Socially blank status

Amane Yokoyama
Nov 1 · 4 min read

The handicap in me is the blank (social) status right now.

I made it to graduate from university this September (Yay!) and I’ll start working from next spring, which means I’ve been in a sort of gap year right now. I am not a student nor a worker. Wherever I go, everyone might see me as one who doesn’t go to school and work either.

So who am I?

None of the social statuses applies to my current situation. Social status means the role the society expects me to take and the one that everyone would accept. In a way, I have some social statuses such as the daughter of my parents, the owner of my dog and the student of driving school… but they are not really social status for me. This is because this status would be only accepted within a small and limited society; family. For those who don’t know who I am, I am just a young female part-time worker.

Back in October, I’ve visited New York with my family to see my sister who has been working over there.

And there was a funny (and really childish) sister argument. Since there was only a king bed in her room, one of us had to sleep on a tiny couch. I was okay with sleeping on it for a few days, but I finally couldn’t hold with sleeping on it because of my neck pain and jet-lag. So I asked my sister to take a turn and she said this unthinkingly.

“Why? Because you don’t work (so you should sleep on the couch !)”
“なんで?だってフリーターなんでしょ?”

Until she told me like this, I never thought that everyone would see the way she does and realized the blank social status in myself.

These words imply a lot of o things for me;
- The power-balance between my sister and me beyond just a sister-hood, which means as a sister who works, earns money and me who don’t.
- My stereotypes toward this “status”
- The vulnerability lies in me by being a “part-time worker/one who doesn’t have a job”.

Everyone told me “you are free” or “you can do anything before start working!” Yes, I don’t have to wake up early every morning and don’t need to work on the assignments. Yet, I still uncomfortable to be seen just as a part-time worker.

Looking back at this experience, I noticed my habits since I lost my status as a student. Whenever I got to meet new people for the first time, I couldn’t help giving them explanations like “Oh I actually already graduated and will be working from next year, that’s why I’m being a part-time worker.” Without noticing, I’ve been feeling uncomfortable with the situation I’ve been into and trying to justify by saying “because I’ve already graduated…” and “because my job will get started next year…”

Through this experience, I’ve learned again that occupation affects your social identity a lot, which means social status you have or the group where you belong to matter when you think about who you are. Also, the occupation gives me the role to play and it actually makes feel relieved. I think being a student was quite simple. Everyone knows what students should do; go to class, study hard, pass the exam. The role I have to take as a student was too obvious to think about what I have to do and just gave me the reason to spend everyday life without putting so many efforts on who I am. But, now, I’ve gotten too much freedom to handle by myself. Ironically, I came to want the rules to follow after I got the freedom that I eager to get before.

Some of you may think I won’t be handicapped anymore if I start working. Yes, I would be able to be freed from “myself without social status”, but I’m afraid there are still some occasions that I’m SOCIALLY nothing again.

As a female, I might get married and give birth to a baby someday in my future. Unfortunately, in society as of now, women are more likely to have maternity leave or even quit their job to take care of children compared to men. That means, I still have possibilities to have a blank social status again. “Mother” will be a huge status, but it is only taken played in the family. For me, the mother is a strong and powerful status while it could be vulnerable at once. I could do whatever I want even if I don’t have an obvious social status, however, the situation makes me hesitated to go ahead sometimes. I would face similar situations in my future, however, I’m still on my way to figure out how to handle this handicap.

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