Toddlers in Tiaras

Toddlers in Tiaras is a television show on TLC. This reverts back to my points about beauty pageants; they are demeaning at any age. The thing that makes a toddler beauty pageant different from an adult one is that fact that they are learning from a young age that they need to worry about what they look like at all times and must be perfect. Children shouldn't be raised to be concerned about if their makeup is perfect or if they are skinny enough. Making these young little girls participate seems like it shouldn't be allowed. All little kids are cute, how can you pick the cutest 4 year old with pounds of makeup and hairspray on her face and in her hair. Children are pure and beautiful and putting them through the competitions is assuring that they will grow up to be concious of every move they make. Not that being concious of your actions is a bad thing, but you should be able to make your own decision about what you care about and don't care about once you're older and mature. As an teenager and legal adult I can say that there are things I do not like about myself, but that is because I've formed those opinions on my own. My parents never would influence my thoughts about how I look at myself which is what these parents are doing to these young girls that they put in beauty pageants- raising them to believe beauty is all about what's on the outside.


-Carly

Reality Television

I feel like reality television is not reality at all. Just as much as television shoes with scripts pick "pretty" people to play main parts, reality television works the same. Let's take the Real World for example; the people on it are always good looking. Millions of people turn in crazy videos to try to get themselves casted for the Real World, but no one unattractive is ever casted. They say you get casted because of diversity and spunk, but they cannot deny that looks have something to do with it. People watch televisione enough and see scripted things that make them think twice about the way they look and they want to see real people on "reality" televsion, but even that can't happen. Some might be excited for a reality show to come on because they want to see how other normal, real people live their lives when the "reality" of it all is that it's not real.



Real World Las Vegas

-Carly

Beauty Pageants

Beauty pageants make girls feel like they need to be perfect. It's a competition of who is prettier and better. I feel as though they are extremely demeaning. They are competitions that require you to pass a preliminary round to make sure you have the right qualities to continue. Why are there only pageants for girls that are considered "beautiful" by others in society? Everyone is equally beautiful and there shouldn't be requirements on how you look to be able to participate. The looking glass self plays role because if a girl goes to tryout for a beauty pageant and doesn't make the next round or gets turned down from even participating it could make them feel really bad about themselves. Others shouldn't have the right to judge if someone is good enough for something. A beauty pageant should reflect inner beauty. The only part of these pageants that I somewhat respect is the talent portion. That is something that does not reflect looks whatsoever and truly shows something that the person is good at. It allows them to show off the inner beauty and not just the outer.


-Carly

Halloween

I began to wonder, is it possible that people love the holiday Halloween so much because they have a chance to dress up in a new character? A chance to be someone else for a night? Is this why so many girls dress in small dresses and heels? Because on any given night, most girls would not dress in this manner, they would be talked about behind their backs and stereotyped. On Halloween, however, no one would say a thing about what anyone looks like. I think people love halloween for this reason. It makes me think of the looking glass self because in a way it is the exact opposite of what the looking glass self is. The looking glass self is how a person thinks others feel and think about them, but on halloween, no one really cares.



-Anna

Boys

According to wikipedia, components of looking glass self are:

1. We imagine how we must appear to others.
2. We imagine the judgment of that appearance.
3. We develop our self through the judgments of others

With that said, sadly enough to admit, I have had an experience where a boy made me change how I felt about myself. He broke up with me for another girl, which made me wonder what was wrong with me, or what was better about her. So I began to compare myself to other girls around me, and want to look differently, because I felt as if I was not good enough. After a few weeks I realized that was very dumb of me, and I got over the boy and knew it was his own fault, not mine. But, at the time, I was wondering how I appeared to this boy, which made me negatively depict my own looks. 

-Anna

Mirrors

A few weeks ago I went home for my grandmothers funeral. I met an extremely interesting man there, he is my fathers cousin's husband. The man and his wife, my father's cousin, take trips to Africa every once in a while. They were talking to my brother and I about the experiences they had there. They told us that so many children in Africa live in orphanages, due to the fact that everyone has AIDS. The married couple goes to the orphanages and visits the children and tries to help them out in all the ways that they can. They told us that they took around a Polaroid camera, and took individual pictures of all of the children. The children had never seen their reflection before they saw these Polaroid pictures. This really got to me, I got to thinking about our society and how much we care about our looks. I think if our society was not so concerned with how we look at every second, then we could potentially be a lot happier. To think about never seeing what I look like until I was younger is an insane thought, but this is these kids life. It made me think of how much I have and how lucky I am, but at the same time how conceited I can be. If i was not so concerned about what I looked like and looking in a mirror every few hours, I would probably be happier.

-Anna

Make up and Magazines

Besides looking through magazines and wishing one looked like the airbrushed famous people in them, I have seen a few positive things about magazines. I love when there are issues in magazines where women pose for pictures of themselves without makeup. This makes girls around the world feel better about themselves, because they realize that these celebrities are indeed human beings, and do not always look gorgeous because most of the time they have tons of make up on.

In these pictures is Eva Longoria, a beautiful actress. She was brave enough to pose without make up. One can really see a difference in a real life photo of this woman without make up and a posed photo with her make up and hair professionally done. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the women who do this.


-anna 

IT ALL DEPENDS...

So the big picture of the looking-glass self is that we create a self-image and behave based upon what other people think of us, but how do we know how people will react? How people are going to judge you is based on many things: age, gender, where you live, where you grew up, who your friends are, religion, culture, personal values, etc. Like I mentioned in the "Fake Bake" entry, people used to view tanned skin as a bad thing, because it meant you carried a low socioeconomic status. A simple example I think most people can relate to is their personal style vs. their parents' styles. Specifically, ripped jeans.

This was definitely a trend followed by the younger generation. Most adults don't like this look because they think it looks bad, or not well put together. When I've worn ripped jeans, adults always say, "Did you pay money for those? That's how my jeans look after 10 years." But ripped jeans are a style of my generation and since the views of my classmates matter more to me than the views of my parents and their friends, I choose to wear ripped jeans.

Another example is "big butts." When I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, my older sister (at the time, around 24) was getting ready to go out. She put a pair of jeans on, looked in the mirror, then turned to me and said, "Does my butt look big?" I told her no and she kept asking if I was sure, because she didn't want her butt to look big. Now, a lot of females (my generation, especially) take it as a compliment if they have a big butt! People are getting butt implants, jeans are made to give the appearance of a big butt, and rappers such as Lil Wayne rap about "fat asses." Because women now get the impression that men like big butts, they embrace it and might behave or dress in ways to draw attention to their behinds. These are just a few examples of how your age, culture and personal beliefs affect how others look at you therefore affecting how you look at yourself.

-Mallory

Magazines

Magazines are another widely spread tactic of making people feel bad about themselves. Magazines do not intentionally make people feel this way, but it happens. Girls and guys flip through magazines and see images of what they wish they were when in reality what they are seeing is not even real. All magazines use airbrushing and thinning programs before they publish their magazines to make the magazine itself look better. It effects the looking glass self because people may feel just fine about themselves, but after seeing all of the "perfect" people they start to question themselves which isn't okay.



-Carly

Facebook

Facebook can have a large impact on how girls feel about themselves. Facebook is one of the easiest places you can be bullied. It is very simple to post a comment on someones photos making them feel bad or making rude sneers on other peoples pages. Facebook is supposed to be a way people can connect with eachother and view updated pictures, statuses, or say a friendly hello on each other's walls. However, Facebook has recently taken a turn for the worst. There is no filter of what can be posted and you have no control over what people say. You are only in control of deleting something if it is posted on your Facebook or you're the one that posted it. Other than that you are not in control whatsoever of what people say. If girls or even guys are going around looking at other guys or girls Facebooks it is more likely that they may feel envious of something on that person's page. Facebook is rapidly growing as a place where nothing is censored and people's feeling are meaningless. There is even a group on Facebook called "The Prettiest Girls" and the description is that you may join in you are pretty and to invite only the prettiest girls you know to join. It's a rude and demeaning concept because everyone is pretty in their own way.


-Carly

FAKE BAKE

Having tan skin hasn't always been known to people as beautiful. Tanned skin was once a sign of lower-class because having tan skin meant someone worked outside all day. According the wikipedia page about tanning, Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburnt during the 1920's on her trip to the French Riviera. People liked the way it looked and the trend caught on. In the 1980's, tanning beds became popular. They were a quick, easy way to get "some color." As the tanning trend grew, people felt they looked better with darker skin and thought other people felt the same way. This caused people to keep tanning and encouraged young people to start tanning. Scientists started discovering that laying under the UV lights caused cancer. Even after this discovery, people continued to tan. Why? They liked the way they looked and they liked the way other peopled looked at them. A perfect example is the MTV icons from Jersey Shore, who coined the term, "GTL," meaning Gym Tan Laundry. The cast members make it clear that they are only pleased with the way they look when tan and that they think tan people are beautiful. Because viewers look up to these people, it encourages them to tan, regardless of the risks. There is now a safe alternative to the tanning beds: spray tans. It is just a color that is sprayed on and looks like a natural tan. Although they are growing popular, people continue to choose tanning beds. Why? Probably because spray tans are expensive and only last about week. People want the more quality and bang for their buck choice (especially in this economy) even though cancer is a big consequence, all to be "beautiful."

-Mallory

LOOKING-GLASS SELF IN-DEPTH

The looking-glass self is the idea that what we think about ourselves is based upon what others think of us. We imagine how we appear to others, we interpret others' reactions to our actions, and then we develop a self-concept, which defines our behavior. A simple example would be one's gender, I'll use female. For the most part, women imagine that other's see them as a woman. Some women might think other's see them as pretty, ugly, fat, funny, slutty, athletic, etc. If a woman joins the school wrestling team (something someone would classify as something a male would do) people are likely to react in a negative way, maybe by calling her a man and making other rude jokes. She will interpret these reactions and develop a self-concept. She might develop a self-concept that makes her think she is masculine. This would cause her to behave "manly" by possibly cutting her hair short or taking on a style considered "tomboy." On the other hand, she might develop a self-concept and think, "I don't want people to see me as a boy because I'm not." This could could cause her to behave more feminine: dressing in skirts, wearing makeup, etc. Whichever behavior the woman chooses, she will then imagine how people see her and the cycle continues. Sometimes there are outside forces, such as where the girl goes to school.

-Mallory

TWITTER

Many people think Twitter is just a place for people to follow celebrities to know about their whereabouts or upcoming news. It is quickly catching on just like Facebook did and now all types of people are using Twitter. This is a great example of the looking-glass self for multiple reasons. One reason is that your tweets directly affect how people see you based on how frequent you tweet and what you tweet about. People might think you're funny, annoying, have good taste in music, etc. If people "favorite" or "re-tweet" your tweets or tweet you back then you know people enjoy looking at your Twitter which will cause you to keep tweeting. Another reason this is a good example of looking-glass self is how many "followers" you have. If someone has a lot of followers, they might feel confident and that think that people care about what they have to say. Some people are so concerned about being dropped by followers (aka "un-followed") that there are websites to track if people unfollow them.

-Mallory

POSITIVE SIDE

The looking glass self can also have some positive sides to it. If you think about it, people are still judging you and looking at you, but for example, if you lose weight, you will think to yourself, people are seeing me as a skinnier person and it feels good to think about that. Or maybe if you get a new haircut and you really like it, you will feel better about yourself when people comment on your haircut and tell you that they like it.

-Stephanie

STAGE FRIGHT

The other day in class I had to do a presentation in front of my whole class. I get really worried about doing these because I feel that everyone in staring at me and judging me. I know that when other people are doing presentations, I do the same thing to them, which is not fair. I feel that when I am standing up there, all eyes are on my hair, my outfit, the way I look in general and it makes me feel very self conscious.

-Stephanie

STEROTYPES

Sterotypes are a large contributor to the looking glass self. People are often judged not even by there appearance, but by the activities that they are involved in. For example, in high school I was a cheerleader, I feel that people often judged me right off the bat simply because I was wearing my cheer uniform. They  may have said that I am stuck up, preppy, annoying and peppy, and an air head. One time we were doing an exercise in class called "I believe that...." and everyone got to fill in the rest of the sentence, one girl stood up and said, I believe that all cheerleaders are air heads. This really made me angry, I stood up in class and said actually I have a better GPA than you do and more than 80 percent of the cheerleaders have over a 3.2 GPA so you don't even know what you are talking about.  I got judged for how smart others see me just because I enjoy an activity, which is absolutely ridiculous.

-Stephanie 

Gas Prices on the Rise

Gas is $3.50 a GALLON????? Wait, so college students, who do not have money coming out of their ears, are supposed to pay almost 4 bucks for one gallon of gas? Ridiculous, honestly. Having my car available down here in Athens makes it a lot easier to travel home, or to places of emergency. It is a complete tragedy that we have to pay so much for one tiny gallon of gas. Most cars do not get over 20 mph for each gallon. My car does not get over about 16. The state and gasoline oil companies have completely taken away the choice for people to drive. Many are turning to public transportation. Competition between oil companies such as Marathon and BP are fighting for low gas prices to attract consumers. This example represents Tragedy of the Commons on a college aspect.

-Chelsea

Facebook No No's

People are judged daily because of what is seen on a person's Facebook page. This is a social networking site designed to keep people in touch of their lives. What we see online is not 100% what the person is like or made out to be. Judging people's pages, pictures, statuses, links, and so forth does not represent what the Looking Glass Self is all about.

-Chelsea

Dumb Blondes

A stereotype many people are accustomed to is "dumb blonde." This stereotype is completely false. It is not right to classify someone as being dumb because of their hair color or what is socially acceptable through the media. Movies, commercials, TV, music, pictures, and so on, have only increased the number of possible attacks against blondes. The Looking Self Theory shows that stereotypes are to be avoided.

-Chelsea

No Water?

A few weeks back, a big portion of Ohio Univeristy experienced a boiler alert where we were not able to drink the water for the week. Living on west green, we were forced to not use the water except to shower. They provided us with free water, but after a day, we did not have a water supply to get us through the alert. We were only allowed one water bottle per person, however, the supplies were limited. This is an example of the Tragedy of the Commons which is represented through the Looking Self Theory.

-Chelsea

BARBIE

Girls are constantly being reminded that they do not look how the most "beautiful people" in the world look. Just watch about 5 minutes of TV. Wether its commercials, shows, movies, or magazines and adds, we are surrounded by unrealistic beautiful people. This tends to shape girls minds to think "this is how I should look, this is how i want to look." Statistics from http://www.teen-beauty-tips.com/barbie-body-image.html show that only 1 in 100,000 girls actually have the body type that Barbie would have if she was a real women. It's sad that Barbie is "ideal look" for women, and that so few women actually can achieve the look of her. This can really effect girls self esteem and how they think about there body image because they feel that other people do not see them as beautiful, as skinny enough, or with enough curves.

-Stephanie 

DIGITAL REALITY

There is a boy who lives in my mod, but rarely leaves his room. Occasionally I'll go into his room to talk to him and be friendly. He's always playing a video game on his computer. In the game before you can even start playing you must make a profile for yourself. In this profile you can make your character anything you want it to be. You choose the hair color, eye color, body build, name, and description of personality. His character in the game is a buff, great looking guy. In real life, he's a tall and skinny kid who is very quiet. I came to the conclusion that he stays in his room all the time to play this game because he likes who he is in the game. He likes the person that he has created better than he likes himself. So, to escape the trials of real life he pretends he is someone else in a game world. This relates to the looking glass self because he likes how he is seen better by his online opponents then people in his real life. I believe that girls do this too, but more in their heads. Girls will always wish something about themselves was different and maybe even try to pretend that it is.

-Carly

EATING HABITS

In our health class, we had to record what we ate and how much we exercised for 3 days. After this was recorded, in class, everyone got someone else's data and analyzed it. Names were not on the data, but the person received their feedback after it was analyzed. Our teacher had us look at the person's food consumed each day and write down what they were eating that was wrong, and what they needed to eat more of. At the end, she had us write a paragraph saying what this person needed to be eating. It was basically critiquing a person's diet, which in some cases, can be very personal to someone, especially girls. When I got my feedback I had a paragraph written about what I was eating too much of that was bad for me and how I needed to exercise more. This actually put me down, even though it was just an attempt to allow people to realize how to be healthier, it still affected how I felt about myself that day, and made me think about what others think about what I look like because I had not as healthy eating habits as I should.

- Anna

GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS

I'm a natural redhead. When I was younger, older women always used to tell me how lucky I was to have red hair and how much they wished they had my hair color. As I got older, I realized people my age didn't exactly feel that way and I got made fun of a lot. I recently had a boyfriend and one of his female friends didn't like us dating. She made the comment, "Have fun with your ginger girlfriend."

-Mallory

OPERATION BEAUTIFUL

Around campus, we have noticed a group who leaves motivational messages specifically on our bathroom mirrors. The group can be found at www.operationbeautiful.com Some of their messages include, "You're fabulous!," "Smile girl, you're great!," and "Go out and show people why you are the way you are." These messages help to boost self-esteem and many other internal factors. The looking glass self is represented through this campus group.


-Chelsea