This is the beginning of a journal which we are required to keep for this class. In it, we are supposed to record our thoughts, ideas and reactions regarding what we discuss in each class period. I thought this to be a most appropriate item for my website, so this is where I will record it, and print it later to hand in.
Today, we went over some primary concepts and definitions upon which we will build the class. I won't go into these, just now, but they may come up later in the journal entry(s). We discussed how dress is any modification which we make to our bodies in order to alter our natural appearance. We further discussed how society and culture influence our dress, and that our dress has meaning in the way that it defines who we are. We talked about stereotyping, prejudice, hegemony, ethnocentricity, and pluralism.
I have to say that this course is already making me question my motivations for wearing what I do, for cutting my hair the way I do, and for all the other things which I do to alter my appearance. It is making me question what is right and what is wrong, and how I view not only people around me, but the world in general.
Dress defines who we are. It says something about our identity and our place in the world. It can define our age, social status, financial status, education, religious background, the type of friends with whom we associate, and dozens of other factors which identify us. Our textbook suggests that we must become less ethnocentric and more pluralistic. That is, we must judge others less by our own cultural standards and beliefs, and be more accepting of the differences (without necessarily wanting to adopt those differences).
I feel that care needs to be taken in accepting the differences of others. This includes acceptance of dress. It is possible that the proliferation of certain dress standards could pose a danger to public health and/or safety. They could prove psychologically harmful to individuals and/or societies. Consider gang behavior and their identification with specific types of dress. Consider the danger of infection caused by tatooing (hepititis, flesh-eating microbes), scarification, piercing, and branding.
The very young do not always consider the long term effects of what they do or how they dress. Young women do not consider how the way they dress will affect they young men around them, and vice-versa. Will someone lose a portion of their tongue because they chose to pierce it when it is in an orifice of the body which is teeming with bacteria? We have public service announcements on television which say, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Why? Isn't it just as much a person's right to drive drunk as it is to get a tatoo? Risks are associated with both behaviors. Some might argue that the drunk person might kill someone in a traffic accident, where the person getting a tatoo will not. Isn't it possible that a person getting a tatoo could contract hepititis and spread it to more people than might be killed in a car accident?
These are questions that I feel we need to ask ourselves as we become "less ethnocentric and more pluralistic." We certainly need to treat all people with respect and kindness. We certainly need to respect the beliefs and values of others, but as the old saying goes, 'your right to throw a punch ends where my nose begins." That includes my acceptance of others' dress.
I may be wrong, and if I am, I pray to God that I will learn otherwise, but for now, I believe that wisdom and prudence should be used in acceptance of dress standards.
