Does appearance matter and does it affect EEB1 students?

From P1 to S7, we change, evolve, and grow. So does our style. Does it affect our friendships? Our ‘status’? We asked S4 students what their opinion on this very controversial topic is, and here is what we found out.

We asked different people, from different sections, what their thoughts are. 

All the girls we interviewed think that looks matter on campus. M. (14-year-old, girl) said, ‘It’s not the same as when we were children when we could wear whatever, now we « have » to make an effort to « fit in ».’ Another girl, D. (14-year-old), said that our society is what makes us feel like we need to make sure our appearance is on point, especially at our age. Another girl, Z (14-year-old) from another section, told us that she feels like her outfits define her and that her appearance matters a lot. What is the most important about her outfits to her is that she likes them, but she also thinks of what people might have to say. ‘If I wore an outfit that would represent my personality exactly, I would wear it, but I would feel slightly anxious, fearing that my new appearance might be judged quite harshly by others’.                     

 A boy we have interviewed (A., 13-year-old) said that ‘What matters the most to me is someone’s personality, their looks don’t matter to me. I just want to be friends with genuine people.’ This statement was surprisingly backed up by many other guys who think looks don’t matter. However, another boy, M. (14-year-old) told us that looks do matter since it’s the first thing you notice in someone.  

Thanks to these interviews, we know that appearance matters to most teenagers.

We feel the urge to be able to fit in and sometimes we might even change our appearances a little bit because we fear judgment from our peers. On the other hand, some teenagers don’t want to change their appearance to get accepted more easily by others and someone’s looks aren’t important to them either, they just want genuine people as friends.        

In conclusion, our appearances are judged too strongly in this society, and we think that if we start encouraging self-confidence, people might start wearing what they actually like, not plainly what the rules of current fashion dictate.

So, start TODAY showing your real self!!  

Malwina Senda (S4PLB) and Maria Moureau Taymans (S4FRA)