Claire Leffler

How Society has Masked me

Socialization is the system of learning the norms and values of a culture. Five
main things socialize us, family, media, peers, religion and school, and will continue to
for the rest of our lives. The second we are born we are put into separate identity
categories based upon gender, race, class, ability, age and sexual orientation. From these
categories we are separated into agents and targets impacted by the culture we live in.
Agents are thought to have more power within a culture while targets have less. I have
been socialized into both agent and target groups all my life; my race and class are agents
while my gender and age are targets. With and without this way of socializing ourselves
and others it is still very difficult for me to figure out who I am. I have been socialized as
a female by the media to think that my appearance is the most valued part of me, to
ignore problems regarding racism, and to take certain advantages given to me by my
class, allowing an easier path to success.

Society has told me exactly how I should appear to others without acknowledging
how I may want to. I have been affected by these stereotypes in ways that have now
formed the way I think about others and myself. Since I am a girl, I have to talk like a
girl, act like a girl and dress like a girl. This has influenced me so much in these past
three years its almost unnoticeable anymore, I used to not care about how I looked
or acted, I usually took it for granted if someone didnt like the way I talked or
dressed, that was their problem not mine. However, now that Im in high school I
can definitely see a change, I suddenly care about how I look, dress and act, and I
cant even tell why I care so much but I do. About the time I started watching TV
shows, movies, looking through magazines and looking at advertising in a different
way is when I started taking my appearance more seriously. From the video Miss
Representation by Jennifer Siebel, quote its all about the body not about the brain
and as a culture women are brought up to be fundamentally insecure express how
women are thought of by the media. The media has influenced me in ways I didnt
even know were possible, sneaking in advertisements and magazine images that
have shaped the way I now look. It is now up to me to change the way I see myself
through the eyes of others and make a difference in the way our society thinks about
women.

I have been handed small almost unnoticeable advantages all my life, because of
the color of my skin. I was never socialized to think about my race on a regular basis and
neither were any of my peers and other people around me. There has always been a little
bit of tension towards the topic when it is brought up in conversations. From the article
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McLintosh she states
I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in
individual acts of meanness by members of my group. This quote helps me better
understand I have little experience with stereotypes regarding race, I am a white
American girl, I usually take it for granted, without even thinking about simple acts that
can be considered privileges. People are put down and brought up by both negative and
positive stereotypes; some are used to reflect peoples differences in good and bad ways.
In the video A Girl Like Me a group of African American girls, with strong opinions
Claire Leffler

about their race, are interviewed on their perspective about their skin color. These
are some of the harsh stereotypes that they are told about themselves light skin is a
sign of beauty, dark skin is a sign of ugliness one of the young girls states. These
stereotypes about African Americans have shaped the way I think about people. I
see myself looking at some people in negative and positive ways only because of
their skin color. Sometimes we strive for diversity and other times we strive for equality
finding the happy medium can be much harder than it sounds. Changing small messages,
young people receive, in advertisements and magazine can have a huge effect on
stereotypes about race and change the way we think about different people.

I was born into a middle class family that has given me obvious advantages in
life and a different perspective on wealth equality in America. Based upon class, how
much money you have, what education you will get, how socialization will impact
you and overall who you will be, are immediately decided for you. If you are born
into a lower class your perspective on life will most likely be much different from
someone born into a higher class. I was born into a middle class family. The
expectations that have been set for me are the standards. I have not been socialized
to completely ignore these advantages given to me. It is obvious that I have been
given different types of opportunities, traveling, art classes, and other expensive
after school activities, than other people around me. Wealth equality in America has
always been a big problem; class heavily impacts our part in society and how we are
treated throughout life. In the video Wealth Equality in America some of the facts
stated are; 92% out of about 5,000 Americans believe that wealth in the US should
be distributed more equitable, 1% of America has 40% of the nations wealth while
the bottom 80% of America only has 7% of the nations wealth. The reality in this
country is not at all what we think it is. These facts just prove how dramatically
different Americas perspective on wealth distribution is from the reality. This topic
has never impacted the way I think about my class before because I dont have to
pay taxes yet. Since I have been socialized in a middle class, the message I have been
given is that the amount of an income you receive should define how much taxes
you should pay, even though my family would be paying more taxes than some
people, they still think its the right thing to do. Many more doors have been open
for me that will most likely be providing a better future for me only because of my
class. Our problems regarding money in the US will probably never be completely
solved, however what we make of the class we are born into will impact our lives in
unimaginable ways.

There are two genders in our culture today, combining them into equals is just not
possible because there will always be a difference, however we can eliminate the strict
stereotypes that are holding back power from one or the other. We cannot change the
color of our skin or the diversity of our backgrounds, but we can change how we perceive
each other and look at our differences. Your class does not define who you are but it can
impact who you will one day become. Without different classes in the US our lives would
be too similar. We will never be able to change who we are but we can change how we
think about each other and ourselves. Changing this constant cycle of how we are
socialized is even more difficult than it sounds but its still not impossible.
Claire Leffler

My mask represents many different concepts towards how I was socialized
through a variety of symbols. The eye on my mask shows how I was socialized by
the media to believe that my appearance is the most important part of me. Covering
up womens faces, in the media with makeup and jewels to hide who they really are.
The glass on the edge expresses how we are shielded from racism and blocked from
seeing the privileges that are handed to us because of race. The warm colors and
strait lines on my mask represent I was given clear and direct path to success
because I am in the middle class. While the cool colors and swirls represent how
lower class people are given unclear and less obvious advantages towards success.
Its not about how I need to be or who I could have been, if I werent socialized in
this way, but who I am now and everything that has led up to it.