In my breaching activity I violated two norms, the first being not to give/accept things from strangers and the second being obscuring sanitary napkins from sight when in public places.
2. Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the
activity? Where did you do it?
I did my experiment within the campus, in Regis and Trinoma. I approached people and stretched out my arm with a sanitary napkin/ a pack of sanitary napkins in hand. Initially I didn’t say anything unless they would ask what it was to which I would respond, “napkin po.” If they didn’t want to accept it I walked away without saying anything else.
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 reaffirm/reinforce the existing
norms based on these reactions?
I received numerous reactions, many of them
being negative in nature.
·
One person walked away very abruptly after
seeing what I was giving
·
They would look around hesitantly and sometimes
looked embarrassed before asking what I was doing/giving
·
Some people just gave a nervous smile and said
“hindi po”
·
When males were beside/ near the vicinity of the
person I was giving the sanitary napkin to they would quickly look away
·
Eyes would widen or people would furrow their
eyebrows and look at me like I was a freak before sending me away
More positive reactions included:
·
Laughing or smiling when they saw it
·
Looking very confused but politely asked what I
was doing or why I was giving the napkin to them
·
Girl companions of a boy laughed and took
snapchat videos of the breaching
I feel like these reactions
definitely reinforced the existing norms and due to the fact that the
experiment challenged two prevalent norms, the reactions were compounded. For
the most part I think that the hesitant reactions stemmed from them being
uncomfortable in the given scenario. Some people were immediately turned off by
the idea of a stranger approaching them to give them something which is why
they quickly stormed away. People obviously weren’t used to what I was doing,
and if they were more patient with the idea of a stranger giving them
something, the sanitary napkin made the situation more discomforting.
For the most part they would
hesitantly look around before engaging with me which felt like their way of
looking for someone to comfort them in this situation. After I would say that I
was giving them a sanitary napkin they would quickly shake their heads and say
they didn’t want it, which allows me to believe that talking about sanitary
napkins in public is really a taboo.
One group in particular who laughed
and took videos of me giving the napkin to a boy said they found it funny
because of the fact that I was giving it to a guy and that usually when girls
ask for sanitary napkins they give it discretely.
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.).
BY GENDER
Gender played a
huge part in my breaching experiment. Some females’ eyes widened upon seeing me
take out the sanitary napkin. Some of them looked embarrassed and surprised
when I brought out the napkin especially when males were also present. They
really wanted me to go away after telling them that it was a sanitary napkin.
Many of them looked confused and told me that they weren’t on their periods.
Most males looked
very confused and say that they don’t use napkins when I was handing them the
sanitary napkin. One in particular tried to reach for it but when I told him
what it was he quickly retracted his hand. The other had thought that I
overheard their conversation and gave him a napkin because he was on his “man
period.” I also discovered that when directly targeted the males would more
often laugh when they found out what it was; however, the males that were
merely on the sidelines quickly looked away upon realizing what I was doing.
While
representatives from both the male and female demographic looked embarrassed/
discomforted by the breaching activity I found that women actually make a
bigger deal about sanitary napkins than males. This is probably because women
have lived under the norm that sanitary napkins really shouldn’t be brought out
in public spaces.
BY AGE
I feel that the two age groups
which were part of the experiment really displayed different reactions. The
younger people (roughly 25 and below) were more willing to engage despite me
being a stranger. Although some were hesitant, the demographic in general was more
open to asking what I was doing and even slightly reached for the sanitary
napkin. These people also found what I was doing more amusing, or were able to
poke fun at the situation.
The older demographic either looked
at me badly then walked me away or made me go away within the first few seconds
of the encounter. They also appeared
displeased by my publicly displaying the sanitary napkin as they looked at me
as if what I was doing was inappropriate.
Although the younger people still
subscribe to the norms, they’re more relaxed about such than their older
counterparts.
BY SOCIAL CLASS/LOCATION
The people I
encountered at Trinoma, I would say reside in the middle to lower middle class
and the ones that I approached in Regis and in Ateneo are of the upper middle
to upper class. The people I approached in Trinoma were less trusting and
curter than the people I approached on campus and Regis.
I’m not actually
sure if this should be attributed to social class but I feel it is better
attributed to the location. More people were willing to engage within the
vicinity of Ateneo as to some extent they to some extent perceived me as a
student whereas in Trinoma, I feel it was difficult for people to want to
engage with a complete stranger.
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?
I’m naturally a
very shy person, so this really pushed me out of my comfort zone. At first I
felt really excited to do the activity but I became really embarrassed after
the first breaching. I felt really uncomfortable standing in front of someone
with a napkin in my hand, and I just wanted them to react as quickly as
possible so I could get it over with. Despite being embarrassed, I continued
doing the activity but when I received the reaction of someone looking at me
like I was a freak before storming off, I felt really traumatized and
disheartened. I didn’t want to do the activity anymore because I didn’t like
the feeling of other people perceiving me as “weird.” It took some time before
I was ready to do the activity again. Although I was aware that my breaching
experiment was out of the ordinary I didn’t expect to receive such negative
reactions and I didn’t realize how much I could really be affected by informal
controls.
Coming from my
experience in Trinoma I was more hesitant to do the breaching activity in Regis
and at school but due to the fact that my first interaction in that setting was
a positive one, I became more comfortable and less hesitant do the following
encounters. I found myself looking forward to the reactions that I would
receive.
6. Other observations and analysis that you may have on the
activity and on deviance in general.
·
I discovered that when people are faced with
things that are out of the ordinary they attempt to find affirmation of comfort
in other people by looking around.
·
On-lookers are drawn to watch norms being broken
but quickly avert their attention in what I believe to be fear of being drawn
into the situation.
·
I found informal controls really come about when
deviating from norms and on my part I felt them to be incredibly effective in
deterring deviants from pursuing future deviations.
·
No one actually took or even touched the
sanitary napkin, which further establishes the norm that these feminine
products are still considered a taboo in the public setting.
