The Footsie Fetish (SA 21 G)

Ms. Regina Anonuevo

Lance Bogarin

Candice Chua

Lexie Eala

Monica Lorenzo

Jamee Tolentino

SA21 G

Breaching Experiment: Footsies

1. What norm did you violate?

• The norm that we violated was the norm of respecting personal space. By giving the participants footsies, we invaded personal boundaries on much higher levels than just patting someone on the back or touching their hand by accident, for example. In the first place, people don’t even normally give footsies to their normal friends; it is only commonly done between two people in a relationship. With that being said, it was even more unconventional that it was done to a stranger, thus violating the norm of respecting personal space, a social etiquette essential nowadays.

2. Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?

• The experiment that we conducted was giving footsies to random people. By definition, a footsie is the action of touching someone's feet lightly with one's own feet, especially under a table, as a playful expression of romantic interest. However, because this was done in order to break a social norm, the definition of our footsie is the action of touching someone’s foot or leg with one’s own foot while standing beside or behind them in a public area.
• We conducted the experiment in two places: KFC Katipunan and our NSTP area. We did this by casually standing near the person, trying not to look suspicious and after a few seconds, giving them the footsie by rubbing a foot against their leg. During the experiment, one of us would be standing or sitting a short distance from where it was being conducted in order to document the process and reactions through videos and notes. After the footsie was given, one of us would go up to them in order to debrief them. We told them that they were part of a social experiment and asked for their reactions. This process was repeated several times for the different participants.

3. What were the different reactions of 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 or reinforce these existing norms based on these reactions?

• Reactions:
1. Trial 1 (KFC): “It felt really weird”, “Thanks for the footsie” before leaving KFC
2. Trial 2 (KFC): He was mainly confused because he didn’t know the person giving him the footsie but he said he was generally okay with it after we explained what just happened
3. Trial 3 (KFC): It was very invasive
4. Trial 4 (NSTP Area): awkward, weird, kinda violated
5. Trial 5 (NSTP Area): scared, "akala ko may daga sa paa ko”
• As we discussed earlier, footsies are normally very intimate acts and are done with two people sharing a romantic interest with each other.  In this experiment, by giving footsies to complete strangers, the respondents had two general answers: that they found it awkward, and that if made them feel like their personal space was violated.  They did not expect something like this to happen and had no idea as to how they should react in this specific situation.  The “awkward” response came about because this was a situation that they’ve never had to deal with before and the “invasive” response was due to the preconceived meaning of giving a footsie.  This deviant act reinforced existing norms of having footsies as a very private and intimate act.  From the reactions we observed after giving public footsies to strangers, the idea of a footsie as a gesture of romantic interest was reaffirmed.  The respondents did not know how to react and were taken by surprise at the “invasion” and “awkward”-ness which shows how the norm of giving a footsie to a significant other still stands.

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 & poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.)?

• For guys, their reactions were more in a hesitant manner as it isn’t an everyday occurrence where a girl rubs their foot along your leg.  They felt awkward, as opposed to the violated feeling for girls, because guys aren’t the more commonly “touched” gender and society has set-up a no-win situation for whenever these events happen to guys.  If the guy lashes or voices out, they’d be violent to a female, while not saying anything will let the “harassment” continue to happen.
• Another perspective on this is that a female’s reaction is more violated, as opposed to feeling awkward, due to the gender roles established at a young age. Females are taught to be “conservative”, so when unwarranted touching is involved, they feel very uncomfortable.
• In the Philippines, men and women aren’t very forward when it comes to expressing romantic interest.  Society is generally conservative and public displays of affection are kept at a minimum.  Especially towards strangers, a Filipino will not do anything physical to show attraction or interest to someone he or she just met.  It’s common practice to introduce yourself before even thinking of attempting to give a footsie.  In the Filipino culture, one must get to know a person before even trying to push forward any romantic interest.  As compared to Western countries, the Philippines is still quite traditional when it comes to public displays of affection and expressions of romantic interest.  With this idea in mind, this could be a probable cause as to why the respondents reacted in this certain way.
• Another possible cause as to why these reactions were elicited is due to the location of the experiment.  These were done in very public places, namely a fast food joint and an elementary school covered court.  In these places, one would not expect to be given a footsie.  The area was also relatively empty so there was no need for the respondent and the footsie-giver to be in such close quarters.  If the experiment were to be done in a different venue, say a bar or a club, the reactions of the respondents would be different because in these places, it’s more acceptable to show some sort of display of romantic interest towards another person.  The location played a role in what sort of reaction the respondents gave because it influenced the respondents’ reactions towards the experiment.

5. How did you feel when you did this experiment? How does it feel to deviate from the norms? Were you hesitant to do this activity?

• We felt very nervous, uncomfortable and scared while doing this experiment because we were unsure of the reactions we were about to receive. We were hesitant to deviate from social norms because it feels like we are doing something wrong or  we were afraid that people would look at us weirdly. To deviate from social norms was difficult because we were consciously going against the rules of society which we have known since forever.

6. Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.

• Deviance is the violation of an agreed-on norm that is prevalent in a society. Most of the deviances in a society are unacceptable such as crimes, but other acts of deviance are seen to be odd which caters a shocked or confused response from people who see it. More often than not, people in a given society accept norms subconsciously and it becomes second nature to them that the idea of seeing things “not normal” is puzzling.
• The objective of the experiment is to observe what the initial reaction of the people we were giving footsies to in public. It is not considered “normal” for a person to footsie another one, as people do not usually interact using their lower body parts (e.g. feet, legs). Although, it has already been generally accepted that in order to get what a person wants or needs, he must speak or make use of nonverbals, which are mostly face or upper-body gestures. For the case of the footsie, it is known to be done to  show a playful expression of romantic interest. One implication of deviance could be miscommunication. For instance, some participants may be more sensitive than others, or may have strong feelings of personal space, and thus may have felt that it was an invasion of privacy. But the participants the group targeted, reacted and adapted to the situation professionally. They did not take insult as to what the group members were doing or reacted violently that may have caused a scene in the public area. During the whole breaching experiment, there were no conflicts and those who were from the restaurant/area took no offense to the group’s experiment.
• Other customers were also curious as to what the researchers were doing; some were asking each other, some were smiling, and some were utterly confused as to what the slight commotion was about.

Appendix

Date of breaching	February 17, 2015	February 21, 2015
Place of breaching	KFC, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City	Krus na Ligas Elementary School, Quezon City
Time of breaching	12:30 pm	4:00 pm
Social norm being addressed	Respecting personal space
Design Proper	A footsie would be given by one of our members to a random, inconspicuous stranger. Another member of the group would be documenting the process and reactions. Finally, another member would approach the recipient of the footsie to debrief him/her.
Debriefing	After informing the respondents that they had just played a part in our breaching experiment, we would then ask for permission if we would be allowed to make use of the documentations collected for research purposes. Afterward, we would begin asking them how they felt and what they had thought before, during, and after the experiment.
Ethical Issues	None