ENC1101 Sample Paper One Appearance Discrimination in APA format(1) PDF

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Professor Skolnick; This is just a sample paper for MLA format and how your paper should be....

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Paper One: Appearance, Stereotypes, and Identity Jane Smith Palm Beach State College ENC 1101 Professor Skolnick September 25, 2018

2 Paper One: Appearance, Stereotypes, and Identity How often, today, do we find ourselves watching the people around us? As we watch, what information do we gather? What information do we use to interpret what we know about those around us? Every day individuals are moving about with their daily lives and constantly meeting and seeing new people. In today’s world, with the use of social media and technology, all kinds of people from all parts of the world are engaging and interacting with one another. People can travel all over the world and see unfamiliar faces. However, some of those people are quick to judge others that seem foreign to them depending on how they look. Two authors who examine these views are David Kirby and Deborah Rhode. David Kirby writes an essay called, “Inked Well,” where he talks about the controversy of tattoos and how people perceive them today. Deborah Rhode writes an essay called, “Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of Discrimination,” where she addresses the controversy of appearance-based discrimination today and how this discrimination leads to inequality in work environments. These authors highlight the struggle between individual beliefs and the societal power structures that influence what beliefs and values are deemed acceptable. In today’s society, we all make judgements about ourselves and about how others appear to us. With all the interactions we have today through social media, our once-fixed perceptions about people and our world today are constantly changing and becoming more fluid as generational and cultural views continue to evolve. In our society today, we use appearance as the basis to judge others by the way they look physically. We look at a person’s outfit or complexion to get a read on who they might be. We look at a person’s height, weight, clothes, whether they have tattoos or not, in order to understand them without using verbal communication to hear what they have to say about themselves. In David Kirby’s essay, he states, “in addition to being nasty and unsanitary, tattoos only grace the

3 skins of either bottom feeders or those who want to pretend they are” (Kirby, 2018, p. 692). With this phrase, Kirby is stating a conception he has of certain people who have tattoos. He is saying that a person with a tattoo is a bad person or a criminal. This is Kirby judging a person without getting to know them solely based on the fact that they have a tattoo. He is mis-judging a person because of the notion that if a person has a tattoo then they are a criminal or “bottom feeder.” This shows that people can judge others easily by the way they look and what they have on their body, such as a tattoo. Also, another way that people can judge others is not by what they have on their body but of how their body looks. This is mentioned in Deborah Rhode’s essay, “...an obese woman was rejected for a job as a bus driver when a company doctor assumed she was not up to the task after watching her, in his words, ‘waddling down the hall’” (Rhode, 2018, p. 239). This shows how someone can quickly judge a person and have a possibly wrong conception about them just because of the way they looked. Rhode is showing here that the doctor was too quick to judge this woman based on her weight, making the assumption that she is not fit for the job since she is too fat. This shows that the doctor could have misjudged the woman, maybe the woman was capable of handling the job despite her weight, and the doctor judged her too quickly based on her obese-looking body. With today’s growing society, we are constantly seeing many types of people of all colors and sizes. But we are still too quick to judge and make an assumption about a person by the way they appear, rather than who they are. Our rapid judgement about others’ lives and character, based solely on how they appear to us, makes for a lot of controversy. People start making assumptions of others when they look at them, possibly without getting to know them first. This could lead to discrimination and miscommunication between people, especially with all the changing trends of today’s society we could continue to

4 make misconceptions of others based on how they look, rather than of who they really are and how they truly act. Social media, celebrities, famous people, influential figures, and many more are the ones who determine acceptable ideas of beauty today. With today’s easy access to social media sites and apps, people are able to influence others about their own ideas of beauty and how others should look. With that, peoples’ views on beauty change the way we see others and it gives us a notion that some people seem approachable, while others do not, due to whether they are attractive or not. This type of judging a person based on their beauty or attractiveness can be seen in Rhode’s essay, “When researchers ask people to evaluate written essays, the same material receives lower ratings for ideas, style, and creativity when an accompanying photograph shows a less attractive author” (Rhode, 2018, p. 241). Rhode is depicting that anyone can judge a person, based not only on who they are, but on their work and actions and whether they are attractive or unattractive. Rhode is showing that we have a set notion of who is truly seen as attractive and who is not. With that notion, people are using it to judge a person and have an idea of who they are based on how they look and where they fit on the beauty scale. In Rhode’s (2018) essay, she states, “Good-looking professors get better course evaluations from students; teachers in turn rate good-looking students as more intelligent” (p. 241). With this quote, Rhode is showing that people, even teachers, judge others based on how attractive they are. Beauty is a big deal in today’s society and people are constantly making assumptions about others based on how they look, if they are well-put together, and if they have the qualifying beauty marks. In our society today, social media is an influential and popular trend that everyone is using. People are able to follow the latest topics and keep track of important issues and trends, such as politics, fashion, music, and acting. With the influence and involvement of famous figures, people are able to have

5 different notions about other people’s looks and judge them, not just about what they have on their body, such as tattoos or their style of clothing, but by their beauty. This is another type of emphasis on appearance-based discrimination; others judge people’s beauty and appearance and decide what kind of person they are based on their looks. But beauty and attractiveness depend on how a person perceives beauty and what they know or believe beauty is. In today’s society, views about who’s attractive and what an attractive person should like is a trending issue. It is common through social media sites, and directed by celebrities, singers, and famous people who constantly change society’s views on attractiveness and what is seen as beautiful. Appearance based interpretations of others can lead to stereotypes when average people are influenced or swayed to view certain people in a certain way. People all over the world can be influenced through social media sites inputting ideas and views on people that spread and become the norm. People start to follow the norm, which becomes a stereotype, when people continue to judge others and make false notions about them based on the popular view that they should act or be a certain way. And people start to follow the stereotype and judge others without really knowing them because that is how they now view that person or group of people. In Kirby’s essay, he states, “... I used to think tattoos were for either lowlifes or those who wanted to pretend they were, but my mind now stands changed by the thoughtful, articulate people I talked to and the spectacular designs that had been inked into their bodies” (Kirby, 2018, p. 694). In this statement, Kirby is acknowledging that he believed a certain stereotype about people who have tattoos. He is admitting to believing and following a stereotype that classified people with tattoos as criminals and dirty crooks. Due to Kirby following this stereotype he judged everyone he saw had a tattoo and misjudged them, believing that they were bad people and have probably done something wrong in their life or are in the process of doing so. This mis-conception lead

6 Kirby to perceive those with tattoos as unlawful and dirty people. In Rhode’s essay, she too points out how judgements by a person’s appearance are connected with common stereotypes. In her essay, Rhode (2018) states, “... L'Oréal executive who was sued for sex discrimination in 2003 after allegedly ordering a store manager to fire a salesperson who was not ‘hot’ enough” (p. 241). In this statement, Rhode is making clear that because of the way we judge others based on how they look, stereotypes have taken place and are always occurring in our society today. We have a set notion that people should look a certain way or if they have nice clothes and style, then they are seen as attractive and classy. Whereas, a casual sense of style with ragged clothes is seen as less attractive. For example, a basic stereotype of fashion, the more expensive clothes, shoes, and cars someone has the more attractive they seem, and the more attention and admiration they get. With the use of social media, people are persuaded by certain views about different races, ethnicities, styles, weight, height, and many more features that depict how a person is judged based on how they appear. These widespread views are turning into norms that basic people all around the world follow, whether they want to or not because it’s just what they’ve heard or seen constantly. People make judgements about others without knowing them personally, just by the way they appear and the stereotype those people associate them with. In our society, social media has swayed people in various directions, making it possible for people to constantly judge anyone that walks in their path. This judgement based on appearance and common stereotypes, is leading people to feel insecure and ashamed of who they are. Also, it makes us see others, not just as another human being, but as a specific stereotype or category whenever we look at them. Judging based on looks is the norm in today’s society, and the norm is constantly changing and increasing. People start to doubt themselves and those around them, as well as people become self-conscious because they too know their classification in society.

7 They see themselves the way others might see them, whether it be good or bad, and this creates conflict and mis-understandings. Stereotypes change and evolve as society as a whole transform, as well as social media’s views vary. People can be open-minded and not always fall prey to the norm or the stereotypes perceived by others and social media sites. People can learn to not judge others right away just by the way they appear, they can follow a notion that to judge someone, you should get to know them first. People should stop following the lives of celebrities and basing their expectations to them. Because all people are different and two different looking people can look different on the outside but as you look deeper in, you can find they are completely the same. The way stereotypes and peoples’ views on them can change or evolve is mentioned in Rhode’s essay when she states, “Conventional wisdom holds that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but most beholders tend to agree on what is beautiful” (Rhode, 2018, p. 240). In this statement Rhode is basically saying that stereotypes and common views about beauty and attractiveness is not decided by others’ views and what is the norm, but by each individual separately. Rhode is stating that an individual can see someone that is super attractive to them, while another individual can look at that same person and find them unattractive. Rhode is trying to put across that beauty is judged by each individual in their respective minds and whether or not they find certain people attractive or not. And this goes for anything some people can find certain celebrities as too ugly and un-classy, while others might adore those kinds of looks and style. In order to change, people need to evolve and not quickly follow every change in society’s trends about fashion, looks, weight, race, height, and ethnicity. Kirby also mentions the changes that have occurred in today’s society about tattoos and the common stereotypes of who gets them. In Kirby’s essay, he states, “These pioneers are ‘deterritorializing’ tattoos, in Ms. DeMello’s words,

8 liberating them from patriotic sailors and dim-bulb motorcycle thieves and making them available to soccer moms and dads” (Kirby, 2018, p. 694). Kirby is showing the change and evolvement that had occurred in the society of tattoos. The basic people have altered the stereotype and made it “ok” for normal, average, everyday people, who are seen as pure, to have and get tattoos. Kirby is stating that today anyone can get a tattoo and that people have seen those who have tattoos differently. This is because the criminal aspect of it has somewhat dimmed and became less of the major perception when it came to a person who had tattoos. Overall, the way stereotypes can change and evolve is through people’s acceptance of them and how people can change their own views about them. The only way to stop an occurring trend is to have a different view on it and accept that it is wrong or accept that it shouldn’t be the way we see others and judge them by it. Stereotypes change and evolve when a possibly new or better topic/idea comes along. Nowadays, people go with what’s trending and quickly become bias towards someone or something based on what others have commented about that certain issue or about who was wearing what at the MTV Awards. People go along with the recent trends on social media sites, while still holding on to old views. Old stereotypes might have not completely been outdated, but they could be changed and altered to fix the trends and views in today’s modern society. Even though people have changed somewhat drastically from the past. Even though people don’t discriminate the ways they used to against colored people, there are still discriminations that occur in today’s society. And even though we are in the modern era, there are new perceptions of people and stereotypes that are arising and changing everyday as people and social media grows. In today’s society people are still being judged by the way they look. With social media expanding and celebrities and other instagramers and youtubers spreading

9 their opinions and views on society, people are being impacted and swayed with their ideas and looks. Especially in our society today, people are quick to follow the latest trends about looks, fashion, food, music, race, height, weight, and ethnicity. Some people may claim they are not racist or they do not judge anyone about their looks or weight. But truthfully, don’t we all do that subconsciously? Don’t we all make rapid, and sometimes false, assumptions about the people around us? Don’t we stray away from the “ugly-looking” girls or guys and strive to be with the “rich and beautiful?” Because of our rapid assumptions and judgements about people based on how they appear, we lose friends, or we don’t make any. We also, miss an opportunity to meet a good person because we didn’t like the way they looked, or we got the wrong idea about them because of their skin tone or how they look like a particular ethnicity. This wrongful judgement of discriminating people, girls, guys, old, or young, based on how they appear to us, makes it difficult for our society today to be one with each other, mixing/interacting together, and getting to know one another before making a judgement based on their appearance.

References

10 Kirby, D. (2018). Inked well. In L. G. Kirszner & S. R. Mandell (Eds.), Patterns for college writing: A rhetorical reader and guide (14th ed., pp. 691-694). Bedford/St. Martin’s. Rhode, D. (2018). Why looks are the last bastion of discrimination. In L. G. Kirszner & S. R. Mandell (Eds.), Patterns for college writing: A rhetorical reader and guide (14th ed., pp. 239-242). Bedford/St. Martin’s....