Socialization and Identity Project: Caitlyn Steiner

The Harm in the Norm

As humans, everywhere and anywhere in the world we are socialized to fit the categories
we were born into. Socialization is part of becoming a functioning, living, and supported human
being. If we have any human connection, we are socialized. Socialization can be good, it can
help you gain relationships, and help you be a better human as a whole. But socialization can
also be negative. It can make us hateful, make us believe things that are accepted as norms. We
are born into our own categories of socialization, agents and target groups. These groups
influence our entire existence. If you are born into agent groups, you feel and are empowered
even if you cant see it. Examples of agent groups are white, male, middle aged, higher social
and economic class, and heterosexual. These groups are usually oppressor groups to the other
side of the spectrum, target groups. Some target groups are, people of color, women, poverty,
children and seniors, and homosexual or bisexual. These arent the only ways socialization is
harmful. We accept harmful gender norms, racial norms, and many more norms that can hurt
more than help. As Bobby Harro says in his article The Cycle of Socialization, Our
socialization begins before we are born, with no choice on our part. No one brings us a survey, in
the womb inquiring into which gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, cultural group, ability
status, or age we might want to be born. These are things we can not control. All around me,
from powerful socializing forces I have been set wrongful examples of sexual objectification of
women, the wage gap between gender and race, and how white privilege is non existent.
On a typical day if you scroll through social media, you will see a sexualy objectified
image of a women. As Laci Green says in her video, Sexual objectification: What it is, why its
damaging, and how we change it. Sexual objectification is, the viewing of people solely as
depersonalised objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities and
desires/plans of their own. This is the root of sexual objectification. You can see it all over. Men
are taught from a young age women are sexual objects. Commercials have women leaning over
seductively to pick up a beer for their husbands. Magazines have womens bodies selling
anything and everything they can get their hands on. Shoes, perfume, necklaces, automobiles,
clothing, and everything inbetween. It has gotten so out of hand, young girls including myself,
think they have to show a little more to get a boy they like interested in them. We have become
self objectifying. I believe this is part of the reason rape is such a major issue. As the article
WHO: 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence by Madison Park, The report,
called the first of its kind, estimates the global toll of such violence on women at 35.6%. Many
say she was asking for it, because of how she was dressed. We as a society have made
womens bodies into a normal thing to see, so such abuse, like rape, is often brushed off like no
big deal. School dress code is even sexualized. I have been socialized that if I wear a tank top or
shorts above my knees, I will be a distraction and that I am considered slutty. Again in Laci
Greens video she says, School dress codes for girls are designed not to distract boys because
her knees, her shoulders, are so sexualized that a tank top is deemed inappropriate. Wearing

strapless clothing is over the top for young women because our shoulders are sexual. This is a
harmful example of socialization, that I personally have experienced. We are socialized to
believe women are objects. When the truth is women and men alike should be seen as whole
people not as objects solely for desire.

When I was younger, I was taught that the gender gap was an issue for women, and that
because I am a women I would have to work hard to get a job where money is substantial. Little
did I know then that this issue is not something only apparent in gender. We have seen the stories
and news reports on how women make 80 cents to the mans dollar, but what about race? In the
article, Racial, gender wage gaps persist in the US despite some progress, the author Eileen
Patten, states, Hourly wages for black and hispanic men were $15 and $14 respectively,
compared with $21 for white men, only the hourly earning of asian men ($24) outpaced those of
white men. This is only the data for men. In the same article, but womens wages on average,
...the hourly earnings of Asian and white women ($18 and $17, respectively) are higher than
those of black and Hispanic women ($13 and $12, respectively) This is less than mens wages
comparatively by race. You cant put these numbers in a simple 80 cents per $1. The amount of
money you make on a daily basis shouldnt be based so much on what you look like. I have been
socialized that I either need to go to college and go into a field with good money, or marry a man
who can support me. I have been taught I need to be dependent on a man if I cant find a passion
that will bring in money. I was never told or taught that skin color could make a difference in the
amount of money you make. Your salary should be based on your skills and your merit. I want to
be a part of a society where you obtain jobs through a good education available to all. Not based
on my outer appearance or what gender I was born into. Basing our jobs on something so
superficial will do nothing but bring us down as a country, and bring our socialization of future
generations down with it.

Not only is there a large wage gap between races and sexes, but there is still a large white
privilege issue in and around America that I was fully unaware of. From a young age I have been
taught that America has gotten rid of racism. I was taught this is the land of the free and that we
are equal. But in truth, anyone who is white still carries around privileges that can be invisible to
them. We are not shown the ways our race is held higher than other races in school. In the article,
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy Mcintosh states, In proportion as my racial group
was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made
unconfident, uncomfortable and alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility,
distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color.
Before reading this article, I wasnt aware of how much this is truly happening. In schools we
teach white history and in magazines we put out a white image. Understanding what it feels like
in others situations is the first step to eliminating racism. Just because most people are not
considered racist in America, doesnt mean racism isnt a part of our country. This has affected

me in the way I feel guilty that we arent all born with the same privileges, we are born unequal
and on different levels of what we are told we can accomplish. Since we are born and raised not
seeing this, we dont even realise it has become so typical. I was socialized that people are equal,
and I believe that they should be, but to accomplish this we need to understand our differences
and use them to make us stronger. I may have been socialized to brush racism under the rug of
society, but that does not mean in future years we can fix our past mistakes. Race is interwoven
throughout our lives, and no matter how much we would like to believe it, the image we put out
is not equal or fair.

We are not in control of what life we are born into. Whether you are born into upper class
or poverty, whether you are born male or female, or what skin color you are. These are a given
when we are born. We are then raised into these categories, raised how we are supposed to act as
our gender and race, raised into how we treat others. Socialization is a part of human nature. It is
a part of who we are as humans. But socialization is also harmful and deceitful. This essay gives
three of thousands of ways socialization clouds our view. All around us, in the media, in our
peers and parents, we are set wrongful examples of sexual objectification of women, the wage
gap between gender and race, and how white privilege is non existent. Changing this is far
from simple. This cycle of socialization is something practically unstoppable. In The Cycle
of Socialization by Bobby Harro he states, This cycle has a life of its own. It doesn't need
our active support because it has its own centrifugal force. It goes on, and unless we choose
to interrupt it, it will continue to go on. Our silence is consent. Until our discomfort
becomes larger than our comfort, we will probably stay in this cycle. The first step to
making any change is to teach awareness when we socialize. This quote is stating that our
silence is how the cycle is so strong. Our silence to change is how we continue the harmful way
we socialize.

My Mask is one of the many masks I feel I have to put on for society to accept me as
normal. This particular mask is how I feel body image is socialized in young girls and how that
affects us. The left side shows what we are taught to believe we need to be beautiful. I see this
half as a representation of femininity. The right side is how we see ourselves picked apart in
pieces when people tell us these things and how we see ourselves as pieces of an ugly person
instead of as who we are inside and out. The pink background is a symbol of feminine color we

are taught girls use. I chose this to show how on the outside we try to act perfect and make
ourselves feel and look beautiful to others. Pink was the color that came to mind as the picture
perfect girl. Another symbol in my mask is the mirror broken into thought out pieces. I decided
instead of randomly placing mirrors, I wanted to place them close to each other and in a linear
fashion so that if you tried you could still see your reflection in them. The symbol there is we
look in the mirror and pick ourselves apart into the pieces of ourselves we see as the ugliest. We
judge ourselves before thinking about what we have that's good. The last important symbol is the
red on both sides. I put red around each mirror piece and that red continues to splatter on the
other perfect side. I also have tiny pieces of mirror on the side that is supposed to be perfect.
This is showing that because we pick ourselves apart so much, we dont see these words as
perfection but as an unobtainable goal. We crave to be these things and we feel as if we deserve
them, but yet we cant reach it.