Civil Rights Yoshino

1413 Words6 Pages

Civil rights has been a topic of discussion for years, and still is to this day. In “The New Civil Rights”, Kenji Yoshino combines personal references along with legal arguments to redefine civil rights. Yoshino claims that everyone covers in order to fit into the mainstream, even though it may be at significant personal cost. Covering is toning down a disfavored identity to fit in, for example, “Franklin Delano Roosevelt covered his disability by ensuring his wheelchair was always hidden behind a desk before his Cabinet entered” (Yoshino 539). Those in the public eye unwillingly cover, they most likely did so to tone down their stigmatized identities in order to get along in life. Public figures, however, are not the only ones to cover; you …show more content…

Acne became a real problem for me starting at the age of eleven. I tried every possible method to avoid it; washed my face twice a day, saw a dermatologist, and I even started birth control to see if that would help. I became accustomed to having acne so I started to work my life around it. I started wearing makeup every day from the age of twelve because I began to hate my skin; I would not even leave my house without makeup on. This partially stems from the societal norm that women should have perfectly clear smooth skin. We can also blame the media for its detrimental impact on this generation. Every magazine stand you pass portrays perfectly airbrushed women or men as the front cover, and these types of advertisements appear everywhere. I wanted my skin to look as smooth as everyone else did on magazine covers, so I became obsessed with makeup. I would watch YouTube video after YouTube video to perfect makeup techniques and I would go into Sephora and spend hundreds of dollars on products. Makeup became not only my way of covering my imperfections, but also an outlet for me to be creative. I could make myself up to be whoever I wanted and that became addicting. The thought of going out in public with no makeup on terrified me. Looking back, I realize exactly what Yoshino means when he says that everyone covers in order to fit into the mainstream, sometimes at significant personal cost (539). If I cover certain aspects of myself then I am not even allowing others to accept me for them, and how can society evolve if we all hide our