Awareness just means acknowledgement of their existence, while internalizing means believing in those social norms, to the point where one would change behaviors in order to conform to them. This difference can be seen in parts of Dominica woman Julianna’s story from Becky W. Thompson’s A Hunger So Wide and so Deep. In Julianna’s story, she is aware of American social norms as the time passes after her immigration; however, this does not have an impact on her eating behavior until she begins to internalize the idea that her body (a perfect “guitar body” by Dominican standards) was fat for America. This internalization is spurred when Julianna accepted the judgements made by family friends, classmates, and her brother who told her to diet. Thus, when the internalization of American body ideals was fully formed in Julianna, she began to fast and change her eating
Awareness just means acknowledgement of their existence, while internalizing means believing in those social norms, to the point where one would change behaviors in order to conform to them. This difference can be seen in parts of Dominica woman Julianna’s story from Becky W. Thompson’s A Hunger So Wide and so Deep. In Julianna’s story, she is aware of American social norms as the time passes after her immigration; however, this does not have an impact on her eating behavior until she begins to internalize the idea that her body (a perfect “guitar body” by Dominican standards) was fat for America. This internalization is spurred when Julianna accepted the judgements made by family friends, classmates, and her brother who told her to diet. Thus, when the internalization of American body ideals was fully formed in Julianna, she began to fast and change her eating