Lack of Representation in Media

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According to a website, 73% of people have had their name mispronounced. And most of those people said it made them feel disrespected, upsetting, and like they didn't belong. This other website said there a five stages to what people feel when their name is mispronounced. 1. Denial - no clue that you have a difficult name. 2. Anger - Why was I named like this? 3. Bargaining - Mom, can I change my name? 4. Depression - (So this didn't really happen to me) 5. Acceptance - Call me anything you want, but please don't shorten my name since it gives a whole new meaning to it. I found myself relating to some of these stages, just like Firoozeh Dumas did in "The 'F Word'". The line that stuck out to me was: "My name, Firoozeh, chosen by my mother, means 'Turquoise' in Farzi. In America, it means 'Unpronounceable'". This made me think about how due to either changing their name or shortening it, the beautiful meanings the names have are lost and forgotten about. I also noticed something else while writing this blog post. Why is it that words like Firoozeh have red wavy lines under them, indicating that they are misspelled, whereas words like Emma are not considered misspelled? It's probably because the name 'Emma' is more well known and the computer is more accustomed to it. But my name, Dikshaa, is also spelled right but the computer doesn't want to regard it as a correctly spelled word. All these prove how little different cultures are represented in media.

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