Society's obsession over outer beauty

In the Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray is obsessed with his outer appearance.  He is so unnaturally obsessive over his appearance, he uses the portrait given to him to cover up his actual self.  The portrait shows an old man, not beautiful, according to Dorian.  This relates to society, because many people believe that today's society obsesses over appearance.  The media uses magazines, television shows, and movies to elaborate on outer appearance.  So many television advertisements show young adults modeling beautiful clothing, and most of the time it is showing a picture of a person who is a bit unrealistic.  Another example is that of the models on billboards.  They are photo shopped and changed to create an image that is unrecognizable to the people that they are close with.  It is interesting that society has turned appearance into a game of "who is prettier".  It is most definitely present in schools too.  Look around a high school, the popular kids are the ones with the brand name clothes and expensive cars.  Society is glamorizing a piece of humanity that really isn't as important as others, such as intelligence and personality. 

Women VS. Society

The society that we live in today has brainwashed many minds to believe in things that don't really make any sense.  For example, why are women constantly being put down compared to men?  Even if it is in a sport that girls and boys both play separately, like soccer, girls soccer isn't taken as seriously as boys soccer.  Where are the FIFA games for girls soccer? To me, it shows how unreasonable our society can be.  During this unit, we read A Thousand Splendid Suns, which focused on several women in Afghanistan, and the troubles they went through in every day life.  For example, they couldn't show any parts of their body in public and they had to be accompanied by a man where ever they went.  Not to mention the punishments if a woman committed a crime were much worse than a man's.  Even though the "punishments" for being a woman aren't as bad as they once were, our society today still has problems accepting the fact that men and woman ARE actually equal.  For example, in business it is much more rare to find a CEO of a business to be a woman than a man.  Why is this? Who knows, since women are going to college and gaining an education just like men are.  I have a personal experience with this "segregation", if you will.  I am a region secretary in FBLA.  I am part of a team of officers that over see 14 schools in the area.  This entire officer team is male besides me.  It can be hard being the only girl in a position like this, because some people believe that I just ran for the position for the "looks".  Believe it or not, I actually to care about FBLA and am proud to be able to have the opportunity to run for office.  I wrote the speech for the election, and I stood up in front of the entire region and won them over, and won the vote.  I'm proud of that.  For people to say that I just want to be an officer for the "looks", I get offended.  I think it is time for woman to break out of this barrier that many people still don't see.  This is 2013.  Our world is so technologically advanced, and yet some how, women are still seen to be more "weak" than men.  I think it is an unfair judgement made by many just assuming that because we are women, that we can't achieve something.  This needs to change soon, before we miss out and stay like this for too long!

Is the Right Way Actually Right?

We all have different opinions, but whose is right?  Does a "right" opinion actually exist?  Many people may believe that their opinion is higher then others, but does that really matter?  The study of cultural  relativism has changed the opinions of many people on this topic.  "Morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits", was what Ruth Benedict had believed.  It is seen in many places, in reality and literature.  Cultures clash, and people are left to answer who is right.  One part of a culture may seem barbaric to another's culture, but should everyone see it as a bad thing?  In my eyes, people have different opinions, and that is what fuels cultural relativism.  It also goes into the questioning of ethics and morals.  But doesn't a person's ethics depend on how they were brought up?  In other words, the culture decides how the person lives. 

This is seen many times in the novel Things Fall Apart.  When the Christian missionaries came to the tribe, two very different cultures collided. The people of these two cultures got a taste of eachother's morals.  The Christians saw the tribe as barbaric, thinking that twins caused evil, and some children were born with a demon inside of them.  If this was thought, the tribe would kill the young child, sparking the Christians to question if they actually valued the children at all.  If they would have asked the tribe this question, the answer would have been "yes", they do value them.  The children were an important part of daily life for the members of the tribe, contributing to the family by helping the wives with meals and learning to become an important part of society.  They were the future of the tribe.  Also, the fact that if you had many wives in the tribe, it meant that you were a high part of society, scared the Christians.  This differed greatly from the Christian belief that God only wanted a person to have one wife, and to raise a "normal" family by his teachings.

I experienced this "culture shock", if you will, in a smaller degree.  I actually felt this way on a trip I took with my family to Brigantine, New Jersey.  A small island filled with locals spending their days on the beach, surfing, or running their small local business.  When visiting this town, I almost feel out of place.  Even in the middle of summer, at home, I feel that I always need to be doing something, whether it is working or school work, I'm always busy.  Somehow everytime I drive over the bridge to this little town, everything changes.  The days get longer and my way of life changes. One might say this is because of the "vacation" factor, but in reality it is more like a second home to me.  It has more in things in common to my actual hometown in appearance, except for the fact that it is connected to the Atlantic Ocean, then any vacation spots.  The morals of the island people, are to savor every day that was given to them.  I feel that in every day life, people rush around, and waste time on small trivial things rather then stepping back, and looking at the big picture.  When the two cultures crash, it is a big "wake up call" to the people who seem to have been rushing through their lives.  This experience is not as big as the one in Things Fall Apart, but it reminds me of this time.

To me, Cultural Relativism is just someones opinion.  Is one group actually right? One may never know.