Have you ever walked past a reflective surface like a mirror, a window or a car and looked at yourself?
If your answer was something like, "No. I have never done that."
YOU LIE!
Everyone looks at themselves when they pass by their reflections, but for whatever reason, everyone is embarrassed about it. When you walk by the surface (unless you're in a bathroom or something of the like) then you always try to sneak a peak without really looking at yourself. You kinda look out of your peripherals while continuing to walk at normal speed.
Even though everyone does it, we don't want anyone else to know when we do it. Why is that? If we're all so vain, why do we care?
Maybe it's that we don't want others to know how much we care about our appearance. Or maybe for some people, looking in the mirror is more a matter of simple interest than of vanity.
But why? I still don't understand. Why doesn't anyone ever fully stop walking and check themselves out in the mirror? Would it really be that big of a deal?
I definitely wouldn't do that myself (and I really don't know why) but I also would certainly not judge somebody who did. In fact, I think I would silently commend them for breaking a social norm so blatantly.
I'm going to postulate a theory: I think the reason we don't want people to know we are looking at our reflection as we pass a window or mirror is simply to preserve our own modesty. We assume that if others see us stopping to look in the mirror, they will think less of us or judge us.
So what it really comes down to is self-consciousness. No one wants to be judged by others, obviously. But it's still curious. Even though you don't know the person, you still don't want them to think less of you, even though it is very likely that they will never see you again nor you them. In fact, I think especially because you don't know the person, you don't want them to judge you.
Think about this:
If you were with your friends, would you still be so sneaky about looking at your reflection? Would you even care to do so in the first place? I think not.
I have never really thought about this until just now, but I think it is really funny and interesting how we care more about how complete strangers perceive us for looking at our reflections, for example, than our friends do. Chances are you will not see those people ever again, and yet we do not want them to think any less of us.
ReplyDeleteI would say that not everyone stops to look at themselves in the mirror for the same purposes. Sometimes people stop and glance to wonder and think, "Who I am and where I am a going in this world? I do not necessary think they are being self-conscious about their personal appearance or whatever. I think from a social norm is that, I would not care if my friends saw me looking at myself in the mirror. However, that is probably because I hardly ever look at myself in the mirror to begin with. I like that you brought up something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI won't lie, I do this literally every single day. And yes, it's because I don't want people looking over at me and thinking why is that girl blatently checking herself out in that window? But I never thought about it the way you are. If everyone does it then whats the point in hiding it and NOT just blatently checking yourself out? I don't think this will ever change though. People will always be self-conscious and care about what others think about them.
ReplyDeleteMirrors at the gym strike me as especially curious examples. This is one situation where guys will unabashedly check themselves out. (I understand using mirrors to check form for an exercise--that's different.)
ReplyDeleteIt's fascinating that something like looking at oneself in the mirror still is a rhetorical act; it's fraught with meaning.