According to society, I have been thrown into the category of being deviant, ranging from the way I have acted to the way I look ever since I was little. Growing up, males were the more dominant sex that was present in my life. I was always around my dad, brothers, uncles, and male cousins, so naturally, when I learned what was an “appropriate” way to act as a child, it was far more different than what most other girls were taught, because they didn’t have such a strong male influence in their upbringing. I was taught to be tough and not to be afraid of getting dirty, when societies directions on behaving were the quite opposite. Being dainty, pretty, sweet, and clean were more valued for girls, and the expectations in which girls were supposed to act were different than how I acted. When society was telling me to play with Barbies, be a cheerleader and have tea parties, I was doing what my brothers did, playing football, riding quads and playing in the dirt, even when I was encouraged that those behaviors/actions were not “appropriate” for my gender. According to Sutherland and Cresseys Differential Association Theory, an individual commits a crime by learning or being influenced by someone around them. Although it wasn’t a crime to act more like a boy than a girl, it was still considered a deviant action due to the influences around me. Just like Professor Williams’ example of breaking into the Bookie because of the influence of Janae Teal, I was taught to act a certain way, because of the influence of those surrounding me, and according to society, the way I was acting was not the “cookie cutter” girl way that I was supposed to be acting.
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As I’ve grown older, I have found more ways to define myself, other than the ways I was taught as a child, and some of these definitions of character have gone against societal norms as well. I am very interested in body modification, whether it is tattoos or piercings, and growing up with a Christian background, this has been considered extremely deviant in the setting and culture of the church. As learned in class, Beckers’ Labeling Theory shows that deviance is defined by those to stray from the culture norms, especially when involving influenced behaviors or actions, and these deviances are heavily stereotyped among society. On the first day of class when doing an exercise of getting to know the person sitting next to us without communicating, my partner was surprised to find out I was heavily involved with church because of my outward appearance. For me, this reassured the negative stereotype that goes hand in hand with these “deviant” body declarations, that they’re associated negatively with the person that posses them. What surprises me the most is that even within the stereotypes, there are ranges of acceptance. What I mean by this is, because some of my tattoos have religious or personal affiliation, they are more accepted than someone who get’s something considered random or spur of the moment, tattooed on them. Even within stereotypes, society holds views of what can be justified, while others still remain more deviant.
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For my deviant act, I chose to dress differently than what I’m used to. I usually dress pretty modestly, so I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to show a little more skin. I went to three different public places; a grocery store, the mall, and Walmart. In all three locations, I received the same negative connotations, including derogatory labels as well as dirty looks from woman, but positive acknowledgement from men. Society holds an image of being beautiful and showing off assets, but I found out when the line switched from attractive appearance to trashy appearance, and it was interesting to see how much it differed from men to woman. This experience reminded me a lot of discussion during class, when we talked about how it can be perceived as positive for one gender but not for another sometimes, and how the standards chance from person to person, and this really reaffirmed that conversation for me.
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References:
References:
-Class notes, discussion
