Jenae Lopez
26 October 2012
McKoy
Block: 4
Being Judged on the Outside
How would you feel being judged by the way you look? Your style is what people see when they first meet you. Judgment can lead to several things. When someone is continuously judged over and over, it starts to get to the victim. It can lead to multiple things such as, low self-esteem, depression, self-harm, etc. Sadly your appearance takes place of you as a person just because of how big of a role it is when first impression comes around. What gives us the right to judge others by what they look like, not caring to think about getting to know them and find out their personality? In fact, personality is what makes oneself. It is impossible to know someone just by the way they look. So, what makes it okay to do this to one another? Being judged happens every single day. Whether you realize it or not, when you look at someone, there looks automatically substitute their personality making you judged by what they look like. Judging upon appearance is a problem everywhere and it needs to be resolved.
“Middle school and high school are the years you will be judged the mostly by looks.” (Febert 2). Judgment by appearance happens very often especially in middle and high school. During those years, looks are what most of us care about. Most people just care about what others think about them and how they are rated by their peers around them. Everyone around you start to dress and acts like each other just so they have the right to feel like they “fit in” with the crowd. Your clothing is basically what we teenagers judge others by the most. In middle school and high school, we form our own groups or “cliques.” When people are in certain cliques, this is when stereotypes are being taken place. Teenagers are so judgmental and stereotypical. Why are we like this? Maybe we are like this because it is a habit. Maybe we cannot help it. Maybe it is because we do not care about others feelings. Being in high school, I know what it is like to feel like you have the need to fit in and to be like everyone else. .”Physical attractiveness is a particularly salient variable for women because self-evaluations of appearance are often associated with their self-esteem.” (Wilson et al 1). This quote shows that how unattractive or attractive you look depends on how low or high self-esteem you have because people judge you mainly by your looks. Not many people have a very well high self-esteem. People with low self-esteem sometimes can feel like they are worthless, they do not believe in themselves, etc. Teenagers are so judgmental and some of them feel like they can say whatever they want to. What most of us do not realize, is what we say to people can mentally hurt them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can also hurt. The majority of teenagers just care about the way they look and how they represent themselves because of the other people they are compared to every day at school and also other places. Popular people, boyfriends or girlfriends you want to impress, and judgmental people are all examples of why we care so much about our appearances.
Judging by appearance is not just happening by teenagers; adult’s judge people just as much as teenagers do. You would theoretically think that adults are role models to younger adults but in reality, some of them are actually teaching their children to judge others, whether they notice it or not. People are receiving a personality just by the way they look like because of others labeling them strictly by what they look like and not their personality. This is causing low self-esteem leading to people caring much more about their appearances to make people like them and to not be judged. There are so many things that tie together when judging someone. You can be judged by how big oneself is, what you physically look like, the type of body modifications you have, your race/ethnicity, etc. Being judged is basically based on the type of person that is judging you because it is their opinion and it depends on the type of people that you like. Communicative interaction, clothing, facial appearance, body gestures, and vocal characteristics are all different types of categories that people could judge you by. Following these categories, there are so many other reasons people make up just to judge you for their on enjoyment.
Think about if you have ever been a victim of being judged or made fun of. Do you get put down all the time because of what you look like? Or are you the one who is making judgmental remarks to people? It is so important to watch what you say before you say it. The things you do say to people can hurt them depending how they handle certain things said to them. Judging by appearance is something you might not notice but if you actually listen and think about it, you will start to think of how bad it actually is. If you are a victim of being judged, why should you do it back? It just is not fair. Stopping yourself from judging others is just a matter of processing it through your head and asking yourself if you like to be judged and if it is the wrong or right thing to do. Reminding yourself about how you want to be treated is definitely a great way to start putting an end to judging others. Get to know someone before you judge and always treat people the way you wish to be treated! Judging upon appearance is a problem everywhere in society and it needs to be resolved.
