Post 2

The New World body was quite a shock for those seeing it for the first time.  In many ways, the New World body was everything that was the complete opposite of the european body.  This new body reflected the differences of the cultures and lifestyles.  Emphasis within the new world was not placed on the body like it was in the European cultures.  Europeans placed a lot of meaning on the way they presented their bodies to others while the people of this New World were far less concerned.  The natives may have had views on size, structure, or deformities but did not go to the extent that the Europeans did on fixing their body up to present it to people.  The people of Europe viewed things such as the way women dressed and covered themselves as a sign of class and beauty while the native women were pretty much unclad.  The Europeans judged the people of the New World by these things.  Women were seen as presenting themselves in a trashy way because of their lack of clothing.  Europeans thought the natives viewed their own bodies with a lack of respect and care.  When descriptions of these natives reached the people back home in Europe I'm sure the people back home viewed the natives in the same way.  Not only that, but I'm sure a lot was lost and added in the descriptions that reached people by word.  This is probably similar to the way in which people today view aliens from outer space.  Although I can't speak for sure, I doubt anybody has actually seen an alien.  Yet we have an image in our mind of what they look like if they exist.  All the factors added together resulted in the natives being viewed with a lack of respect and as an inferior species to Europeans.  The natives viewed these new foreigners is manners different and similar.  "All the people in the neighborhood flocked to John Heath's to behold such rarities as they fancied us to be." (William Byrd 342) Described here is how the natives fancied the Europeans as a treat or a spectacle.  When two cultures that are so different view one another for the first time, these reactions are to be expected.

Post 1

Bodies function within my environment in a multitude of ways and are dependent upon the classification of my environment.  Classifying my environment as Austin Texas or even just the University of Texas is too broad of a scope to analyze the plethora of body types.  For this topic I'll discuss the bodies within my closest group of 15 or so friends I've met in college.  No two people within my group of friends have bodies that serve as a similar function or have many similarities at all.  Several of my friends are in bands.  They dress their bodies in ways that display a particular image that is tied into the attitudes and beliefs of the bands as well as the ideals the bands believe important and a part of those bands.  They do this through piercings, tattoos, and the types of clothing that they wear.  Other friends of mine are not as concerned with what accompanies their bodies as much as they are how their bodies look.  These friends do physical activities that shape their bodies in a way that they feel is more desirable.  There are friends of mine as well who wish to convey an image that they do not care what is desirable by society norms or "attractive."  My friends also belong to different bodies within society.  A majority of my friends belong to fraternities.  They decorate their bodies in ways that help them fit into norms of their respective fraternities.  Some of my friends are members of the University of Texas a Camp Texas counselors.  These friends tend to have higher morals and be more principl- oriented than the rest of my friends.  This is due in one of two ways to being a counselor.  They were either chosen as a counselor because of this fact or have taken this stance as a direct result to belonging to this body.