Body Conformations

I believe that at some point or another every person, especially adolescents, wish to change their bodies in some way to conform to a standard that that culture has help up as ideal. While I have at times suffered from this predicament as well, I would say that the time when I felt the most pressure to conform my body to a certain standard was when I was a part of the color guard at my high school. In color guard, our uniforms were not the most flattering, unless a person had the “ideal body,” leading each of the girls on the team to be self-conscious of the fit of their uniform, even though the uniforms were custom-made to fit each of our individual body types. Besides merely fitting into our uniforms, our instructors expected those on the team to be able to contort our bodies in particular ways and do certain motions in order to properly execute our choreographed routine. I wasn’t particularly good at color guard, nor was I very flexible, so I struggled to be able to perform as I was expected to. The insecurities I felt were not so much related to society as a whole, but more so to the band and color guard culture I had become a part of, and the expectations of those in that culture regarding the way I looked and performed. As part of the color guard, the band constantly told us that our job was to make them look good, which led to further expectations of the members of the color guard from the band. Ultimately, I ended up quitting color guard. I quit for a myriad of reasons, however, I think that if I had been better able to meet the expectations of that culture, I might have considered remaining a part of it longer. Nevertheless, I chose to remove myself from the “bando” society rather than push myself to achieve the cultural norm or standard that was expected of me.