Just Another Brick In the Wall

                                            Just Another Brick In the Wall
Have you ever acted a certain way or thought certain things simply because of the

influence of another? Think about how you dress or how you act in certain social situations. It is

obvious that as humans, we all conform to the ideas, actions, and beliefs of others in some way

or another. Whether this consists of us doing what our friends are doing, acting like those we

look up to, or believing what those in political positions or powerful media positions tell us; we all

have the inherent need as incredibly social creatures to be accepted. This is known as

normative social influence: the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be

liked and accepted by them, resulting in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and

behaviors but not necessarily in private acceptance of those beliefs and behaviors. This

phenomenon basically tells us that, in order to feel accepted, we will go as far as deviating from

our current beliefs in order to fit into someone else’s.

You may be thinking: So what? This information is nothing new. It is obvious that we

often dress like others, do what others tell us, and “follow the crowd” in several different ways.

Although it isn’t hard to notice that this phenomenon exists and the ways in which it occurs, very

few people stop to think how harmful it can be to both to the conformer and the influencer. This

can easily be seen in our present daily lives through the way people dress, and how their

physical bodies look. Many of us are constantly in a battle of trying to look, both in the way we

dress and how our bodies appear, how the majority of society says we should look. This results

in many issues. One such issue comes from our clothing. For example, many will spend

countless amounts of money on clothing just because it is popular, or the new thing to wear.

Also, many will wear clothes that they don’t even like very much or didn’t like before the clothing

became popular. We have clothes that fit us already, function perfectly well, and we may even

love, but once they go out of style or something new comes into fashion, we will often find

ourselves wearing these new items and ditching our old ones. This can be seen through the

examples of style changes over the years: baggy pants to skinny pants to a mixture of

both(joggers), long dresses to short dresses then back to maxi dresses again. It is sad that

those who cannot afford the clothing or don’t desire to dress that way may be looked down

upon, made fun of, and possibly become deviant. Don’t you think that the clothing we wear is a

silly way of judging those around us? Most people would say, “Of Course it is!” when asked this

question, but on the way home will look down on the poor man they see on the street not

because they have met him but because he is wearing baggy pants with tears in them and a

jacket that looks like its from the 70s.

Likewise, but more sadistically, the desire to look physically how others tell us we should

look has become a huge detriment to members of our society and possibly our society as a

whole. The desire to look a certain way is driven by how models look, actors look, and those

that society deems as “attractive” look. The saddest part is that those who we often gain

inspiration from regarding how we want to look are never seen without being edited. We see

those in media and desire our bodies to look like theirs do, but they are setting unreal

expectations. Actors are covered in makeup, clothes that are tailored to make their bodies look

better, camera angles that accentuate some features and diminish others, and are ACTING in a

way that may make them seem better than the normal human. Models participate in the same

thing, but they are are even more edited as computer software is able to morph their bodies to

look completely different than they actually do. Especially today, with editing software available

on smartphones in almost everyone’s hands, many are not actually as they seem. In order to

attain these unachievable goals, people of both sexes will spend countless hours in the gym,

develop horrible eating habits, and wake up every day hating themselves when they look in the

mirror. Many have even committed suicide due to insecurity regarding how they look. They may

have a significant other who loves how their body looks, have a very healthy body, or even have

a body that they like, but once others begin to tell them that it isn’t good enough, they will begin

to believe it and try at any extent to change. This can be seen through the change in cultural

definitions of an attractive body. During the turn of the twentieth century, heavier women were

seen as most attractive. In the 1920’s, women were expected to be extremely thin with no fat on

them. By the time the 1940s rolled around, women were expected to be curvier and heavier

again. The 1960’s brought about another time in which, in order to be beautiful, women were

expected to be very thin and small. This view has continued up until our present day when

women are still expected to have very little fat and be proud of being skinny, despite its affects

on their health.

APA posted a very recent study emphasizing the dangers placed on people, specifically

men, when trying to conform to society’s views of a perfect body. Much like how women are

generally expected to be small and weigh very little, men are often expected to be large,

muscular, and masculine. Along side the woman on the treadmill, trying to lose weight, there is

a man moving weights, striving to be bigger and stronger. Because of this form of conformity,

men are becoming more and more body conscious and are starting to take dangerous doses of

not only illegal steroids, but supplements that are considered legal and safe. This study

explored what they consider to a type of eating disorder: excessive legal supplementation. In

the study, they had 195 men aging from 18-65 that have consumed legal supplements (either

appearance or performance enhancing) in the past 30 days and state that they work out at least

twice a week participate in a survey asking questions related to supplement use, self esteem,

body image, eating habits, and gender role conflicts. They found that 40% stated that their

supplement use has increased as time has gone on, and 22% state that they replace meals with

non-meal-replacing dietary supplements. Only 29% of these men stated that they were

concerned with their supplement use. The driving factors for this supplement abuse include

gender role conflict in which men don’t believe they are meeting the standards of masculinity

within their culture. Because of past examples of conformity and its dangers (objectification of

women), this study is important as it shows that legal supplementation can become just as

much of a problem as any other eating disorder. As the supplements are becoming more and

more available, it is important to asses them and make sure that people are educated on their

affects and how they can be abused.

So the next time you realize you are conforming to what others think is right, take a step

back and truly decide if you should follow. Think about your beliefs and experiences and think

about the affects of what you are doing. Think for yourself. The next time you are looking at

someone, think about who the person actually is instead of focusing on what they are wearing

and basing that off of what is “normal”. The next time you see someone who you don’t think is

attractive, think twice about what horrible things will go through their head when you call them

fat or ugly or say they have a “dad body”. Realizing how conformity works is important in order

to realize what we should be conforming to, and how we should act when we realize how we

influence others.
-Submitted by Riccardo Marcangeli

Reference: Achiro, R. (2015, August 15). Excessive Workout Supplement Use: An Emerging Eating Disorder in Men? Retrieved November 2, 2015. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/eating-disorder.aspx