If you sport a head of thick dreadlocks people unconsciously brand you as a demonstrator or a hippie indulging in drugs. If you are dressed smart in a suit, they automatically label you as a businessman or someone important. [break]
So why is your physical appearance so important? Why do people automatically make assumptions about you by the way you dress or by the way you act?
Young people these days are more and more liberal about body modifications and they take it as a fashion trend to flaunt a tattoo or piercing. But still our older generations tend to take body modifications in a negative way.
Young people of the same generation also tend to judge on the basis of the ruggedness of a person or his sobriety. And no matter how much young people tend to shun the idea of judgment on the basis of looks, they unconsciously end up judging people anyway.
“We judge people. Even though we don’t consciously want to, we do,” says Bijaya Dahal, 22, currently a student of Development Studies at National College. “I would definitely want to flaunt a tattoo, but like every decision you make, that will have ramifications as well. Our society is built on judging people but we don’t realize that we are judging people on our perspective. I might think tattoos are okay and might see a tattooed person without any judgment but another person who is against the idea of tattoos might look at a tattooed person in a negative way,” she adds.
Judgment also seems to come from culture and socialization. Nepali culture being very conservative and religious, body modifications are frowned upon and even modern dresses that expose a little bit of skin tends to be frowned upon.
Young people in the Nepali culture have been raised with that conservative thought and although many young people have decided against it, there still remain people who believe in the sobriety of traditional dresses and the natural look of the body.
“I am definitely against the idea of judging people on the basis of their looks and I would defiantly befriend anyone who looks a bit sketchy if they are interesting,” says 25 year-old, Amol Acharya, pursuing this Masters in Development Studies at Kathmandu University.
“But I believe in the naturality of things and I personally would never opt for a tattoo because it’s something that can’t be undone and I know that people will definitely judge me if they knew I had a tattoo. Body modifications are generally associated with the criminal mind because many criminals tend to flaunt long hair and tattoo and I guess that is what has seeped into the minds of people and that is why people judge so much,” he adds.
Most of the urban youth of Kathmandu don’t seem to judge people on the basis of their looks but judgmental-ism seems to come from family and socialization. Some families are very strict about how their children dress up and have very strong rules about body modifications.
Some teenagers are also brought up in a culture that shuns any kind of modification to the naturality of things and growing up in an environment like this they tend to form strong emotions towards unconventional ways of dressing up.
“I think how people dress up and what they choose to do with their bodies is their individual choice,” says 22-year-old Sumnima Dewan, Miss Mongol 2011, who is currently working in an NGO. “I think people are so quick to judge because of the traditional Nepali society.
Our society has a conventional way of thinking and anything new or different comes as a shock to them and that creates this string of judgmental views. I also think it depends on the socialization of people. If young people come from a very orthodox family, then they are definitely going to judge people that go against their views,” she adds.
Whatever the case, young people are more comfortable with their bodies and are more open to body modifications and with education come understanding of many differing ideologies which helps people turn more liberal to different people and different thought patterns.
Young people definitely tend to judge people less but unless people learn to be more open to different ways of thinking, new fashion or body modifications could cloud people’s judgment.
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