Rihla #12

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Shoe Gazing is when someone points his or her camer down at his/her feet and takes a picture.

I didn't think that I participated in shoe gazing, but as I was looking through some of my pictures on my computer to make sure, I found some pictures of my shoes. I also found many pictures of converse saved on my computer. I realized that I am a shoe gazer when it comes to converse.





When it comes to American culture there are MANY things that are considered to be the beautiful "norm". There seperate qualifications for beautiful for each gender. Women are percieved beautiful if they have clear skin, are thin, have curves in the right places, are tall, and have long hair. Men tend to be more muscular and tall. The media is what determines what is considered a beautiful "norm". If the media decided that wearing heels and corsettes are beautiful, the more people are going to want to wear those.

However, the media cannot completely influence everybody's idea of beautiful. Some people feel that peircing and tattoos are disgusting while other believe they are beautiful.

I personally find beauty to be in the eye of the beholder. I do follow the standard society norm of beauty but I think it's much more beautiful when someone finds themselves beautiful despite what society says.

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Photos

Flower Petal and Converse
I found this picture that I took while I was in Boston, MA of my converse with flower petals on them. I guess I do shoe gaze after all.