Banaag, Kaira February 24, 2015
De Chavez, Nicole SA21 - E
Dimagiba, Eariel
Dionisio, Sam
Reston, Keth
Valdepeñas, Nattasha
1. What norm did you violate?
Our group
participated in normal social interactions, such as eating in a restaurant,
walking around the mall and window shopping, in a state of imperfect health
manifested physically through skin diseases and dark bruises. People who got
beaten up or have infected skin usually don’t go to public places or at least
try to cover it up nor do their friends hang out with them like nothing is
wrong.
There is
the norm of appearing physically presentable to others in public spaces. One is
described to be healthy if he or she looks normal, meaning to say not showing
any conspicuous signs of disability or abnormalities. One way to disturb this
body image is the negative perceptions, thoughts and feelings about the body,
which we portrayed through the bruised girl and the girl with skin disease
2. Describe the breaching
experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?
We divided ourselves into two groups. The first
group consisted of a heavily bruised girl together with a friend while the
second group was composed of one girl with skin disease together with two friends.
We prepared for the breaching experiment in the University Dorm lobby. We made
use of make up and glue to create the bruises and skin disease rashes on the
different parts of the body such as the face, neck and limbs. We then took a
tricycle to Shakey’s wherein we started walking separately (and in character
for the experiment) going to McDo, our first and “maka-masa” venue. After
eating in McDo for almost an hour, we went to UP Town Center, a more high-end
place so we could compare the reactions of the people in these two locations,
which we assume to be from different social classes.
The first group entered first. The bruised girl
in shades lined up alone and was approached by a friend, who was (acted)
extremely shocked, even shouting a little bit. [We made sure that the
conversation was louder than normal but not totally attention grabbing.] The
friend asked what happened to her and straight up told her that she should have
worn a jacket to cover the bruises particularly on her arms. As the bruised girl
started to get emotional, she told her friend that they could just talk about
it later. They both ordered food and the friend offered to pay for the bruised
girl, while both try to make direct eye contact with the counter staff. They
chose to sit on a table near many people. They ate and talked for like an hour.
After, the two friends walked around UP Town Center. They passed by different
restaurants to check the price lists outside and talk to the waitresses. The
bruised girl tried to make eye contact with the waitresses as well as families
and children who looked well off based on how they act and dress.
On the
other hand, the second group, which is the skin disease group, went to the same
area as the first group (McDo – UP Town). As preparation for the girl with the
skin disease, they used glue to make the fake wounds and the peeling skin and
the group made sure that the skin lesions were obvious and easily seen by other
people. She wore shorts and a shirt so that the skin disease would be obvious
and people could immediately notice them. The skin-diseased girl entered Mcdo
with a friend and lined up along with the other customers in the counter to buy
food. Her hands and arms were filled with lesions and it was more obvious as she
paid and received the food. The group made sure to sit on a table where there
were people around and where it would be easy to hear them talking. Basically,
they talked about how itchy it was and if it were viral. The girl’s friends
made sure that they showed concern towards her through asking questions on how
she treats the skin disease and the rashes. The friends would always repeat the
topic on how itchy it must have been and how grave it is that it could be viral
in order to strike fear on other people. The girl with the skin disease would
answer with statements such as how it was really itchy, even mentioning how her
roommate was also starting to feel itchy at times. She mentions that she does
not know whether it was viral or not; however, she emphasizes the case of her
roommate to give the impression that the disease was viral.
For further observation, the second group went
to National Bookstore where the girl with the skin disease went near people and
get items from shelves where people are crowding. The group also went near a
family to see how the parents wouldreact. Lastly, the group went to UP Town
Center, specifically in Cotton On, where the girl went near people and tried to
brush her arm against others. She also tried on clothes to see how the staff
would react.
3. What were the different reactions of the people? List all
possible reactions you observed. Why do you think they reacted this way? What
caused these reactions? Did the deviant act
re-affirm/reinforce the existing norms based on the reactions?
The first group received different reactions
from the people in Mcdo and in UP Town Center. The cashier at Mcdo avoided
staring or even making eye contact with the bruised girl. She basically looked at
and conversed with the (normal-looking) friend. However, during the second time
the group ordered, the cashier was able to hold longer eye contact with the
bruised girl. We observed that people, especially women, would often look away
upon seeing someone with a bruised face. We think that the cashier talked more
to the friend than the bruised girl because she unconsciously doesn’t want to
be involved with the bruised girl’s situation in anyway or she might have felt
that making eye contact (in order for them to communicate) could be misinterpreted
as being rude or offensive. The first group got those reactions from people
since abused or beaten up people don’t casually go to public places such as
fast food restaurants or malls, as they don’t like being noticed, stared and
even judged by other people. If ever they go, they usually hide the bruises
from the public by wearing a pair of sunglasses, a technique that the group did
as well although the bruised girl takes it off from time to time to gauge the
reactions of people. In UP Town Center (as well as in McDo but it applies more
in UP Town), we observed that the people there generally just mind their own
business especially when the bruised girl is not in their view. We didn’t
elicit as much reaction as we did in Mcdo.
For the
second group, there were a lot of staring noticed by the companions of the
girl. The cashier lady seemed awkward since the lesions were the very first
thing she saw in the girl and she immediately looked away and avoided looking
at it again. While lining up, it was noticeable that people would really stare
at her for a long time and some would even go near her (usually behind her) to
get a closer look at the rashes. People looked from head to toe. When they sat
on the table, the group noticed that some people around them left and some
transferred to another table. To provide a more detailed explanation on how
these people reacted:
a.
One girl, who at first sat kind of oriented towards the group’s
table, turned her back from them once the group sat down and started to talk about
the rashes. Her posture seemed to be very avoidant such as covering her face
with her hand and she directly faced her friends (which was the opposite
direction of the group’s table)
b.
A man sitting outside Mcdo stared and asked what it was: “Ma’am,
ano yan? Paso ba yan?”
c.
There was a woman sitting on the table right beside ours but when
she noticed, she moved two tables away
d.
Another man who sat 2 tables from us moved farther when he noticed
the skin disease
e.
When the group asked for ketchup in the counter, the first thing
the lady looked at were the rashes. However, after giving the ketchup and when
the girl was walking away, it was noticeable that the lady even looked at the
girl more.
f.
In national, the family mentioned earlier, the dad was really
looking at the girl and seemed to be judging her. The group was expecting for
the dad to move his kid away from her but instead, when the girl tried to move
closer to the family, it was the dad alone who avoided her and tried to move
away.
g.
In UP Town, one kid saw the girl and asked his brother while
pointing at her, “What’s that? What happened?”
From this social experiment we can
state that the deviant act re-affirmed the existing norms based on the
reactions of the people. It is not common for people with obvious and dark
bruises to participate in public spaces and the disruption caused by this is
what we expected. The main common reaction is to avoid staring and making eye
contact because people think that these simple actions could be easily
misinterpreted given the context. People avoid making eye contact with a girl
who appears to have been abused because they want to avoid possible
confrontations in case negative implications of their innocent staring were
made. The fact that people value their own well-being is prominently observed
in the second group experiment with the skin disease. People were curious and
grossed out when they saw the girl with the skin disease; they moved farther
away because they did not want to get infected with the disease. This is the
common reaction caused by an unhealthy body.
4. Aside
from the norms, what sociological themes are at play for people to react in a
certain way? Is it a function of gender (gender norms, roles), social class
(norms of the rich and the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion,
family, peer group, etc.)?
Gender norms are partly at play in this
experiment because we believe that it would be more normal or socially acceptable for a guy to have a bruised face
as people would just think he got it from an accident or a street fight, etc,
as opposed to a girl. When a appears with a bruised face and body, more often
than not people assume that she as abused and then feel bad about her situation.
For the second group, it was observed that females usually just stared and
looked like they were sympathizing; males stared, laughed, and really talked
about the person with the skin disease. People observed in McDo had more
reactions than the people observed in UP Town Center.
When it comes to social norms (of the rich and
the poor), the group did not observe any significant differences in the people
observed in the two locations (McDo and UP Town).
5. How did you feel when you did
this experiment? How does it feel to
deviate from the norms? Were you hesitant to do the activity?
Doing this experiment was exciting yet
frightening because we were afraid to be approached and to be offered help by a
concerned person. We also became hesitant at one points continue the activity
because the bruised girl accidentally met two of her (real life) friends. She
immediately hid her face because she felt embarrassed but at the same time she did
not want to blow her cover for the social experiment. This immediate reaction
to hide reflects a reaction on the part of the researchers. The deviant act also
has effect on the doer.
There
is the feeling of shame and shyness because people were staring and giving
judging looks. The group, most especially the girl with the skin disease,
experienced feelings of not belonging and being out of place. There was also an
instance when the member with the skin disease accidentally met someone who
knows her. She acted normally, greeted the person and left immediately. The
other group mates saw that the person did a double take on her when he saw
what’s on her skin.
Appendix:
Bruised Girl (Tasha
Valdepeñas)
Girl with skin disease
(Nicole de Chavez)
References:
Cushwa, S. (2002). Bruises, Blood and Biceps: Is It All Worth
It? Retrieved from: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/local/scisoc/sports02/papers/scushwa.html
What is body image? [Internet]. Retrieved from: http://www.nedc.com.au/body-image
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