Under the Influence

WRITING #1



An extremely hot August day brings an American girl to wear her cute little pink shorts that say “Flirt” across her bottom and a white tank top so revealing she might as well be topless. All of her friends are in outfits very similar to the one she is wearing and society does nothing to stop this. It is popular for young girls to parade around in basically their underwear because the media and other social influences say it is okay. If these girls who barely dress were never exposed to the media where “skin is in” would they still want to dress so provocatively? Why is it that a majority of young Muslim women and older women as well dress so that only their eyes hands and feet can be seen? Is it because they are ashamed of their bodies and do not wish for anyone to see what they look like? Doubtful. No, it is not because they are not confident within their own skin but rather because their culture believes that is the right way to be. We, as human beings, are all born with certain knowledge and we see things how we see them but also, as human beings, our perception and the way we perceive and interpret our surrounding environment, long-stretched ideas or any other type of imaginable substance has been molded and shaped based on the container we are forced to survive in. Take for instance, a painting of the night sky on a winter night, one person viewing this art might set the emotion as being cold and lonely, surrounded by vast emptiness and a cold chill to really imprint the harsh conditions in the viewer’s mind; one might also see the painting as an endless quest for opportunity, the cold rendering a slow process to get to the main goal to have it built up much more beautifully or just for visual pleasure. So many different ideas on how things should be perceived and there is only one thing to blame, social influence.
Whether one is influenced by family, friends, music or what have you, it is still social influences and personal experiences that made us who we are. If not for social situations, personal experiences would not exist. Environment is also a major determining factor on how we perceive things. My boyfriend might feel safe walking through the park at 2am whereas I would not. For one thing, I am a woman who could be taken advantage of much more easily than a man. I appear to be an easy target whereas a man does not. Not only that, but all depending on where that park is located, I might not even feel safe walking through the park and 2pm. If I made a joke about a tough girl who could walk alone through the park at night with a bunch of girls who reside in a bad neighborhood, that would be perceived as a funny joke whereas if I made that same joke to a group of older women in the rich neighborhood where everything is as right as rain, that comment would be rendered pointless. What we are taught and how we are taught it affect how we view other’s ideas of what and how we should be taught.
My parents are against bi-racial and gay relationships and I grew up my whole life hearing that two people of different ethnicities or of the same sex should not be together. I am sure that this belief was taught to them just as they were trying to teach me. The only difference is that I did not let my parents sway my personal belief that no one can help who they love whether the two people share the same gender or do not share the same skin color. I believe that if two people want to be together, no matter what genetic background or any other factors that are commonly disagreed upon, that they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us. Even though my parents are not racist nor do they act differently towards people of different beliefs, they did try to instill certain beliefs into me that society (or rather parts of) had already affected.
No matter what example is used or how many examples are used, it is quite evident that social influences affect how we interpret different styles, pictures, art, music and any other part of life. Everything is tied together somehow and by affecting one individual part, you have affected the whole, the statistics and every component of its existence therefore leaning toward someone else learning a new concept and starting a new style of living. Social influences are what made us who we are and we need to keep that in mind when new lives are brought into the world because if not, nothing will ever get better.