representation
I was reading this mildly interesting book called Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference and it was talking representation, for instance how girls might be intimidated to take math classes of higher degree of difficulty b/c they don't see any other girls or female teachers who give them the push to believe that they can do well in these classes too. The concept was that people need to see others like them doing and succeeding at certain things before they do can feel confident to tackle that subject, and this bleeds over into why the number of women in certain fields or certain levels gradually diminishes.
When I read that it took me back to a personal experience, that of trying to network and communicate more with members of the graphic design community online. My first impression as how white and male dominated it was, and it seemed like an all boys club that was difficult to enter b/c these designers only really interacted with about 2 other women, and only those women seemed to be 'members' of the club. It was really disheartening to see that lack of diversity in terms of race.
I feel like graphic designers get obsessed with things like younger designers not being adept in knowing the history of every single font they use yet there is a complete lack of self awareness in terms of diversity in the industry. I haven't seen any design publication on newsstands ever address this and I don't even know if its something the industry even really thinks about. I have read blog articles about design firms headed by minorities having a harder time making it and gaining the types of clients that traditionally 'white' firms get access to.
So anyway that bit in the book made a light go off in my head and made me realize why I was disheartened and kind of turned-off trying to 'get into this boys only club' and it kind of killed a lot of the drive that I had at the beginning of the year to design more stuff. Its was like, 'whats the point of trying to communicate?' which is precisely the secondary psychological effect that the book described.
I'm glad I read about it b/c there are so many subliminal things wrecking havoc on our psyche and we don't or can't readily identify them until its too late.
ON the flipside of this, seeing a woman like Zuzanna from bodyrock.tv be so incredible fit and strong has really motivated me to keep working out and not be intimidated to try things like doing one legged pushups and to know that I can push my body b/c she is a woman and she achieves it.
Representation is important, seeing people like yourself achieving certain things plays a big role on your psyche but I guess in some instances we have to be the first ones to break thru the barrier so we can inspire others.
These days I'm very motivated about eating right and working out, achieving certain fitness goals, these are things you can track daily and see and feel the progress on your body but that happens b/c maximum effort is put into it and honestly I haven't been giving much effort to design outside of what my day job required and I need to stop being lazy and just do it D:
When I read that it took me back to a personal experience, that of trying to network and communicate more with members of the graphic design community online. My first impression as how white and male dominated it was, and it seemed like an all boys club that was difficult to enter b/c these designers only really interacted with about 2 other women, and only those women seemed to be 'members' of the club. It was really disheartening to see that lack of diversity in terms of race.
I feel like graphic designers get obsessed with things like younger designers not being adept in knowing the history of every single font they use yet there is a complete lack of self awareness in terms of diversity in the industry. I haven't seen any design publication on newsstands ever address this and I don't even know if its something the industry even really thinks about. I have read blog articles about design firms headed by minorities having a harder time making it and gaining the types of clients that traditionally 'white' firms get access to.
So anyway that bit in the book made a light go off in my head and made me realize why I was disheartened and kind of turned-off trying to 'get into this boys only club' and it kind of killed a lot of the drive that I had at the beginning of the year to design more stuff. Its was like, 'whats the point of trying to communicate?' which is precisely the secondary psychological effect that the book described.
I'm glad I read about it b/c there are so many subliminal things wrecking havoc on our psyche and we don't or can't readily identify them until its too late.
ON the flipside of this, seeing a woman like Zuzanna from bodyrock.tv be so incredible fit and strong has really motivated me to keep working out and not be intimidated to try things like doing one legged pushups and to know that I can push my body b/c she is a woman and she achieves it.
Representation is important, seeing people like yourself achieving certain things plays a big role on your psyche but I guess in some instances we have to be the first ones to break thru the barrier so we can inspire others.
These days I'm very motivated about eating right and working out, achieving certain fitness goals, these are things you can track daily and see and feel the progress on your body but that happens b/c maximum effort is put into it and honestly I haven't been giving much effort to design outside of what my day job required and I need to stop being lazy and just do it D: