Amin, Tasmeem
Ballos, Patricia Anne
Fajardo, Chelsea
Tangan, Alyssa Nicole
Tulauan, Alyssa Austin
1) What norm did you violate?
The norm we violated is that women of our age (18-19 years old) should not be in a relationship with someone who is already around 40 years old.
2) Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?
For the breaching activity, we went to Trinoma and went inside various stores, looking for polo shirts for men. One member goes in first, asking the sales attendant, “Miss, saan po dito yung pwedeng pang-regalo sa lalaki?” Then, the member proceeds by choosing one shirt and then by asking, “Miss, bagay ba to sa 42 years old na lalaki? ‘Di pa bo masyadong pambata?”
After establishing that the polo shirt the member wanted to purchase was for a 42-year old man, two members will then enter, acting as the best friends of the first member, or the deviant. One of them will say, “Girl, ano ba. Ang tanda na ng boyfriend mo para diyan.” Then, another one will say, “Imagine mo yung tatay mo suot iyan.” To reiterate that the man was the boyfriend of the deviant, she will say, “Grabe kayo. Para sa boyfriend ko to.”
We did the breaching activity in six shops, namely, Debenhams, Original Penguin, Lacoste, Collezione, Bench and Memo in Trinoma.
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?
- Debenhams
We were assisted by a woman in Debenhams. After knowing that the gift was for the 42-year old boyfriend, the sales attendant did not maintain eye contact with us anymore., when we were about to leave, the attendant listened to our conversation. As seen in the pictures below, the attendant was smiling while listening to our conversation.
- Original Penguin
The sales attendant (woman) in the shop was the most professional in terms of assisting us. After knowing that the 42-year old man was actually the boyfriend, she even suggested some designs and told us that we could give a gift card instead.
- Lacoste
We were assisted by a man in Lacoste. He suggested that we choose from the Lacoste Classic collection. However, when the attendant moved a little further away from us, he seemed to be holding in a smile. One of us approached him to ask about another shirt, he was smiling as if he were about to laugh when that member turned her back on him.
- Collezione
The sales attendant in Collezione was a man and even when we explicitly said out loud that the shirt was for the 42 year-old boyfriend, he did not react. He neither smiled nor laughed.
- Bench
The sales attendant in Bench was a girl and she did not really assist us while we were there but she was listening in on our conversation. Her face obviously held judgment, as seen in the picture, and she blatantly stared at the member who pretended to have a middle-aged boyfriend.
- Memo
The girl who was assisting us was laughing with us whenever we made jokes that the shirts there were not for the boyfriend’s age group.
For those who did not react at all, it may be because of the sales attendant-customer dynamics. As someone whose job is to assist customers, it is expected from him to act professional. Also, considering the age group of the sales attendants who did not react, they were usually around mid-twenties to thirties. For those who smiled, laughed or gave us a judging look, they were usually around early twenties. The fact that they were close to our age may be a reason why they reacted in such way. Overall, based on the reactions, the deviant act reinforced the existing norm considering that one gave us a judging look and then some smiled or laughed. This means that relationships with someone middle-aged is something unusual or unfavorable to some while others do not take that type of relationship seriously.
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 & the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group, etc.)?
A sociological theme at play in this experiment is a function of gender. Compared to an older woman dating a young boy, an older man dating a young girl has a negative connotation because girls are perceived to be more vulnerable than boys. They are more gentle, easier to trick, and more sensitive than males (as far as common gender norm goes). Conversely, when a young man enters into a relationship with an older woman, he will not be seen as the victim by the society but instead, he will be perceived as a player who dates an older woman because he gets something in return.
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?
We hesitated a lot before conducting the activity due to the fear of getting judged. Living in a society where huge age gaps between couples are considered a taboo, we had already expected the looks of disapproval, or amusement in some cases, that we got for doing the activity. However, we were curious of how the reactions would differ from a different shop to another. While doing the activity, we felt a little embarrassed because we could see some of the assistants judging us. We felt the urge to run away from the situation just a few minutes after we started it. We could not help but think of how they perceived the behavior we displayed. In the end, we still found the activity enjoyable because their reactions were interesting. We also gained a lot of insights after stepping away from the norms for a short period of time and seeing through the eyes of those people who are actually deemed “unusual” or “unfavorable” by societal standards.
6) Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.
The varied reactions we got may have been that way considering that we were dressed like college students - implying that the age gap between the deviant and her boyfriend is around 20 years. Because of this, we noticed that most of the attendants stared at the deviant when she was looking for a shirt to buy.
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