Body And Society: People Are Always Judged By Their Body
As a citizen in a society stereotyping and judging others has become a norm. People's perspectives and judgments are based upon how you contradict their thoughts, beliefs, and culture. Everybody will be judged by their appearance and actions towards others. Many people will be judged positively or negatively depending on how the other thinks of them referring to their beliefs and standards put out by the society surrounding them. Personally, I have received many comments about my height and young appearance throughout my life, also my which directly gave the impression that I was weak.
All throughout my life I was taught to respect others and never think less of someone based on their appearance. Being called the short kid in school was not fun at all I was constantly made fun of and referred to as a kid, even in high school. Many of my peers did not take me seriously, hence I was always put down and I was unable to prove myself growing up because I lacked the self-confidence. Not only has it made my interaction with others awkward but it has really limited my sports achievements in school despite the fact that I excelled in soccer, basketball, and volleyball. I was always chosen last when picked for a team and barely made the tryouts. I was constantly judged by my coaches and teammates and seen as an incapable player.
For example, in grade 9 my soccer coach usually played me in the back when our corners were taken, however, I scored the header instead of our six-foot player. That was the only goal throughout the tournament. As a result, we lost the whole tournament because our coach depended on the height and appearance of the players not knowing that soccer is all about skills and strategic planning. Not only was I short but I was also young looking all throughout my school years and still am. I do not grow much facial hair allowing others to criticize me and mistake me for my actual age. I was often said to be two to three years younger than my actual age, which led to various unwanted situations. I would always be pulled over by police officers suspected to be an unlicensed driver and always being asked by my teachers if I was in the right class. I would sometimes be offered the child’s special when I go to restaurants with friends and family, which caused them to burst out in laughter. Situation after situation has brought me to the point where I actually felt like a kid who was never going to grow, all because I have minimal facial hair. It stresses me out when I meet new people thinking they will treat me differently because I look younger, for example, my interview in 2017 the interviewer treated me with total sympathy and asked me the easiest questions that a third grader could have answered.
Don’t get me wrong I love the easy way out of things, but I was clearly being treated differently and given an opportunity due to her judgment of my age which was completely wrong. My body played a big role in how people thought of me, however the way I dressed also gave different impressions towards me. Clothing in the United Arab Emirates is totally different than the fashion sense here in Canada, ranging from shoes to cultural symbols. In Dubai, our shoe game was mainly focused on soccer since it was the most popular sport back home, therefore I wore non-cleats soccer shoes to school and most of the students were looking at me weird since Jordan’s were the popular sports shoes. Many students thought I could not afford Jordan’s came to the conclusion that I moved to Canada because Dubai was too expensive for me. However, the shoes I wore were a lot more expensive than Jordan’s. The reason for my immigration was to gain access to better health care for my mother who suffers from a Spinal Cord Injury. It was also to get a better education because, in my opinion, Canada is the best place for it.
Also, I used to wear a necklace with a knife pendant which symbolizes power and has peaceful writings in Arabic across it. Every day I wore the necklace people would sort of move away and avoid me when I would talk to them. They seemed to be stressed and afraid. I received many hateful comments and one of the students even refused to shake my hand, all because of a necklace I wore. Speaking of culture and religion, I was always judged as being feminine or rebellious back home because I wore golden jewelry. It is frowned upon for men to wear yellow gold and gold jewelry is only suitable for women to wear. Societal perspectives and judgments are formed from culture, religious, and societal norms. These factors determine how a person will think or perceive certain aspects of your appearance. I have been judged based on my appearance and how I dress depending on others’ beliefs and ideas surrounding them. In my opinion, my body or appearance does not enable people to judge me, it’s the ideas put into the people's minds by various sources giving them the right to think a certain way towards someone and judge them. Depending on the people surrounding you and the cultural beliefs one's paradigm would be distinct from others, allowing them to look differently at others. If our beliefs were to be the same and everybody is on the same page there would be no such thoughts, and everybody would be considered equal. Therefore, the world with the various beliefs and traditions creates the sense of division, as a result, people get judged.
As I said in the past paragraph I was judged for wearing gold I was violating both cultural and religious traditions. People looked down on me because of an ideology or belief that has been passed down from their ancestors, by dressing the way I feel comfortable. My body leads me to be judged by contradicting one's belief or cultural standard which is not my fault, it’s just the way things are. As I was thought to be weak and incapable in sports, because of the way the media portrays players physique and creates standards to who can play or not. So if you don't fall under the categories laid out then your chances of getting on a team or having a chance to experience a sport to its full capacity are very minimal. In my opinion, the number one factor in providing standards in our life is the media.
The media categorizes people and divides us humans such as religion and the various cultures. However, the media attains most of the power in our day because it controls the present and ideologies. Therefore, to become an equal neutral society we must control the media and disable its effects towards us. In conclusion, at a point of everybody’s life, they will be judged. They will be judged by their appearance and other attributes because of contradicting the other’s beliefs and thoughts. The ideas and rules put in our heads from ancestors, media, or surroundings allow us to judge others and creates the sense of division in our world. Finally, we should drop these thoughts and think of each other as equals to become unified.
