Gender Norm Violations In The Subway

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In society, people take for granted the reasoning behind the gendered actions they perform. Gender is a socially-constructed concept that according to West & Zimmerman, individuals strive to achieve gender in their everyday interactions. In fact, gender is a concept that has many norms—which are actions that are deemed right or wrong for each gender. For the purpose of this class, I have performed a gender norm violation while observing and recording the results. The norm I had chosen to violate is a rather small one—the norm that in a heterosexual relationship context, a male must treat his female partner first. To break this norm, I decided to allow my partner to sit down on the subway during rush hour when there was a seat available. Typically, while riding the subway home during the packed rush hour, there eventually becomes a seat where he insists that I sit down. For this violation, I did …show more content…

His reaction was what I expected, he did not agree and further tried to convince me to sit on the seat. However, after a bit of back and forth banter, he eventually agreed. The subway was extremely packed and I expected no one to react due to general societal norms like minding their own business. Besides the people observing our conversation, surprisingly, there was one man who, in a jokingly way, stated that I was the one who “wore the pants” in the relationship. This statement caused me and my partner to awkwardly chuckle and carry on and it also emphasizes that this is a gender norm violation.
As previously stated, the norm of the male in a heterosexual relationship taking care of or letting his girlfriend go first is a gender norm—and if the female wants to treat the male first, it is considered irregular. For my

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