Olivia Bettorf
ombettorf@lc.edu

 

Self-expression is a luxury that everyone can enjoy. Rather it be through makeup, clothes, hair, tattoos or body piercings, no one has a right to judge. Self-expression tends to be both healthy and tricky at the same time.

Let me explain. 

I like to wear black or darker clothing along with darkish makeup, and I’ve dyed my hair a dark red. I like to look like Halloween all year round because it makes me comfortable, and boosts my confidence to know I look good and represent my personality. 

Now, some of my family members on the other hand, think I look better in brighter clothes and more natural looking makeup. They don’t care much about my hair and all agree it looks good on me. But, if I wear that dark clothing I will get something along the lines of “You look so gloomy!” Which proceeds to, “you should dress brighter.” 

But do I really listen? No, no I don’t. Because my dark clothes and makeup helps me get all of my negativity out of my system. It allows me to explain without words that I was in a bad mood, but not anymore because, I’m getting it out of my system through self expression. 

I beat my face to realer angry and I swipe on that eye-shadow and pop that lipstick to show I’m a bad witch and no one can tell me otherwise.

As for tattoos, when you see a person with a tattoo or multiple tattoos, they might mean something very personal to them. My dad has a tattoo of an eagle with the American flag on the inside of the birds outline, because he served in the US Marine Corps during Desert Storm. My mom has a tattoo of a saying from her late cousin. My parents are both hard working people with jobs that require them to be very professional. 

Does the fact that they have tattoos define their work ethic? Not at all, they still work hard. 

My point of all of this is that we still have people today who are judgmental toward people based on one’s self-expression. People don’t seem to understand that there is no right or wrong way to self-express yourself. Just be yourself, because style doesn’t define who you are on the inside, only you can define who you are within your heart.

Be yourself, get that tattoo if you have the extra money, dye your hair that weird color you want to try, get that piercing you want, wear whatever clothes you want to wear. Do what you know makes you happiest in life.