Picture this. You are sitting in the school cafeteria / lounge / a place where a lot of students come on a daily basis. (PS: If you have graduated and sitting smugly in your cubicle, and not thinking of your presentation due on friday and your timesheet for last week, think back of the times when you were in school/university) Oh and btw limit your imagination to only US institutions (though this might be true now back home as well). Getting back.
Of course there will be a mixture of students, who bring their own vibrance to the atmosphere with their own dressing styles, the type of apparel, the type of accessories, their method of communication, their lingo's etc.
I am sure you will notice, not a couple but atleast a dozen examples of the proto-typical Girl who owns only those items that has atleast some dash of PINK. Such an example is right in front me right now, and there are daily sightings of such creatures in many a classes. I have had many an arguments with my 2B, on why girls distinctly favor the color PINK and not only that but why do they insist on getting everything in this color. Right from cellphone covers to dresses to purses to backpack's to hats to shoes and the list goes on.
To me anything thats a little faded than rose-red is Pink. That's when I got a small but not too small a lecture on what constitutes Pink and why must a girl have all shades on pink in her attire. I must say I cannot relate to any of that.
My question finally is this - is this discrimination against all other colors (though the color Black might in fact be way ahead of others) and do guys do the same with supposedly Blue being the guy's color. Do you do it - knowingly / unknowingly.
A
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
dei... nethhiku library poi padichennu nenachaa... PINKaaa..., anyways, we can try2 b colorful, but i think the society has ules on what u can wear and what u cant,for ex, i can wear an Yellow or an orange in india, without any problem, i wldnt do that here... so i think society is what is driving you to wear what u wear
I have no idea what you wrote in that first Arun, though I can only hazard a guess. I do agree that society and its rules, do in fact restrict your creative outbursts in clothing. But the point is that these girls dont BUY and Wear this just because society expects them to to.
So would this inclination towards a particular color, and not just one person doing this in one item (like for eg. I want a Red Yamaha RTZ) but in fact for most-things-you-own, be labelled as discriminatory.
A
Well, for a start, I thought it was Vikrams article at first, before i realized it was urs, I said,"I thought u were studying yestrday"...in tamil....Anyways, its true to an extent that they wear what they like to wear, but the liking and dressing is so governed by the society..i.e. girls dress like it because otehrs also wear it.. and may be to impress other guys.. even though u think pink is funny...And the same goes with red yamaha... why is it... its the appeal of the colour for evrybody else.... Your liking is so also governed by what other people have 2 say to you abt the color...
Arun
The answer is simple. The pressure to conform is invisible yet pervasive. we are more victims of fashion than examples of style. In all societies, there are unwritten contracts that indicate style,appeal, power and wealth. whether you choose to conform is upto you. before you say " i don't", remember that is far easier for others to understand you, if you observe them! Choose wisely when you wish to blend in with the crowd and when to stand out.
i am reminded of a certain group of people in Africa, where women with long necks are considered attractive. Right from a very young age, parents start adding gold rings around girls' necks to start elongating their necks. Rings are added as years go by, resulting in an unnaturaly long neck that is much sought after by suitors. The women can never remove the rings as the spine becomes too weak to support the head all by itself. I don't know if the women like doing this to themselves, but to me, a person who doesn't belong to that culture, it is crazy.
But i am no exception either, though i liked to believe so. when i went back to india after a year in the US, i couldn't help but admire the aura that women in a saree seem to radiate.
The point being, every culture has it. It influences us in ways in which we aren't even aware of. if you don't get it, don't worry.
p.s. i don't really like this fixation on pink either; but that is because everybody else likes it!
Hey, jus came acrosss this blog... Amit u might find this amusing..
http://philanamarieboles.blogspot.com/
Check it out...
I agree with vicks on this one..i guess culture has a role to play in shaping one's preferences.
Among Europeans, Nordic cultures prefer bigger women..where as some african cultures love BIG WOMEN...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3429903.stm
it mite make an interesting reading...
infact,tamizh nattu ke sizzze aana figures da pidikoon!!
I must say that I should have stated my examples in a better manner, especially looking at Arun's comments.
Looks like I have to clarify my position: I have nothing against the color Pink nor do I hold anything against anyone wearing / using the color Pink. I don't consider wearing Pink as being too girlish /weakling / anything derogatory.
I was simply wondering that - when a major chunk of society does something, either for the sense of fashion / for the sense of blending in with the crowd, then is it considered to be discriminatory.
(NOTE: I have not stated what act is being done by the portion of people. It could be leaning towards a particular color or leaning towards a particular race)
So I guess my question should have been, showing favoritism amongst colored inanimate objects is not racism, but showing favoritism amongst living beings is ?
Am
nice!
the answer lies in your question. An inanimate object cannot feel. A blue shoe will feel no less happier because an identical but pink shoe next to it got chosen. This isn't the case with people, or as ethics would call moral agents.
a large number of us tend to be comfortable with people of our own kind; almost a subconcious decision. This in itself is not a concept that should be moralized. But when your actions deny happiness or cause harm to another, then it becomes one.
Feel free to choose as long as you don't deny somebody else their due.
Yes,that is true...
inanimate objects dont have attributes like quality, character and most importantly life..so judging them boils down to one's preferences.(which you may choose on your own ...)
Where as when it comes to judging ppl, the only quote that comes to mind is the one my MLK, where in he emphasizes that citizens should be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character..so yes, favoritism among human beings is justified, but not on the basis of their skin-color, sexual prefernce, caste, religion etc...
Just wanted to add to what wanksta said.
Even among people, when you choose, what is considered ethically wrong is to base the choice on attributes that are in no way connected to role the individual is expected to perform.
This is especially true in the workplace where an individual should be able perform his/her duty as well as an equally qualified co-worker irrespective of race, religion,color or sexual orientation.
In your personal life you might have a totally different set of parameters that you require of people around you. That would be justified too!
Post a Comment