a/n: this is a shorter version of the first chapter i wrote. it is intended to be used as a speech so i had to cut about half of it
Society noun: the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
Antonyms: hate
Source: thesaurus.com and The Oxford Dictionary of English.
Although I am in no position to disagree with these trusted sources, I do. What the dictionary has failed to mention in its definition of society are the general thoughts and opinions of society that dictate the vast majorities' lives. Thesaurus.com's antonym for society is 'hate', but within our society and many others, hate is one of the most prominent emotions. What these two sources have stated are very narrow minded and literate facts about society. What they have missed is the sheer power of the force that shapes my world.
Society can be made up of great things. Friendship and love and things we cherish. But societies are also home to inequality and discrimination. It is said that the antonym for society is hate but how can this be true when many members of our society are riddled with that emotion? Although there are millions of different thoughts and views in our society, somehow most of them get blocked out and social ideals only focus on the select views of the ignorant. It is through this blindness that we get social expectations.
An average person wakes up every day and gets ready with a wish to look good. Children are taught from a very young age what is and isn't suitable to do in public. There is an immense amount of pressure placed on both males and females to be beautiful, and many peoples' lives revolve around this. Products that have an intention of changing ones appearance have created a mirage that beauty can be achieved and therefore should be achieved. Although the majority of parents will tell their children not to try and change their appearance with make up or plastic surgery, they will reassure their child with the overused saying: 'you are beautiful just the way you are'. This phrase is a fire that has been fuelled by the media, but people still try and strive for beauty. Society has given us a warped view of an ideal: forget internal beauty, aesthetic beauty is what everyone should strive for.
Unfortunately, the people who are beautiful inside can experience the most torturous of pain based on her or his religion, race, sexual preference, gender orientation, beliefs or millions of other preferences that society defines as personal flaws. People discriminate against others on the most ludicrous things, personal attributes that people may be happy about. However if somebody does change their gender, they will get victimised for that. Our world isn't fair, and it's society and members of it we have to blame for that.
Another concept that society dictates is gender roles. Although there is pressure placed on both genders to be physically beautiful, females are expected to care more about it than males, who have more sport and fitness related pressure placed on them. From a very young age, these expectations are placed on children. Traditionally, girls are pink and boys are blue. Children often get teased if they don't fit into their respective categories. As these children mature, the teasing grows as well. Boys who enjoy partaking in activities that are classified as 'feminine' are called 'a girl', 'gay' or something much worse. Girls who enjoy activities that are predominately enjoyed by males are called a 'tomboy' at a young age, but as they get older they can be teased by words like 'lesbian'. Words like these are so commonly misused that people forget their real meaning. Insulting someone by calling them 'a girl' or 'gay' is immature, ignorant, sexist and homophobic. There is nothing negative about being a girl. Having a sexual or gender orientation that doesn't fit into the norms of society is a preference, a personal opinion that is yours and yours alone. People don't have a right to dispute that. You are who you are and your sexual or gender identity should not alter people views on you.
The problem with society is that it finds a need to label everything. You can not complete an action, have a preference, say something or even have a thought without society bearing down on you with a label and an endless list of everything wrong about everything you think is right.
Why follow society when all it does is discriminate against people who are different and proud of it? Instead, be different and proud of it. Don't let prejudiced and narrow-minded people dictate your life because the possessive word in that phrase is your. Your life belongs to you and so it's your opinions and your beliefs that matter.
In the words of Madonna:
'If your joy is derived from what society thinks of you,
You are always going to be disappointed'
YOU ARE READING
Fame, Feminism and Fury
RandomThis is a rant book about the world and most of the things in the world. You may not agree with it, but it is what annoys me.
