Through the Veil

In my English class, we are reading a memoir called "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi. With a group of Islamic women, Azar Nafisi teaches forbidden Western classics and explores the connections between the characters in the novels and the Islamic women. This powerful memoir demonstrates the tyranny in Iran coinciding with the liberating literature.

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" heavily discusses the role of appearance in the lives of Iranian women. Nafisi, the author, was fired from the University of Tehran for refusing to wear a veil. Through her book group, Nafisi allows the women to shed their mandatory veils and robes, loosen their hair and relax without the oppressive nature of the Revolutionary Guard, who constantly criticize women for their appearance. In both "Persepolis,"a movie we watched for both Social Studies and English, as well as "Reading Lolita in Tehran," women are punished for wearing colorful socks, as they are seen as "sexually appealing," a threat in Islamic culture. Listening to the perspective of Islamic women on the veil has opened my eyes to the complexity of the veil debate.

Currently, politicians across the world are discussing where women should be allowed to wear veils. This controversy brings up a multitude of questions and viewpoints. While some view the veil as limiting, other see it as empowering. The cloth is assigned so many different roles in society that it is difficult to understand its true purpose. From Texas to Paris, the veil has gained prominence and been the center of attention of court rulings, workplace issues, and debates on whether or not it should be banned.

Ultimately, it is important to recognize both viewpoints in the veil debate in order to better understand why such controversy has been brought to the floor in the first place. Many non-Muslims involved in the debate view the veil has a symbol of repression. This idea is especially prominent in societies like Iran and Saudi Arabia, where women have second class status to men. Many Muslim women, however, believe that by wearing the veil they are following God's wish. In addition, many Muslims believe that wearing the veil is a way of staying true to their culture and rejecting Western temptations.

An Islamic girl protests her right to wear the veil.

I have found it difficult for myself to pick a specific view on the veil debate because I am not familiar with what it is like to wear a veil. I cannot even imagine what it is like to have restrictions on what I wear, especially from a government source. As readers, I hope that you have learned more about the impact of veiling. I would like to hear your thoughts on the veil debate and question "To what extent does our appearance impact who we are?" 

More Than Meets the Eye

Growing up as a teenager in today's society, I often feel pressured to appear a certain way in order to feel "accepted." It's challenging to keep up with such pressures, especially with the multitude of other stress triggers, such as balancing school work, friendships and family. Too often, I find myself waking up in the morning focused on what I look like before going to school, rather than checking in with my mental health. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love clothing and fashion, but I do believe it is necessary to find a happy medium between focusing on physical appearance and emotional stability. 

Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend a religious retreat called "Kairos." This is a four day retreat, focused on developing friendships and spiritual relationships. Kairos is about furthering and bettering yourself by allowing you to share and develop connections with your peers in a more meaningful and enriching way than perhaps is possible with the multitude of distractions we have in our everyday lives. While on the retreat, I showered once, never applied make-up and wore clothes that most would not consider "stylish" or "aesthetically pleasing." In turn, I found myself happier. Without focusing on my appearance, I was able to focus more on important aspects of life, such as developing outstanding bonds with my peers and adults. 

Recently, I found a song by India.Arie called "Video" that I believe relates to this idea of appearance. My favorite lyric in this song is, "my worth is not determined by the price of my clothes." I believe that India.Arie does a wonderful job in this song challenging the societal pressures of appearance. She reminds us that beauty should not be determined simply by what we wear, but rather how we treat others and how we view ourselves. We're all beautiful in our own ways, and we need to embrace that beauty rather than conform to what society tries to dictate to us through media or other outlets.

As I write this post today, I find it interesting to notice how big of a role appearance plays in our lives and what I can do to change this so that emotional health and forming relationships with others outweighs aesthetics and appearance. I hope that through this blog, I am able to help my readers develop new perspectives on the role of appearance in our lives, and therefore challenge the societal pressures that come along with it. I would love to hear any feedback from my readers about the role appearance plays in your life, or just society in general. 

Halloween Costume Sparks Controversy

Over the past few weeks, I noticed on my Facebook page that many of my friends were posting campaigns to remove a Halloween costume from HalloweenParty2013.com. After further research, I came to learn that the costume featured a skeleton dress with a measuring tape belt and a badge labeled "Anna Rexia." The website went further to create a tagline with the costume stating that, "You can never be too rich or too thin." Below is a video that discusses the costume:                            

In turn, this Halloween costume has faced a vast amount of criticism and illustrates the issue of making light of body image disorders, including anorexia. The video above demonstrates backlash against the costume by including comments from others, including an Independent blogger. Her comment includes, "A skeleton costume is understandable – traditional even – but attempting to turn Anorexia into something sexy by throwing it on a plastic, fake boobed, airbrushed, blonde sex bomb? There are no words." 

I, too, was outraged by this Halloween costume. The idea of making fun of a serious illness that affects nearly 8 million Americans is uncalled for and unnecessary. In addition, I agreed with the blogger's comment that illustrates the issues of identity and appearance through figures that misrepresent the average female. It is important to note how the media is sending the message that the values of girls and women lie in the appearance, because this can cause women to feel worthless and disempowered. 

Throughout my investigation of this Halloween costume, I've realized the incredible role of media and the impact it has on appearance. Without the backlash of bloggers and commentators, or the coverage of mainstream news media, including Huffington Post, the "Anna Rexia" Halloween costume would have been deemed acceptable. While I am disgusted by the creators, manufacturers, and sellers of this costume, I am also proud of the multitude of people that stepped up and acted upon their feelings by speaking out against the costume. 

Through blogging, online campaigns, and other discussions, I hope that people continue to raise their voice and awareness of the dangers of the media, therefore teaching media literacy. So, readers, I challenge you to do the same. Whether you comment on my blog, sign an online petition, or simply speaking to friends and family, my goal is to engage others and teach them to recognize the power of the media in terms of our perspectives on appearance and identity. 

Cultural Expression through Clothing

Through clothing, people are able to express both their own personal identity, as well as their cultural identity. On a micro level, fashion choices communicate individual identity. On a macro level, clothing is a means of representing social and cultural groups. Around the world, cultural groups associate with different articles of clothing in order to develop connections and distinguish themselves. This idea can be illustrated through African fashion and cultural identity.

Traditionally, Africans used clothing to depict tribes and celebrate various spiritual events. Often, African clothing is vibrantly colored, dyed and made from cotton fabrics. Colors such as yellow and gold represent wealth and fertility, and colors including blue and green represent peace and prosperity. These unique characteristics represent the idea of using appearance as a way to represent cultural identity. Here is an example of a traditional African fashion:

This picture shows the bright colors commonly represented in African fashion. 

The significance of African appearance and aesthetics is closely related to my current curriculum in English class with the novel, Poisonwood Bible, which is the story of a missionary family who travels to the Congo and undergoes a multitude of tumultuous experiences while attempting to both adopt and change the African culture. In the novel, the character Ruth May illustrates how clothing is used to shape identity through her narration of the differences between herself and the Congolese people in terms of appearance. On page 153, Ruth May states, "...That's all the clothes he has. Everybody here has just one clothes...The girls don't ever, ever wear pants." Ruth May's recognition of the differences in clothing between Americans and the Congolese ultimately show the broader idea that cultural differences can be shown through pieces such as clothing.

It is interesting to examine the importance of appearance and identity through different lenses, such as the African culture, because it helps me (and hopefully my readers) to recognize the significance of cultural influences on identity and therefore help us to better understand why certain cultures act in certain ways. After this post, I hope my readers will ponder the following questions:

• How does our appearance define who we are? How others view us?
• What impact does our culture have on our appearance?
• Does our culture determine our appearance, or does or appearance determine our culture?

Fashion Police: Religion and Turkey's Government

Thanks to my classmate Julia, I recently read an article from National Geographic explaining Turkey's lift on its ban of the Islamic headscarf, formally known as the hijab, for women who work in government or civil service jobs. The article discusses both the past and present regulations relating to the hijab and explains why such restrictions were enforced in the first place. While the ban on the Islamic headscarf was created in order to separate religion from the government and create a modern, secular state, recent changes illustrate a shift in political mindset. Such government choices, however, have sparked debate and represent the challenges of appropriately balancing religion, politics and appearance.

While some are fearful that this recent legislation demonstrates a shift towards an Islamic state, others view it as a necessary reform for human rights. These actions show how prevalent appearance is in our world today, as well as the political implications that go hand-in-hand with this meaningful and significant religious item. As a reader, this article challenged me to question the line between the religious significance of the hijab and the political implications that come with the implementation of or restriction from the Islamic headscarf. I believe that this challenge in thinking relates to my own identity and perspective of appearance, since I have never had to deal with the idea of the government playing such a large role in the determination of what I am allowed to wear.

Ultimately, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to fully experience and know one's self is through freedom of choice. I believe that it is difficult to fully understand who you are without having the choice of how to express yourself. Through such freedom, important ideas including acceptance can be illuminated. While I recognize the opposite side in the argument and other's fear that allowing headscarves will disrupt the secular nation of the state, I believe that appearance is a subject that everyone should have the choice in constructing for themselves in order to truly understand one's identity.

As a blogger, I hope that this post provoked thoughts and challenged you to question how dress defines who we are, as well as allowed you to think more deeply and develop newer perspectives on the religious and political ramifications of appearance. I welcome you to share your opinions and ideas!

Beginning of Beauty

My name is Sydney Schwartz, and I am an 18 year old high school student trying to tackle the challenging and complex idea of the impact of aesthetics and appearance on one's identity. Trust me, not only do I know that's a mouthful to say, but I also recognize the complicated issues surrounding the topic. As humans, we constantly strive to uncover our identity. So many factors play into who we are. Through aesthetics and appearance, I hope to better understand the vast concept of identity.

As a high school girl, I'm structured by society to judge appearance and aesthetics depending on certain articles of clothing or a variety of other factors that involve appearance. It is my goal, however, to openly and willingly learn about the different philosophies, faiths and cultures that guide people's view of appearance and aesthetics in order to lessen my quickness to judge, and rather seek to understand.

Identity categories such as race, class, gender and religion are some of the main ways that I hope to further my understanding of aesthetics and appearance and delve into a variety of issues pertaining to this subject. By studying the art of aesthetics and appearance, I hope to reveal more about myself and my own identity. I believe that through this blog, I will navigate more smoothly through the waves of complex and difficult issues that relate to the nature of beauty and appearance in our everyday lives. Aided by classroom literature and personal experiences, I pledge to honestly and wholeheartedly share with my readers the impact of aesthetics and appearance on identity. I can only hope that in doing so, I help to shape and discover the identity of both myself and others.

Topics such as social media, politics, social influences and interactions and popular culture, I plan on relating to the art of aesthetics and appearance. As an 18 year old, I hope to appeal to my peers, as well as seek to help older adults understand my perspective and possibly relate to certain topics that I plan to cover. Through video clips, news occurrences and other materials such as literature and psychology vocabulary, I will dive head first into the wonderful world of aesthetics and appearance. It is my objective as a teenage blogger to keep you interested and curious. So, come join me on my journey as I frequently study aesthetics and appearance. I hope you're as excited as I am!


"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." -Confucius