Blog Post #6

Prospectus

For my research paper I want to write how people view their imperfections as something they need to fix, while others embrace that they are different. I am going to further go into the aspects with fashion and how people find it necessary to buy certain brand of clothes to fit into a stereotype such as prep, emo, scene, Gothic, jock, or skater, such as others wear whatever fits into their budget, what looks good and feel comfortable. Most people would say that they are a combination of these two, and don't care what people care about what they look like, but only a few actually do. My thesis statement is that people view their imperfections as something they need to fix, while other embrace that they are different. With this thesis I could go into different directions such as people having plastic surgery because they are not happy with a larger stomach, a crooked nose, or small breasts while people with the same problems, accept them and move on. Other directions could also be how people feel the need to listen to a certain band because it is on the radio and because everyone listens to it they will be accepts, such as others prefer listening to underground bands, so that they are unique. Instead of going into that direction I want to focus on fashion.

The sources I want to use are Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker, which is pages 109-117 in MOA. This source goes into a story on how when she was a child she was seen as "the pretty one" up until her brother accidentally shot her in the eye with a BB gun when she was younger, and that cause her one eye to have scar tissue and a cataract. During the period that she had this, she wouldn't talk to many people, she saw herself as ugly, and no one would talk to her unless they were calling her names. She ended up getting this removed, which boosted her confidence. She was then able to get the boyfriend of her dreams, and leave high-school as valedictorian, most popular student, and queen.

A second source I want to use is I want to be Miss America by Julia Alvarez, on pages 52-58 in MOA. This source is a story about how Julia and her sisters moved to America from the Dominican Republic when she was ten and instantly felt the need to fit in. Her and her sisters looked at magazines, admired their classmates, and watched TV which is where they found out about the Miss America Contest. They saw how all the contestants lined up by state and most were white expect for a few light-skinned black girls. They also noticed that if there actually was a Hispanic girl, she looked American, and her last name was always mispronounced. Her and her sisters would always dress up and try hard to pretend that they were in a Miss America pageant, but in the long run never actually did. The last line in this, "There she is, Miss American, but even in my up-to-date, enlightened dreams, she never wears my face." is the perfect example on how even living in a different country and being obviously not like the others, she still sees herself as beautiful and accepts her differences.

The only problem I can already see is that both of these sources do not show the fashion aspect that I want to show. I didn't really see any sources in MOA that showed people accepting their imperfections and differences in fashion, but still these sources go well with my thesis.

I want to go into detail about each fashion stereotype, how they look, how they are compared and contrasted, and how people within those stereotypes are said to be by others. I want to show how certain stereotypes such as prep or jock and their stereotypes buy certain brands to fit in, while the others care less about others and mainly only associate with people like them.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• How is each stereotype judged based on their clothing?
• Why are they judged this way?
• Can a person fit under two stereotypes?
• Why do people like imperfections?
• Why do people dislike imperfections?
• What causes a person to care about how they look?

SEARCH TERMS

• Gothic stereotype
• prep stereotype
• jock stereotype
• skater stereotype
• emo stereotype
• scene stereotype
• imperfection
• acceptance

Blog Post #5

Weather you are a male or female, everyone can agree that once in their life so far, that they have once worried about what people thought of them. Everyone has to have some form of individuality, but recently it has been easier to describe yourself to "fit in" with a certain stereotype, or just come off as someone you aren't. With social networking websites such as Facebook, and Myspace, anyone with an account can upload pictures, list movies and music, and write a description about themselves. Being able to do this people can look at what your interests are, and how you look and instantly judge you.

I chose to write my paper with the topic of Facebook, Myspace and identity. With Myspace having private profiles, someone can only be your friend if you request them and they accept. When asking to be someones friend you are only judging this on their picture. Mostly everyone wants to be friends with their friends and no one else, however, other people might be looking for people around where they live to maybe get to know them better. Basically, your profile picture tells a lot about you, and how you even see yourself. Many girls have low self-esteems today, but if they have a main picture of them from summer in their bathing suits, then you can tell that they feel more comfortable about themselves, or they want to show off. Also you can do this with guys. You can simply compare a picture of a guy in a t-shirt smiling, to a guy with his shirt of flexing his muscles. You can tell somewhat about person on how they want people to see them. Also with friend requests, if you get a request from someone who you don't know, and they seem attractive, chances are they will get accepted rather than a random person who is less attractive.

With Facebook, as well as Myspace you can write about your interests to find people with the same interests as you. What you write is up to you. In a section "About me" you can choose to write something descriptive, vague, or nothing at all. However this is written tells a lot about yourself and how you want others to see you.

Just as easy as it is to write truthfully about yourself, it is that easy to write falsely about yourself. Even to the extent where you can upload a picture of someone else, as long as it fits the format, and make this person seem like you.

Somehow I want my paper to reflect these aspects in some way.