I was a little nervous of what people would think of me for going and also I thought I knew everything. In the end I went. It taught me so much about socialization. It strongly supported in a way I hadn't previously appreciated that you have no idea another person’s situation and that you shouldn’t judge them based on their situation. Shortly after that I had another experience way out of my comfort zone. I went on a remote wilderness canoe trip with five other girls. It was transformational. I felt so comfortable with myself there. There was no judgement and I could be the me that did not need or wear my mask that I usually wore. Not that I hadn’t had that in the past but it took it to a whole new level. One of my counselors that I became very close with told me that I was a beautiful, amazing young lady and that she would always support me with whatever I do in life. It meant so much to me and I carry a confidence with me today that I did not previously have. The one thing I noticed was everyone at the camp was of a higher socioeconomic status. It wasn’t a bad thing, it was just an observation. I recently did a retreat with my class through the Amala Foundation. This retreat was a chance for us to show each other who we really were, removing those masks we had been wearing the last eight years together. Spending 8-10 years with the same 30 classmates and teachers allowed for labels to be applied both positive and negative. Maybe that label was put on you in the first grade. We all had changed and those labels weren’t necessarily accurate, many of us didn’t even know what our personal label was. This retreat was a chance for us to remove these masks. The people I knew best were going through personal and family challenges I was completely unaware of. Before we started each session we all held our fists in the air and chanted, “One Village, I am you.” It was powerful and I say this to myself on occasion when I begin to unnecessarily judge someone. This retreat showed me that a lot of times you really have no idea what other people’s struggles are or who they are under their mask. In the end we should celebrate everyone for who they really are and that our differences or struggles are what makes us unique.
Being socialized, at a glance, as an upper middle class white female, at its core leaves room for unjust assumptions. If someone saw me walking along the street with my friends, laughing and having a good time, they might think that I was a spoiled, rich, stuck up brat. Everyone either consciously or subconsciously judges every other human being you see. I catch myself doing it all the time. The judgements we make are the basis of what socialization is. It’s not who you really are, it’s how other people see you at a glance. An example of how people treat each other based on their social identities is the Stanford Prison Experiment. This was a psychology experiment conducted by Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University. The question he wanted to answer was “What happens when you put good people in an evil place?” Normal citizens were selected to be apart of the experiment and they were given their specific roles: guards and prisoners. Although the guards weren’t really the guards and the prisoners not really prisoners, they quickly began acting as those roles to each other and themselves. The guards were all-powerful and the prisoners obeyed. It soon became a prison of its own, for even though the roles were not the truth, it felt so real, that it became a reality. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760lwYmpXbc )It is discriminatory to put these immediate judgements on people, but it is something we all do. Just because I enjoy nice things, doesn’t mean I’m spoiled or stuck up. Going to a private school doesn’t make me rich. Personally I feel as though wealth and money are very different. Wealth is a mindset, you can be wealthy in happiness, love and experiences good or bad; or you can be rich and greedy or rich and extremely generous, always giving to those in need. Everything in our society is based around money and getting more. Becoming richer and always wanting what you don’t have, you can’t live in our society without it. Although one person did; Daniel Suelo has lived for 12 years without using any money. When asked about this and why he did it he responded, “ Our whole society is designed so that you have to have money. You have to be a part of the capitalist society. It’s illegal to live outside it.” (Mihai, http://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/man-gave-money-lives-cave-utah/) While I have been socialized negatively and positively around my gender and race, it hasn’t been as profound an impact. Yes, girls in today's media are shown in a light of complete unfairness. Why are we supposed to look perfect all the time? It’s not fair. Many songs, commercials and TV shows portray women as needy, sexy and always beautiful. Commercials sell the perfect women, which isn’t even real. Most of the time the commercial barely sells the product it’s advertising, it sells the woman’s body. It is disgusting and then people expect us to be skinny, polite and sexy but not “slutty” all the time. It puts an insane amount of pressure on adolescents. I personally have been told by my family to be ladylike. It is not socially accepted or expected to do many things that men do. For example, playing football, eating as much as we want, not having as much power as men, doing many jobs that men do for example: being a car mechanic. There are so many other aspects that we wouldn’t realize is inequality until we actually thought about it. We have learned to deal and let it pass us by, but we need to break the cycle and stand up for ourselves. Many female teens and young adult suffer from eating disorders. It was surveyed on a college campus that 91% of the girls were dieting because they felt pressure to be a certain weight (http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/) . People wonder why so many teens and young adults are suffering from body image diseases mentally and physically, the answer is in the way society shows woman. I personally feel confident in my body and with who I am. Although I have been generally socialized around my race, I haven’t been personally targeted in a large way. Is that because I am a white, upper middle class female? I will never know. Sometimes I am embarrassed to be generalized as a white upper middle class American, they have done so many terrible things in our history and even today, with shootings, slavery, educational debates and white supremacy issues (while their are some in America, I think more of Nazi Germany). An example of a recent and ongoing issue, to support this notion is the Tuscon Independent School District Ethnic Studies Program. This small debate began a couple years ago when white, state representatives accused the schools of teaching anti-American beliefs and racially dividing the students in the school. It in fact was only supporting the large percentage of Latino students in the district and making them proud of their heritage. This is a prime example of a time when powerful white Americans have become too controlling and felt threatened by a minority. In the process these state representatives suppressed this Latino group and put their education in detriment. This instance initiated the formation of House Bill 2281. I feel as though many Americans of another race or different countries altogether think of white Americans as greedy, power hungry and controlling, that is not how I want to be seen. I hope someday we can all be colorblind even to ourselves, as in the song that The Counting Crows sing, “ I am colorblind, Coffee black and egg white, Pull me out from the inside.”(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0s7ycdUcHk ) Hopefully one day we can all look deeper than the surface. Take a step back and try to see who that person really is under their mask of socialization. We are all human and we will all continually make mistakes. Sometimes your judgement will prove true but it doesn’t mean that its true for every person socialized in that way, or maybe it’s true but no matter what, there is so much more to a person than their skin color, gender and socioeconomic status.
“I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity…”
- The Greatest Love of All, Whitney Houston
Learning about the Cycle of Socialization has taught me much about the truth of society and the truth about myself. It has empowered me to not only become stronger and live out my authentic self even in moments of doubt and adversity, (as Whitney Houston so eloquently said, “no matter what they can’t take away my dignity”), but to also become more aware of my interactions with all people. These will be qualities I continue to strive for into the rest of my life. I’m sure I will continue to be socialized forever and my social identities will never change. However the way I react to them and socialize other people, will. As a result of positive and negative school, family and life experiences I have learned and grown so much from the caterpillar I once was. I feel as though now I am beginning to turn into a butterfly and I can make a difference and be influential in the world around me. Throughout my life I have been socialized according to my race, socioeconomic class and gender but without these stereotypes and socialization put on me, I would not be who I am today and this paper has helped me realize that.
MASK PROJECT REFLECTION
Socialization is a process of norms, behaviors and ideas that help a human interact with others and be a part of a certain society. It’s what you are told to do, what you do and how you think of other people or societies. It affects everyone in so many ways. An example of this for me is being socialized by my parents to have an open mind. I’ve been socialized generally as an upper middle class white female. Socialization also affects me from a less direct standpoint, the media. Women are socialized to be ladylike and beautiful all the time. The media also convinces you to buy certain things and movies and tv shows tell us how to act. You can be socialized negatively and positively generally through, but definitely not limited to, six social identities.
This socialization project was supposed to open our eyes to how we’ve been socialized in our life so far. The essay was about how, who and why we’ve been socialized in our set identities. We analyzed our life and everything that has happened to us that has influenced who we are today. We were supposed to use evidence to support our ideas of socialization. Our mask was then supposed to complement our essay, highlighting the social identities we have each been categorized in. We made the mask from scratch, forming it to our face and from there we had a lot of freedom as to what we would put on our mask. Painting, mod-podge, physical objects, whatever represented how you’d been socialized and who you’ve in the process. The mask and essays are going to be displayed in the public library for all to see.
In order to create an essay to the best of our ability we went through many processes of refinement. To start, we used the TEA (topic, evidence and analysis) paragraph structure, we had to have at least two pieces of evidence in each paragraph. It helped me a lot to write the topic sentences for each paragraph before I added other content. After we had three to four body paragraphs we then started on our Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs. I learned the main points to cover in an introductory paragraph. I also learned an easy way to cite my evidence with in-text citations.Then it was corrected by Matt a couple times, and then further edited by our peers. I really feel like with all my refinement and corrections made by my teacher, peers and myself, the essay is the best it can be.
I am proud of how I did on this project. I think I put my best effort into it and I put a lot of time into it as well. This project really showed how much my past school’s rigorous ways have paid off and prepared me for high school. I think this was a great first project. I am looking to improve on being more focused and productive in class. At times it was hard for me to be creative and come up with ideas during class. I learned so much about myself and socialization through this project. It has really opened my eyes to how much everyone is socialized everyday. Also, all your actions and words affect someone, negatively and positively. Overall I think this is a wonderful introduction to Animas High School.
This socialization project was supposed to open our eyes to how we’ve been socialized in our life so far. The essay was about how, who and why we’ve been socialized in our set identities. We analyzed our life and everything that has happened to us that has influenced who we are today. We were supposed to use evidence to support our ideas of socialization. Our mask was then supposed to complement our essay, highlighting the social identities we have each been categorized in. We made the mask from scratch, forming it to our face and from there we had a lot of freedom as to what we would put on our mask. Painting, mod-podge, physical objects, whatever represented how you’d been socialized and who you’ve in the process. The mask and essays are going to be displayed in the public library for all to see.
In order to create an essay to the best of our ability we went through many processes of refinement. To start, we used the TEA (topic, evidence and analysis) paragraph structure, we had to have at least two pieces of evidence in each paragraph. It helped me a lot to write the topic sentences for each paragraph before I added other content. After we had three to four body paragraphs we then started on our Introduction and Conclusion paragraphs. I learned the main points to cover in an introductory paragraph. I also learned an easy way to cite my evidence with in-text citations.Then it was corrected by Matt a couple times, and then further edited by our peers. I really feel like with all my refinement and corrections made by my teacher, peers and myself, the essay is the best it can be.
I am proud of how I did on this project. I think I put my best effort into it and I put a lot of time into it as well. This project really showed how much my past school’s rigorous ways have paid off and prepared me for high school. I think this was a great first project. I am looking to improve on being more focused and productive in class. At times it was hard for me to be creative and come up with ideas during class. I learned so much about myself and socialization through this project. It has really opened my eyes to how much everyone is socialized everyday. Also, all your actions and words affect someone, negatively and positively. Overall I think this is a wonderful introduction to Animas High School.