2. Living in a country that is tremendously diverse is an aspect that I believe America is
lucky to witness. America is a country that is opened to many religions and cultures which is
quite unique. Prior to taking this class, my feelings towards diverse appearances have not
changed much than my feelings before but I can admit I do have a deeper appreciation towards
diverse appearances than I did beforehand. At this point in my life I have gained so much
respect to those of other cultures and those with “out of the norm” appearances because it takes
great courage to stand for your beliefs knowing you will be judged. I feel that all individuals are
different no matter the race or religion. Analyzing the economic, social, cultural, and
psychological factors that influence dress caused me to respect diverse appearances even more.
This class has opened my eyes to see people for who they are internally before making a
judgment based solely off appearance. It has actually made me more aware of my personal
values and biases. I believe in the saying do not judge a book by its cover because there are
countless numbers of amazing people that are frowned upon based on their external appearance
alone and I believe that is not fair. I have developed an understanding of the effects that
appearance has on an individual as well as the effects it has on others. I believe that everyone
was uniquely created and everyone serves a different person. There are things that people do to
alter their appearance as well and there are some things that people cannot change about their
physical appearance and also things that people will do to change their appearance based on their
cultural beliefs. Being informed and properly educated of different beliefs and reasoning of why
individuals partake in certain procedures and changes is very helpful and causes me to be slow to
judge someone just by looking at their outer appearance.
One of the first in-class assignments that we did we had to engage in conversation with
someone in the class whom we have not met. Partnering with someone that you’ve never met
3. makes you judge and try to figure out their personality and lifestyle based off of their appearance
in class on that day. The activity became more intense when we were asked to stand toe to toe
with our partner, which caused the class to feel uncomfortable by looking at the expressions on
everyone’s faces because as Americans we felt that out personal space was invaded because our
culture is not accustomed to greeting a stranger so closely. This simple activity made me put
things into perspective that I did not put in greater thought beforehand. It was a great way to
show the difference between cultures. I also think the pictorial collage was another helpful tool
for us an individual to reflect upon who we really. As much as we think we may know ourselves
sometimes it takes a reflection to actually analyze things about ourselves that we didn’t know
before. Having to visually depict ‘I believe’ statements about myself actually was more difficult
at first than I had anticipated. Seeing pictures in class of people who were far from the norm just
by looking at their appearance transformed my understanding as well. For example, the
Venezuela Vampire, she was a very different individual that looks very odd because she has
tattoos covering her face, neck and head and piercings who looks very scary and confusing. Later
after judging her by her appearance we find out that she’s a lawyer and she began her body
transformation following her abusive divorce, and has four children. She says that warriors get
tattoos on their faces and she is a warrior for her children after being abused. I was stunned after
hearing this because just by looking at her I would have never thought she was a lawyer at just
35 years old. She did not do this to her body without reason; she had a message behind her story.
As we as individuals develop we are growing older and wiser. We are producing our own
personal stories in order to gain a better understanding of who we are. This class has enabled me
to understand how appearance communicates who you are and what you value. As this class
progressed I saw the importance of diverse appearances as I saw hoe appearance communicates
4. who individuals are as well. Understanding diverse appearances does lead to valuing appearance
diversity through a pluralistic perspective. This class allowed me to reflect upon how cultural,
economic, and psychological values and beliefs affect who we are as an individual and my
personal appearance. Most of all I learned more about reflecting upon myself.
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