Final rewrite of Blog Post#1

I'm a Sight Unseen

I have chosen my first blog post to rewrite for the final. I chose this post because I received the worst score so why not make another attempt at a hard topic. I feel that I have a way better understanding of the term deviant now than three months ago.

Many have made imprints on my life. If someone takes my life and throws it through a social filter they will see that I was raised by two straight, Caucasian, middle class, married of 30+years parents. I have two brothers and we were all raised in a drug, alcohol, and cursing free atmosphere. My questions to you is why do we socially share our ways. Why do we filter data, images, opinions, and details of our daily lives? This socio-mental filter is what guides our understanding. It's just like a lens in a camera, what one can see with an image in front of them can change when it is placed on a piece of paper. Why do we alter how an image appears? What is it about our society that makes this change acceptable?

So how does one perceive me? Can you visually perceive someone? I was born in this world with an "empty" mind. The world was what we could perceive it. A perfect imprint of empirical reality. My world has been changed by my experiences with others. Many people struggle with the different labels they are given throughout their lives. Labels place people into categories like nerd, jock, dumb blonde, bible freak, and so on. These labels are examples of what society has created. Society has built a system that helps people have a better understanding of what they consider deviant and normal. Labeling helps this structure and these values are passed on generation after generation. These labels help us police each other, “Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders” (Becker 39).

When you walk into a room with people you know, what is your emotional reaction? How about if you walk into a room and you don't know anyone. Will your reaction be the same? Most of us know that the answers are different in many ways. With our society we can label individuals as deviant when they haven’t committed a deviant act, “some people may be labeled deviant who in fact have not broken a rule” (Becker 39). This reminds me of a first impression. To have a social interaction with a person, we need to know how to talk to them. For example if one tries to speak to an individual who they don’t know if they are a male or female then the social interaction will different because the mind is focused on the persons gender. Our society doesn’t know how to treat people that have been labeled deviant and this can form grouping patterns. This brings me to the question of what conversations are okay in the presence of friends, family, and co-workers. Now, the way I speak in front of a friend is not the same as when I talk to my mother. Why is this?

This week I have been viewing each conversation from a different angle. I have always known that what I say to people always varies by who is in the room but the realization has changed many views on things. Now looking at the daily conversations with these individuals I have really seen how inappropriate and "Deviant" they can be. To me this is my "norm" and with my friends and co-workers they intermix. Two of my closest friends are my bosses or have a "higher rank." These personal associations can influence an individual’s behavior, “The person’s associations are determined in a general context of social organizations” (Sutherland 28).

Since labels have all these negative associations it creates a system of fear. People are so afraid of being labeled that they instead try to distance themselves away from this feared difference. The fact that as a society we dehumanize, demonize, stigmatize and so on has helped create these different categories of deviance. When people realize that what they say is inappropriate they will sometimes turn them into "inside jokes." Jokes that are still inappropriate to us but the average person would never guess and this helps cover up the inappropriate topics. And these topics aren't inappropriate to the people talking about them but instead this method is a way to cover up a deviant act. This is a very important detail that co-insides with my other job.

As a female firefighter I work in an all-male testosterone filled work environment and they never say anything that is appropriate. Organization is a big thing in the fire service and, “Much of social life is organized and routine, and many of our interactions take place within organizations” (Wharton 86). The fire house is a socialized atmosphere and they all think it is funny to see people’s reactions to each other’s jokes. When reviewing fire history one will read that these jokes are known as coping mechanism in regards to the many different calls medical or fire related that are run and sometimes don’t end well. I have seen more in one day then the average person will see in a life time. These boys are my family and these jokes are only said when we are within closed doors. The main comment that is pasted around is "I'm not racist, I hate all races equally." Is this right? It’s a different way to view the idea of racism and it pushes the ideology that focusing on only the black and white, which simply doesn’t represent all races. This reminded me of the differential theory and how groups influence/teach each other, “The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups” (Sutherland 27).

Do you partake in labeling? Labeling is done at a cultural level because our society has set impossible standards. We all feed into the vicious cycle and give these labels power. The example below is a video of Katy Perry a famous musician that did a skit on Sesame Street. She wanted to play dress up with and then sang her song “Hot N Cold” with the famous Sesame Street character Elmo. As you can see the skit was very simple. But parents across the United States were very upset that Katy's breast were showing and that her dress was simply to short. Now, after watching the video I saw nothing inappropriate and in fact my three year old nephew loves it! But the media is a big influence on people’s lives and Sesame Street ended up pulling the show/skit in regards to the viewer’s requests.

The video below is one example of people questioning the reasons behind the show being pulled off the air. It point out that it is a kid friendly show. They talk about how the children are following Elmo and enjoying all the bright colors. It also spoke about how the children have no distention to why or how this video is controversial and instead this is just a conflict with the parents.

Then you have the classic video called 'Charlie Bit My Finger' which is about two brothers sitting in a chair. The older brother Harry decided to put his finger in his younger brother month. The younger brother then bit the finger and the peer entrainment of 56 seconds one can see the reaction. This film has over 449,790,848 views on youtube.com and is very funny might I add. But the interesting thing about this video is how much coverage it had from the media. I saw it on every news show for weeks even Oprah had Harry and Charlie on her show. This video was labeled funny and cute. But what if this was two adult brothers sitting in a chair and one bit the others finger. Would the label be different?

Oldspice is a brand of shower gel that has been around for years. The company started to advertise with “The man your man could smell like” campaign. These advertisements where directed toward a female audience. This advertisement style has changed how the media advertises. But this commercial below is an example of how society views the ideal man. This shows how society assumes this common value system towards groups that violate the norms. This brings up the question of “Why do men differ in their beliefs about what constitutes good and desirable conduct,” (Hirschi 31) and the assumption that the male is in this dominating group. 

This hierarchy of gender enforces those beliefs of able bodied individuals. The idea that every person in a wheelchair wants to be able to walk is a myth. Society creates these filters that allow these ideas to happen and then reinforces them with videos like below which make fun of a disabled body. This adds to the stigma. The film below is about a horse that only has two legs. It is a 'retarded' horse and when you listen to the music you can see how demeaning it truly is. But maybe it’s okay not to walk because one can still have a very fulfilling life. People like Mark Zupan challenge the stigma of being disabled.

So in the end what is deviancy? Who is deviant? What makes them deviant? I'm not going to sit here and say I'm not deviant but in comparison to others I'm not. Why am I able to compare myself to others. Growing up in a society that offers less to people that have a deviant behavior has created an individual that fears breaking the norm. The strive to perfection is an incredible journey but not very piratical. Why is it that our society has set standards that are too hard to reach by the average joe?

This leads me into the pictures above. Religion is always a tough topic to speak about but religion has many ties into society consideration of fornication. The social norm of abstinence before marriage used to be considered normal but now it's abnormal, “you got to try it before you tie it,” are many jokes that are said in regards to getting married. Now, classifying this behavior as deviant would make people feel uncomfortable so instead society has now taken the behavior and made it acceptable. It is an encouraged and even desired behavior. A thing that most religions like to consider an deviant act is pornography. This is a topic that almost everyone has partaken in durning some point in their lives but it is consider 'dirty'. I don't know a single man that has ever told me he has never seen porn but this can be because women have been more sexualize in our society than men.

So what is deviancy? It is a word that has evolved over many years. It can be used to label people as a rule breaker or different from the daily norm. But the term will always be around even though as a society we have evolved and developed a sense of tolerance for many human behaviors. For example almost half the population participates in divorce. How as a society can we consider this deviant when it has slowly became the norm? We may not look at it as a deviant behavior but instead we can view it as a social problem.

Word Count: 2013 (barely made it!)

Citations:

YouTube. YouTube. Web. 27 Apr. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/?tab=w1>.

Wharton, Amy S. The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2005. Print.

http://crimeanddeviance.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/CH08figure1.png
Thio, Alex, and Thomas C. Calhoun. Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.

Howard S. Becker. "Labeling Theory." Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.

Sutherland, Edwin H., and Donald R. Cressey. "Differential Association Theory." Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.

Thio, Alex, and Travis C. Hirschi. "Control Theory." Readings in Deviant Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.