Breaking Society's Expectations Of Breaking A Norm

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Imagine being stared at, judged, and whispered about while doing something you love. When someone is different or does something different we are often quick to judge. This is a result of society. Society has created norms that people must follow because if they do not follow the norms they will be considered deviant. A deviant person is one who breaks the norms society has created. Today most people want to fit into society’s demanding expectations by enforcing norms, for this reason if you break a norm you will stand out in society. Breaking a norm can range from small acts to large acts. I chose to go to Planet Fitness with a spray tan, my hair down and curled and with a full face of makeup on. Typically women go to the gym in running …show more content…

I first started walking backwards while I was on the treadmill. Walking backwards on the treadmill is not breaking a huge norm so I decided to facetime Francesca. This breaks Planet Fitness’ norms because phone conversations are only allowed in the lobby. I facetimed her without headphones on and with the volume all the way up in order for those around me to hear our conversation. When people run or walk on a treadmill they usually have headphones on. Francesca knew I was going to call her so we staged our conversation to have the typical conversation that adults think teens have; we talked about boys the whole time. Francesca talked extremely loud. Instantly those without headphones on turned their head toward me and gave me dirty looks. I began to feel nervous because they were older adults just trying to workout. I received many negative sanctions while on facetime. Most were non-verbal sanctions that consisted of dirty looks and disapproval until the woman next to me spoke to me. She asked me if I would mind taking my conversation to the lobby or putting in headphones. I was really surprised at how kind she was during the situation because I was the one being loud and rude. She politely asked me to quiet down which of course I did because she was so polite about it. She was the only one who said something to me everyone else just …show more content…

I expected to receive dirty looks, but I never expected the one woman to politely ask me to end the conversation. If I did not break the norm people would not have been judging me for my outfit and for my loud conversation. After I finished walking backwards on the treadmill I walked backwards to each stationary machine. Again I just received non-verbal negative sanctions from those around me. Most people just seemed confused as to why I was dressed nicely and walking backwards. If there was a machine that I wanted that was taken I politely asked if I could use it because I had somewhere to be in a few minutes. I only asked two older women because I was too scared to ask men and younger woman. The one older woman was a little annoyed and said she would be done soon. The other woman was very nice, she said of course and got right up. I did not expect the one woman to respond so pleasantly, I expected the agitated response that I received from the other

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