Throughout history the idea of the picture perfect woman has changed more times than anyone can actually remember. Today’s culture has established norms that are view differently all over the world and as Americans believe our modern culture is the best way to proceed, many other cultures disagree. Our women are believed to be tall, skinny, tan, and perfect. Resorting to any means possible to achieve the robust look and younger image that many women obsess over in the US.
In old times cultures believed that beauty was beheld in the pale, heavy set, women because it conveyed an image of social class because they skinny and tan women were the ones doing all the labor. The book brings up an example of stature changing to fit in when they speak of ancient Rome and how their culture was dark haired and the prostitutes wore blonde so they could be spotted.“ Messalina,” a wife of the king at the time started wearing blonde wigs and it changed the culture as other women followed suit, leaving it impossible to pick prostitutes out of the crowd (309).
American culture and style is ever changing and each season comes out with a different look that society approves of and attempts to match, much like ancient Rome blonde hair is everywhere and being able to spot the nature hair colors has become near impossible. As America changes at the turning of the seasons many cultures retain the same look they have had for centuries. My roommate visited Egypt for spring break and when I jokingly asked about the belly dancers and their beauty as portrayed in movies. He told me they actually have bellies and are proud of them because in their culture it means they are prosperous and well off.

Fashionably late is the always popular term in college kids lives as they try and set a certain image that they may or may not be aware they are portraying. Some young adults have no grasp of the importance of time and the nonverbal messages it portrays when they show up late and miss meetings with no idea of the message they convey with their being tardy. Schools such as Baylor have viewed this ever growing trend as a problem and enforce tardy’s for students lack of respect for the time class starts. Responsibility is a major factor in time management when making an attempt to not be late and be prompt it comes down to the individuals self motivation to be on time and convey the right nonverbal message. My life and habits were forcefully changed thanks to football and the many rules and understood behaviors involving time. Work outs always start at the same time every day and if an athlete is even 30 seconds late after the team has started they will be sent home like they didn’t even make an attempt to go. It is through football and college athletics that I have been able to experience in person the many dimensions of “Biological Time Orientation,” as discussed in our book by the many types of personalities and behaviors expressed at such early hours in the morning (179-180). We are pushed to physical and mental extremes when our minds are sometimes not fully awake. These moments you can really tell how people operate in the mornings and who cannot function regardless of their efforts. These not verbal messages are not hard to spot when you know what you’re looking for and it can be so obvious in situations like ours when your biological makeup is telling you to do one thing and your surroundings are forcing another upon you.

Touching is something that we pick up on as we grow and learn the norms and expectations of our society. There isn’t a written hand book for the way each person would like to be touched, or not at all, and it’s this reason that makes touching such an important nonverbal was of communicating. If it’s between friends or lovers there are certain ways that we touch to convey things that we might not be able to convey with words, it’s that nonverbal message that we send with our hands that says it for us. Touching with your lover would be very different than that of a friend or a professional partner in that the norms of that situation call for different kind of behavior that one learns with time and isn’t told on the first day. When your growing up it seems that every little kid just wants to touch each other and has no since of appropriateness about what they’re doing their just testing the boundaries. Age brings lessons learned from parents, teachers, and anyone with a role in your upbringing how people like to be touched in certain environments. Nonverbal messages are plentiful when touching someone, it has the power to convey the emotion of love and compassion and the ability to intimidate or show personality through a firm hand shake. In closing we should always be conscious of the messages we send when in the presence of others and the nonverbal signals that we send.