Appearance Prejudice
2003-06-04 - 10:52 p.m.


If it's one thing I hate it's appearance prejudice! You meet people every day who judge people by the way they look. Be the "victim" overweight, old, young, gothic in appearance, camp, black, white, yellow, caked in make-up, dressed in a shirt and tie, wearing a diamond tiara, fashion labels, vests that look as if they haven't been washed for a week... no-one is safe from ridicule and prejudice no matter what your appearance is. And that saddens me. If you're well dressed you are judged by the poorly dressed for being "posh" or "rubbing our noses in it" and vice versa: "Scruffy bastards - I bet they're criminal's Clarabell".

I hate discrimination. It's the twenty-first century for Christ's sake. You walk through life thinking that things are better - that days of bigotry and discrimination are a thing of the past only to find that you're utterly wrong. Discrimination is now not just about sexual preference, colour or creed. Instead everyone can be hurt by it. The way you dress and present yourself in this day and age is a daily pressure for most people. Hardly anyone can walk out of the house feeling comfortable unless they've made the best of their appearance. But even when you do - you're the subject of ridicule for wearing certain things, doing your hair a certain a way, shopping in certain shops.

I have always had to deal with looks and comments about the way I look. When I was younger - it was all about my ears and how big they looked. The clothes I wore from second hand shops. My duffle coat. The fact that I had no hair.

These days I get comments about my hair being long and that I wear a black leather jacket - people presume I am some sort of goth. Last week I was browsing the CD's in Our Price when a sales assistant came up to me and said, with a huge smile on his face, "The rock music is all in that section over there" and pointed to the end of the store.

It was harmless and I didn't go mad - I was feeling particularly serene that day. But it's just another example of being been judged or "all figured out" because of what you choose to wear.

I told him I was actually looking for Barbra Streisand CD's and he sort of mumbled an apology and staggered off looking particularly wounded. As if I was the one who had made the mistake.

I'm sure there's something that can be done. I'm not going to become a discrimination activist or anything like that, it just seems a big problem. I don't pay any attention to anything people say anymore. I'm comfortable in my on style - and those that judge can get fucked. I'm not affected. But I see people all around me - in so much more pain that I have ever felt - because they are judged by society. It is one of the things in this world that hurts me the most to see.

And of course, there's not just appearance prejudice... religon, way of life, job, politics - they all have to deal with being at the forefront of discrimination. I hate it. More than anything... it's a pipe dream that one day there will be world peace. But when there is so much else going on in the world - it's hardly necessary to be at war with each other because of how we live our lives, and the attire we dress in.

I should shut up about it now. I could go on for hours. But I won't. For now...

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all words �NFH 2003
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