The masks project was a project based around how I have been socialized according to my social identity of being a male. For this project, I painted a mask depicting my socialization with symbols, wrote an essay describing how I have been socialized, and I wrote a satire on socialization in our society as an added challenge extension.
Mask
After some consideration, I decided to base my mask project on my negative and positive socialization as a male. With little pondering, I deem myself as having been socialized to be tough and not cry. Society has also ingrained in my head the idea that men should be the working gender. However, my parents told me to treat all genders with respect, which I feel I have done for my entire life. Instead of using concrete objects to symbolize these things, I decided to focus on the simplicity of the matter. Socialization begins with the simplest of things: colors that express masculinity or femininity, an invisible line of separation, and simple phrases that linger in your head. I used basic colors and quotes to portray this. The most important thing this project has taught me is what exactly socialization means. Change begins with realization, and having realized that I have been socialized, I can begin to change and improve. This project has inspired me to do so.
Essay
What gender is tough and strong? What gender goes to work for their family? Everyone knows I’m referring to the stereotypical man, because society has ingrained this sexism into almost everybody’s minds, including my own. I used to think that men had to be tough. I thought we had to be big strong and show no emotion. It was drilled into my head that women were supposed to clean and maintain the house, while men worked to earn money. However, I have learned that it doesn’t have to be this way; it shouldn’t be this way. Removing these stereotypes and examples of sexism is a must. Without doing so, I cannot help society progress, and it will inevitably descend into a male-dominated society: a patriarchy. I am a male. I have an abundance of differences from and advantages over women simply because I was born a boy. I have learned to show no emotion, be the working gender, and treat all people with respect.
Through media and sanctions by people around me, I have learned to behave, act, and think like a “man”. Throughout our life, “We are told things like, ‘Boys don’t cry’” (Harro 5). Crying is seen as the mark of a weakling. Throughout my life, I’ve rarely seen a boy cry, yet I saw girls cry weekly. Strangely, Jeffrey Mogil, Ph.D, a professor of pain studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, says, "Males are more sensitive to pain, less tolerant and more able to discriminate different levels of pain than females.” As crying children were usually afflicted with physical pain, it’s obvious that not crying was solely associated with being tough. When I was about six, I scraped my knee in gym class, and cried. My gym teacher walked over and told me to stop crying, because “That’s not what men do.” As a young boy, I was socialized to be tough and not show any emotion.
As a male, I am expected to work and gain money. Unearned benefits are magically given to me. Since a decade ago, “women were paid 77 percent of what men were paid” (The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap). The raw data of the gender pay gap really shows how unfair it is for women in America. With men making so much more than women, it’s obvious why males are continuously proclaimed as the working gender, pressuring me into working instead of staying at home. I don’t think I’d want to be a stay at home dad, but it’s difficult to differentiate this choice between being simple socialization or actual personal opinion. I have absolutely been socialized to be the working sex.
My family has positively socialized me to treat all genders as equals and with respect. My parents said to me that “Gender, race, and everything else is irrelevant. We’re all people.” My parents gave me great understanding of equality and mutual respect. At an early age, I was socialized to look past gender and disregard it as a factor of quality. This early socialization has helped me to treat everybody with respect and feel guilty about sexism and gender benefits. I continue to hold these values dear and treat women and men alike with the respect they deserve.
Through embracing my positive socialization and fighting negative socialization, I will work on improving myself and society. It’s obviously true that “If we begin a new direction… we can create our own hope” (8 Harro). If I pay attention to negative norms towards women, I can help to achieve gender equality. Instead of following the social norm and promoting the status quo, I will seek a new direction and make my own choices, regardless of sanctions from the majority. Truly treating the opposite gender as equals, I can help to establish a sexist free society.
Throughout my life, I’ve been taught not to cry, work for a living, and treat everybody with equal respect. Intrinsically, gender equality is linked to a sustainable development, and it is vitally important to the realization of human rights for all, not just different genders. Gender equality erects a society where more people have a voice, and a different view can be enhanced to take one more little step towards utopia. I can have a part in this, by telling me children they can cry, supporting women that want to work, and continuing to treat everybody as equals. After all my life’s socialization so far, I plan to help acquire this dream.
Through media and sanctions by people around me, I have learned to behave, act, and think like a “man”. Throughout our life, “We are told things like, ‘Boys don’t cry’” (Harro 5). Crying is seen as the mark of a weakling. Throughout my life, I’ve rarely seen a boy cry, yet I saw girls cry weekly. Strangely, Jeffrey Mogil, Ph.D, a professor of pain studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, says, "Males are more sensitive to pain, less tolerant and more able to discriminate different levels of pain than females.” As crying children were usually afflicted with physical pain, it’s obvious that not crying was solely associated with being tough. When I was about six, I scraped my knee in gym class, and cried. My gym teacher walked over and told me to stop crying, because “That’s not what men do.” As a young boy, I was socialized to be tough and not show any emotion.
As a male, I am expected to work and gain money. Unearned benefits are magically given to me. Since a decade ago, “women were paid 77 percent of what men were paid” (The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap). The raw data of the gender pay gap really shows how unfair it is for women in America. With men making so much more than women, it’s obvious why males are continuously proclaimed as the working gender, pressuring me into working instead of staying at home. I don’t think I’d want to be a stay at home dad, but it’s difficult to differentiate this choice between being simple socialization or actual personal opinion. I have absolutely been socialized to be the working sex.
My family has positively socialized me to treat all genders as equals and with respect. My parents said to me that “Gender, race, and everything else is irrelevant. We’re all people.” My parents gave me great understanding of equality and mutual respect. At an early age, I was socialized to look past gender and disregard it as a factor of quality. This early socialization has helped me to treat everybody with respect and feel guilty about sexism and gender benefits. I continue to hold these values dear and treat women and men alike with the respect they deserve.
Through embracing my positive socialization and fighting negative socialization, I will work on improving myself and society. It’s obviously true that “If we begin a new direction… we can create our own hope” (8 Harro). If I pay attention to negative norms towards women, I can help to achieve gender equality. Instead of following the social norm and promoting the status quo, I will seek a new direction and make my own choices, regardless of sanctions from the majority. Truly treating the opposite gender as equals, I can help to establish a sexist free society.
Throughout my life, I’ve been taught not to cry, work for a living, and treat everybody with equal respect. Intrinsically, gender equality is linked to a sustainable development, and it is vitally important to the realization of human rights for all, not just different genders. Gender equality erects a society where more people have a voice, and a different view can be enhanced to take one more little step towards utopia. I can have a part in this, by telling me children they can cry, supporting women that want to work, and continuing to treat everybody as equals. After all my life’s socialization so far, I plan to help acquire this dream.
Challenge Extension
Arman was alone. Wow, a weird first thought to have. Arman decided to start listing his observations, for posterity.
One: The whole alone thing.
Two: Birds fly.
Three: Lizards walk straight.
Four: Crabs walk sideways.
Arman stretched out his claws as he awoke. He slowly rose from beneath the sand, sifting the sand above him. Once he was above ground, Arman looked up at the sky; the sun was just about to sink beneath the horizon.
Looking out at the ocean, Arman began to slowly move towards the water, sideways. A few other crabs began to stir, some already by the sealine. Arman didn’t really know anybody They all kept away from him, at least since the incident.
Arman had been young, barely a crablet. He didn’t exactly understand what a crab was and just assumed that every other animal was just like him. He saw a brown animal walking down the beach, straightforward. Then, Arman attempted to mimic the animal, walking straight ahead.
Every other animal on the beach went silent. The crabs stared at him. Lizard gawked in his direction. Even a few fish surfaced just to look his way.
The silence was broken by an older crab scolding him. “Crabs walk sideways.”
The animals finally turned away from him and began to ignore him. For the first time, Arman had truly felt alone.
Arman’s reminiscing was interrupted by a seagull’s piercing cry. Arman’s eyes darted into the direction of the noise, seeing a squawking seagull hovering in the air. Arman followed the bird’s gaze and spotted a small lizard, a green amole, perched atop a high rock. Suddenly, the lizard leaped off the rock, flailing around, as if trying to slow its fall. With a soft thump, the lizard fell to the ground, sending dust and sand into the air.
Everything was silent until a larger green amole, presumably the smaller one’s mother, could be seen running up. After several minutes of scolding, the two lizards left, walking off into the distance.
Everybody went to their usual business, but Arman was still. What was the lizard trying to do?
The next day, to Arman’s surprise, the lizard was back to jumping off that rock, madly flailing its arms in the air. Again, the poor lizard fell the ground with a soft thump. All the other animals simply looked its way once, then continued their way, some shaking their heads in disgust and bewilderment. Arman, however, continued watching the little green lizard.
With each failed jump, it seemed that reptile was only more determined to succeed. Arman realized it was trying to fly. The lizard tried and tried again, only stopping when its mother found it.
Day after day, the lizard tried to fly. Once, the green reptile tried jumping on to a spooked seagull, but quickly fell off. One day, it even made some makeshift wings out of leaves and feathers, but to no avail.
Eventually, Arman built up the courage to speak to the animal. After a particularly hard fall, he scampered over to the hurt lizard.
Arman tried to help the reptile up. “Are you okay?”
The lizard jumped to its feet. “I’m fine. I almost had it that time!”
“Uh, do you really think you can fly?”
“Of course I can. If I try hard enough and never give up, anything is possible.”
With that, the lizard ran up the rock. He was about to jump when he paused. “Thanks for not laughing at me. The name’s Voler.”
“Uh, Arman.”
Suddenly, Voler’s mom ran up to her son. “What did I tell you? Lizard’s don’t fly; birds do. You are not a bird.”
Voler slowly backed away. “I don’t have to be a bird to fly. If I want to, I can do anything; there’s nothing stopping me.”
The argument continued for several minutes until the two finally stormed off.
Arman thought about what Voler had said. He was right; nothing was stopping him from doing whatever he wanted. If he tried hard enough, he could do anything. Thinking back, Arman remembered how he had tried to walk before. Looking up, he saw it was already getting late; the sun was rising above the horizon. Arman began walking sideways back home, but he stopped. With a pause of hesitation, he began walking straight. It was awkward at first, but the crab soon got the hang of it. He felt it suited him.
One: The whole alone thing.
Two: Birds fly.
Three: Lizards walk straight.
Four: Crabs walk sideways.
Arman stretched out his claws as he awoke. He slowly rose from beneath the sand, sifting the sand above him. Once he was above ground, Arman looked up at the sky; the sun was just about to sink beneath the horizon.
Looking out at the ocean, Arman began to slowly move towards the water, sideways. A few other crabs began to stir, some already by the sealine. Arman didn’t really know anybody They all kept away from him, at least since the incident.
Arman had been young, barely a crablet. He didn’t exactly understand what a crab was and just assumed that every other animal was just like him. He saw a brown animal walking down the beach, straightforward. Then, Arman attempted to mimic the animal, walking straight ahead.
Every other animal on the beach went silent. The crabs stared at him. Lizard gawked in his direction. Even a few fish surfaced just to look his way.
The silence was broken by an older crab scolding him. “Crabs walk sideways.”
The animals finally turned away from him and began to ignore him. For the first time, Arman had truly felt alone.
Arman’s reminiscing was interrupted by a seagull’s piercing cry. Arman’s eyes darted into the direction of the noise, seeing a squawking seagull hovering in the air. Arman followed the bird’s gaze and spotted a small lizard, a green amole, perched atop a high rock. Suddenly, the lizard leaped off the rock, flailing around, as if trying to slow its fall. With a soft thump, the lizard fell to the ground, sending dust and sand into the air.
Everything was silent until a larger green amole, presumably the smaller one’s mother, could be seen running up. After several minutes of scolding, the two lizards left, walking off into the distance.
Everybody went to their usual business, but Arman was still. What was the lizard trying to do?
The next day, to Arman’s surprise, the lizard was back to jumping off that rock, madly flailing its arms in the air. Again, the poor lizard fell the ground with a soft thump. All the other animals simply looked its way once, then continued their way, some shaking their heads in disgust and bewilderment. Arman, however, continued watching the little green lizard.
With each failed jump, it seemed that reptile was only more determined to succeed. Arman realized it was trying to fly. The lizard tried and tried again, only stopping when its mother found it.
Day after day, the lizard tried to fly. Once, the green reptile tried jumping on to a spooked seagull, but quickly fell off. One day, it even made some makeshift wings out of leaves and feathers, but to no avail.
Eventually, Arman built up the courage to speak to the animal. After a particularly hard fall, he scampered over to the hurt lizard.
Arman tried to help the reptile up. “Are you okay?”
The lizard jumped to its feet. “I’m fine. I almost had it that time!”
“Uh, do you really think you can fly?”
“Of course I can. If I try hard enough and never give up, anything is possible.”
With that, the lizard ran up the rock. He was about to jump when he paused. “Thanks for not laughing at me. The name’s Voler.”
“Uh, Arman.”
Suddenly, Voler’s mom ran up to her son. “What did I tell you? Lizard’s don’t fly; birds do. You are not a bird.”
Voler slowly backed away. “I don’t have to be a bird to fly. If I want to, I can do anything; there’s nothing stopping me.”
The argument continued for several minutes until the two finally stormed off.
Arman thought about what Voler had said. He was right; nothing was stopping him from doing whatever he wanted. If he tried hard enough, he could do anything. Thinking back, Arman remembered how he had tried to walk before. Looking up, he saw it was already getting late; the sun was rising above the horizon. Arman began walking sideways back home, but he stopped. With a pause of hesitation, he began walking straight. It was awkward at first, but the crab soon got the hang of it. He felt it suited him.
Reflection
On my mask, I am most proud of how I was able to show distinctive differences between the stereotypical male and female. I think that this really helped to demonstrate how people see my feminine and masculine side, and how I have to sometimes put on a mask of either in certain situations. I, however, feel I could have made it a bit more artistically pleasing.
About my essay, I am most proud of the quote, "Gender equality erects a society where more people have a voice, and a different view can be enhanced to take one more little step towards utopia. I can have a part in this, by telling me children they can cry, supporting women that want to work, and continuing to treat everybody as equals. After all my life’s socialization so far, I plan to help acquire this dream." I really like this quote, because it shows why my socialization is important and how I can hope to improve society using this knowledge.
If I can only remember one thing about this project, it will be how I have been socialized. This will enable me to improve myself and teach others about the concept of socialization. With this, other and myself can hope to improve society and truly make the world a great place of equality.
For my next project, I think I really need to work on refinement. This is mostly referring to my mask: I feel as if I refined my essay well. Artistically, improving my refinement will help to make my projects and presentations much more attractive, helping to highlight my work and put it in a better perspective. This also helps it to look much more professional. I can do this by practicing my art skills and taking the time to do a good job
About my essay, I am most proud of the quote, "Gender equality erects a society where more people have a voice, and a different view can be enhanced to take one more little step towards utopia. I can have a part in this, by telling me children they can cry, supporting women that want to work, and continuing to treat everybody as equals. After all my life’s socialization so far, I plan to help acquire this dream." I really like this quote, because it shows why my socialization is important and how I can hope to improve society using this knowledge.
If I can only remember one thing about this project, it will be how I have been socialized. This will enable me to improve myself and teach others about the concept of socialization. With this, other and myself can hope to improve society and truly make the world a great place of equality.
For my next project, I think I really need to work on refinement. This is mostly referring to my mask: I feel as if I refined my essay well. Artistically, improving my refinement will help to make my projects and presentations much more attractive, helping to highlight my work and put it in a better perspective. This also helps it to look much more professional. I can do this by practicing my art skills and taking the time to do a good job