All about Perception

First impressions. You either float or sink (or at least it seems so). And what establishes a person’s fixed opinion on you? Yes, it might be your sense of fashion or your beauty or your face expressions or your body language or so many other things. In other words, your image is initially set by mostly your appearance. Why appearance of all things? Why are you judged for your body size or how pretty you are or your style or anything that has nothing to do with your actual personality? Why have we become a mostly uniform society that has become fettered to the media? There are so many different reasoning to why appearance is so crucial to some, but, in my opinion, there is no justifiable answer as to why.

Deborah Tannen completely agrees that appearance and others’ perceptions on a specific image is completely ridiculous. Through her several anecdotes and examples, she clearly establishes a distinction between “unmarked” and “marked” in relation to appearances. Simply put, “marked” implies an extra meaning and more assumptions while “unmarked” indicates nothing. For instance, Tannen says women are “marked” by their fashion as they are analyzed closely and judged based on their physical image, while men remain “unmarked” because no one assumes anything about them based on their appearances.

To go off of Tannen’s classification, the line between “unmarked” and “marked” is really very thin. It solely depends on an individual’s perception. What do they find repulsive? Annoying? Weird? Etcetera. Etcetera. Basically, all of these views on physical traits are subjective and personal. However, it is mostly guided by the media, which is also based on celebrities and other popular culture icons. Moreover, it’s everchanging. As different individuals become famous, new norms are fixed. Just look at the unique yet now perfect body image Kim Kardashian has created. Also, time is a factor in these differing ideal body images. Back in the day, being “fat” was valued and indicated wealth. However, now, it seems to be the exact opposite. You’re not worthy enough. Nonetheless, the upside is that perception can be changed over time and the course of perhaps even generations. Therefore, the emphasis currently put on appearance can easily die out if people consciously change their mindsets.