Hello, I’m Breanna.
I’m
female, English-Scottish, Caucasian, 20 years old, heterosexual, non-disabled,
blue eyes, blondish hair, 5’8 (5'9 on a good day), right-handed, and I wear contacts. I live in
Southern California, middle-class, agnostic, in the process of working towards
my teaching credential, and I’ve worked at Ralph’s for almost two years (time
flies). I would love to move to Washington when I’m older, the sound of rain
makes me happy, I love reading and concerts, and I’m very excited for this
semester in general. I’m a daughter, a sister, teacher-in-training, and a procrastinator.
I’m shy, but that’ll change once you start talking to me. I online shop waaaay
too much, I have no idea where I want to get my Master’s, and I love In-N-Out
too much for my own good. This prompt has made me realize it’s really hard for
me to talk about myself. Now on to prompt two!
Prompt
Two:
I’m
proud to be able to say I’m college educated. Or rather, I’m proud to be able to
say that I go to college. Many people don’t even get the chance to experience
college, and I am lucky that I am able to do so. I think it was more of an
expectation for me to go to college and get a degree, more so from society than
from my parents. But in the long run it will be a positive experience for me,
because a) I’ll be able to get a degree in something I’m passionate in (in this
case, teaching and psychology), and b) I will be gaining knowledge I otherwise
would not have had and experiencing new things that otherwise I would not have
experienced. I’m excited to be able to finish my college education and one day
be able to say that I have a Master’s in my field of interest (maybe even a PhD,
who knows!).
“Other-bodied
people” is something I’m proud of being as well. However, some people have
different definitions of what that means. But as we discussed in class, what
really qualifies someone to be other-bodied compared to someone with a body
that fits the cultural standard of beauty? Is “other-bodied people” people who
aren’t a size two? Size four? Who don’t have straight teeth and blonde hair? Personally,
it’s been a struggle for me. But I’ve been learning to love my body, because
body positivity should be something that everyone embraces, regardless of what
society says. Every body type is beautiful, and I think we as a society are
starting to recognize that more. It’s not only for women, it’s for men as well.
I feel as if women have more of the pressure to fit a cultural standard of
beauty though, because liked we discussed in class, older men are considered “foxes”
while older women are just “old”. Your body is something you should be proud
of, and society shouldn’t be able to dictate what is considered a good body or
a bad body. There is no wrong way to have a body.
Prompt
Three:
An
intersection of two of my identities would be heterosexual and white. These two
identities are both under the agents column, and with these identities comes
privilege. We were also discussing privilege in my education 364 class, and my
professor asked if any of us have ever been followed in a store. He identifies
as Chicano, and he said he has. He said that people of color tend to be
followed more in a store, solely because of their ethnicity. Me being white, I
have had the privilege of not being followed in a store, or for being pulled
over based on my skin color, when the cops will say I have a “broken tail light”.
It’s crazy how much skin color impacts how society sees us. Why does one’s skin
color dictate how good or how bad of a person we are? Skin color isn’t an
indicator of anything! Unfortunately, that’s not the way society sees it.
However, being both heterosexual and white in today’s society, I am considered
privileged. My skin color allows me to be able to do things without people
getting suspicious of me. One of these things is being able to walk around in a
store without the worry that I will get followed around. My sexuality allows me
to be seen in public with that person and not get disapproving stares. It’s
crazy to think that a decade ago, some people couldn’t marry who they wanted
to. Now, anyone can marry anyone. In the future, I think being white and heterosexual
will still be considered privileged, but hopefully so will being Mexican and
queer.
