What Does Marilyn Monroe Mean In Chapter 3 Of Becoming Our Own Jails
SOC 2560 W. 1-4
5 January 2014
Chapter 3- Becoming Our Own Jailers In chapter three, the title tells it all. At a young age we are conditioned to police ourselves with the ideas of masculinity and femininity. Social institutions such as school subtly change how we view ourselves and makes us fit into the norms of society. A relatable example that was used to show the norms of society and how hard people try to fit them, is the body shapes of women. Each culture and time has their different standards for how people should look and act. In 1947 Marilyn Monroe was a beauty icon but if she was compared to someone thought to be beautiful today her figure would seem too full. Many girls have self-esteem issues today because they cannot perfectly
fit the cookie cutter mold that society has created. Another social norm that was discussed in this chapter was “natural sex” which describes how women should be with men only and vice versa. Although our society preaches this message, it is not always accepted and practiced. As this chapter listed off different social norms that are expected to be followed and engrained into us, I learned that it doesn’t always work that way. We subconsciously try to be the perfect person according to society but the person that is expected from everyone rarely exists. The example that really stuck out to me was the body image. Since I was young, my body was never like the girls in the magazines. I always struggled to accept that I looked okay because I had this image to live up to. After reading this my self-esteem didn’t automatically shoot up, but it did make me realize that trying to be stick thin, or changing my thoughts and actions to fit others’ was a dishonor to myself. We need society to change the cookie cutter mold that is impossible to fill not the other way around.
5 January 2014
Chapter 3- Becoming Our Own Jailers In chapter three, the title tells it all. At a young age we are conditioned to police ourselves with the ideas of masculinity and femininity. Social institutions such as school subtly change how we view ourselves and makes us fit into the norms of society. A relatable example that was used to show the norms of society and how hard people try to fit them, is the body shapes of women. Each culture and time has their different standards for how people should look and act. In 1947 Marilyn Monroe was a beauty icon but if she was compared to someone thought to be beautiful today her figure would seem too full. Many girls have self-esteem issues today because they cannot perfectly
fit the cookie cutter mold that society has created. Another social norm that was discussed in this chapter was “natural sex” which describes how women should be with men only and vice versa. Although our society preaches this message, it is not always accepted and practiced. As this chapter listed off different social norms that are expected to be followed and engrained into us, I learned that it doesn’t always work that way. We subconsciously try to be the perfect person according to society but the person that is expected from everyone rarely exists. The example that really stuck out to me was the body image. Since I was young, my body was never like the girls in the magazines. I always struggled to accept that I looked okay because I had this image to live up to. After reading this my self-esteem didn’t automatically shoot up, but it did make me realize that trying to be stick thin, or changing my thoughts and actions to fit others’ was a dishonor to myself. We need society to change the cookie cutter mold that is impossible to fill not the other way around.