SA 21 B
"Eating a Banana While Staring at Strangers"
1. What norm did you violate?
In our experiment, our group violated two particular norms that concern behavior: personal space and proper eating.
The norm about personal space refers to the distance that must be maintained for one’s position when interacting with or in the vicinity of another person.The distance varies according to a number of factors such as one’s relationship to the person. Generally, strangers are expected to maintain a large amount of distance from each other whenever possible because of the lack of familiarity.
The second violated norm refers to the set of rules that govern eating best expressed by the statement: “Don’t play with your food.” When eating, in public especially, people are expected to eat their food without any additional actions aside from biting, chewing and swallowing. This is presumably done because of the importance placed on food as a resource for the body. Licking the food, on occasion, is accepted depending on the type of food (lollipops, soft serve ice cream, etc.) However, in doing so, people usually avoid making direct eye contact because of the sexual connotations behind licking (often linked to the act of licking a phallus).
2. Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?
In our experiment, Jakey and Gio went up to random people inside and outside the campus and ate a banana while maintaining constant eye contact. Gio and Jakey would sit with a random person, often someone not paying attention or engrossed in another activity. Instead of biting the banana right away, they would wrap their tongues around it and do an action close to licking the banana. From there, they would start slowly biting on the banana while still maintaining eye contact. Sometimes, when the respondents would start feeling awkward (indicated by their facial expressions), Gio and Jakey would offer a bite from their bananas to them. Other than this, they said nothing else to the respondents, even when asked questions. They also tried doing the experiment to people who were walking around the campus. They would walk at the same pace and in close proximity while still eating the banana and maintaining eye contact with the respondent. Videos of the experiment were captured using a hidden camera.
For the first few days of the experiment, we did the experiment inside Ateneo to see the reactions of the students and staff. We went to different places in Ateneo like JSEC, Matteo Ricci Hall, SEC Walk, Red Brick Road and Gonzaga Cafeteria. After experimenting on the people in Ateneo, we decided to “expand” our experiment by looking for respondents in UP Town Center. There, Gio went up to different kinds of people like a group of teenage girls outside Family Mart, the cashier lady of Family Mart, nurses and members of the staff of a cosmetic boutique. Gio took different kinds of approach to the respondents like sitting with them, standing beside them as they go up the escalator and walking beside them.
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 these reactions?
The reactions we received for our experiment varied greatly. While some respondents were quick to ignore or dismiss the experiment after experiencing some initial shock, particularly the female respondents, others would laugh or ask what was going on. The respondents would also ask for the name of the one eating or try to make small talk. Those who responded by asking questions or jokingly making remarks were mostly men. However, the group also observed that, regardless of gender, the respondents would decline when offered to bite from the banana. None of the respondents said yes to taking a bite from the banana. Teenagers, especially those in groups, would initially look at each other before asking either Jakey or Gio questions. Some interesting questions that came up were about whether or not Gio or Jakey was dared to eat the banana while making eye contact. There were also instances wherein respondents displayed their disapproval of the deviant act. Particularly, the female cashiers either grimaced or walked away upon completing their duty as a cashier to Gio.
The reactions of the respondents were probably caused by their feelings of unease because of the sexual connotations behind the act of eating a banana (particularly, because the banana is a phallic object). However, the diversity of the reactions can also be linked to the different social factors such as age, gender, and personal beliefs. For example, the teenagers in the experiment seemed to react differently compared to the adults; much like how some of the female respondents reacted differently compared to the male respondents.
Because the experiment is deviant, it came as no surprise that the victims would act startled or confused. These reactions reinforce the notion that having strangers make eye contact while eating a banana is not something that commonly happens in our society. Particularly, the reaction of a group of teenage girls who asked whether or not the experiment was a dare points to how doing this act is considered as a challenge, rather than something that can be done with ease. Moreover, the way some respondents were offended by the act also reinforces the notion of the banana as a phallic object, and the act of playing with one as a sexual one.
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, social class, values/beliefs of institutions?
We found out that the people of similar category (gender, age, culture) had the same reactions. For example, men responded to the experiment in a more lighthearted way, compared to how the women reacted. The men would often engage in conversation, though one-sided, with the person eating the banana. Women, on the other hand, often ignored the one eating the banana. We also found out that older respondents reacted more negatively to the experiment, thinking that our actions were inappropriate and immature as seen in their facial expressions, such as their frowns. The teenagers, however, did not have the same reaction as the adults. Instead, the teenagers, after generally feeling awkward, began to either ask whether or not the ongoing experiment was a dare or ignore the experiment because they linked the act of eating a banana while making eye contact as something done as a joke or prank. This relates to the concept of values, where people find the act of eating a banana slowly, as something perverted, violating the values of the conservative people. Also, the act of eating a banana slowly, paired up with the violation of personal space, while making eye contact to strangers, made the conservatives, especially women and elders, more uncomfortable when done to them. This is because in our culture, it is not common to stare at a person without saying anything while eating a banana.
Dramaturgy was also seen when the experiment was done to a cashier in one of the stores in UP Town Center. From that, it was found out that people in retail (cashiers) tried not to break from their role of playing a cashier by avoiding the deviance despite how offended or awkward they felt with the ongoing experiment. Instead, they would just carry on with what they’re tasked to do, not minding what was happening in front of them.
5. How did you feel doing the experiment? How did it feel to deviate from the norms? Did you hesitate?
At first, it was quite hard to get ourselves to stay “in character,” meaning it was hard to keep a straight face while eating a banana in front of random strangers. It also made us fear for the consequences for doing such a daring deviance, so we had to make sure that our “targets” would not heavily penalize us with their reactions or that we would not be making their lives harder. We, to an extent, had to select our “targets.” With that in mind, we avoided busy looking people, and people whom we thought would react violently because they found our experiment to be offensive.
In general however, it felt “wrong” to deviate from the norms particularly because of the attention we received while doing the experiment. It felt like thousands of eyes were staring at us at the same time, telling us to go back into conformity. In a sense, we felt some sort of pressure to adhere to the norms. That in particular made us feel rather hesitate at the start. Yet, it also felt entertaining and empowering knowing that we can exact a sort of uneasiness and fear from people just by doing something simple but irregular. Hence, towards the end of the experiment, we found that we had an easier time executing it compared to when we first started.
6. Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.
It is interesting to note how the meanings of actions can be easily manipulated and turned into something deviant. With the simple addition of eye contact, the act of eating a banana is suddenly turned into something that can be interpreted as a sexually suggestive act, that can also be taken as something offensive in the eyes of a stranger. This, however, seems to be just one of many interpretations that one may come to. In light of the experiment, it became more obvious to us that even something as simple as eating a banana is charged with a lot of meaning. For some, the deviant act of eating a banana while making eye contact may just be a joke or a dare. To others, however, it can easily be seen as a form of harassment. This brings into question the role of our social contexts: exactly what forces cause us to react that way to something as menial as someone eating a banana?
Photo taken from: http://9gag.com/gag/a44gd0Z
- Proof of experiment will be submitted in hard copy because of its large file size -
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