We will never be satisfied; so many labels!

More comics by the same author:

http://theoatmeal.com/

Film Review 1: Middle Sexes

What is the main thesis of this film?

The film suggests that in the Western culture, specifically the USA, enforces the idea that there is a strong gender binary that revolves around our lives and that needs to be changed because people who do not fall within the norm are dehumanized. To live outside of this gender binary is very difficult because we have this idea that humans are supposedly either male or female, and it is fixed. Most of this gender ideology originated from Christianity, in which religion has played a huge role in shaping our concepts of gender and sexuality. However, in other parts of the world such as India or Africa, the people embrace another concept of gender (probably due to differences in religion) and that some others are more comfortable with transsexuals (like the katoeys from Thailand).

What were the main arguments in support of this thesis?

As mentioned above, Christianity only allows the idea of two sexes, male and female, and that the individuals must have the proper gender identity correspondent to their sexual organs. The Western culture has a fear of homosexuality (or any other ideas that do not conform) because in Christianity, any behaviors that are anti-reproductive is considered a crime. To add, for an individual in Western culture to claim that he/she is not comfortable with their assigned gender, immediately, society treats the individual as if they have a mental illness and he/she needs to be re-corrected. If the person firmly believes that they are not ill, they have to be diagnosed as a person with a Gender Identity Disorder in order to get healthcare or to have a sex change (Itlmedia 2009) which causes further confusion, stress, and frustration among transsexuals. Later on, the film presented different countries and their ideas of transgenders, transsexuals, and intersex. In India, transgender individuals are seen as if karma has played a role in their fate. For example, the offering of their male genitalia is a sacrifice to their goddess and those individuals feel more empowered with their femininity. In Thailand, a country that has never submitted to Western society, transsexuals and transgenders (also known as katoeys) are probably most accepted. The katoeys have a wide range of gender and sexuality and want to be regarded simply as human beings, which reflect the ideas from a clip we watched for class, Reteaching Gender and Sexuality (Putthisonthemap 2010). The clip reminds us that people’s gender identity should not be judged and labeled, instead, we need to accept and learn that everybody is not the same. Our society needs to be re-educated and that those who do not conform to the norm needs to be respected as well. In Africa, religion also plays an important role in defining gender and sexuality as something more spiritual than physical. Happiness (being comfortable with your own gender/sexuality/identity) is more important than norms.

How does the thesis of this film relate to the course?

Transgenders, transsexuals, and intersex individuals (and many others) challenges our society’s image of a man and woman. Therefore, society has defined people who do not fall into these categories as deviants because it is not normal. Our fear has forced these individuals to fall back into the gender binaries and reinforcing the idea that they have a mental illness; you have to be either male or female and that your identity has to correspond to your genitals. We have also learned in the course that those who are deviant are not taken seriously by giving labels. Interestingly, I see this concept during the film, especially when the film was talking about Thailand. The katoeys, who are proud of their identity, perform for the general public. They are glorified, but not necessarily in a positive way. People go to their shows because they are considered “freaks” (a label that reinforces the idea that they are deviant) and out of extraordinary. In a sense, the kateoys are actually not recognized by the rest of the world and will remain as deviants and not normal. The population may not be convinced about their ideologies. For example, in India, though they have a community that supports transgender and transsexual individuals, most of them end up doing sex work in the end because their society still cannot accept them. In a sense, isn’t it the same with the katoeys performing shows for entertainment purposes?

Which arguments/points did you find the most convincing?

I find the part about men exploring their sexuality while dancing with other men in India during wedding ceremonies convincing. Since they lack interaction and socialization with women (assuming they're heterosexual) during the beginning of their lives, I would imagine they have a lot of sexual tension (unless they’re asexual). As a viewer from a different culture, finding out that they have sexual relationships with other men during those nights are interesting and sad as well. Deprived of freedom, these individuals are being cornered and forced into arranged marriages. If one is gay/lesbian, it would create a lot of internal conflict and unfairness, like the Indian man’s case in the film.

Which arguments/points did you find the least convincing?

I was very impressed by the study about homophobic men who were aroused while watching a “gay” clip, but I have some doubts. I suppose that since they have a strong rejection about homosexuality, they are actually in conflict with themselves (and against their pro-heterosexual religion). However, everybody falls within a certain range between heterosexuality and homosexuality, and this is an idea not endorsed by our society (instead, we have two extremes: straight or gay). So, wouldn’t it mean that most individuals, straight or gay, would become aroused while watching the clip? A straight man could react strongly to the gay clip compared to a homophobic man as well. I may be confused, but further studies are needed, especially on how women react to gay/lesbian clips as well.

Choose one argument, point or question that most stands out for you from the film. How would you study this point? Briefly design a research study around that point.

We have seen that different countries and regions have different views about gender and sexuality, especially countries that are not influenced by Western culture and/or colonization. I would like to study further on these views by looking at tribes or other regions that have still retained their native culture. Do these cultures embody free will about gender and sexuality, that it is a continuum? Do they strongly reject transgenders, transsexuals, intersex, and others? How do they respond to such individuals then? Do their opinions differ by their race, gender, or religion?

References

Itlmedia. 2009. “Looking Back, Pushing Forward.” YouTube Web site. Retrieved February 10, 2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0__63nNP1g&feature=player_embedded)

Putthisonthemap. 2010. “Reteaching Gender and Sexuality.” YouTube Web site. Retrieved February 10, 2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kQQuVpKxQ&feature=player_embedded)

Blog Post 2: Why am I Deviant/Not Deviant

I am somewhat deviant, but only to a small degree which I will mention soon. When zoomed out to the larger picture, according to society, I am not considered deviant. I have been obeying rules most of my life with the help of my mother who strictly wanted to mold a perfect daughter to avoid being labeled as a failure and a bad mother. According to the labeling theory, if deviance is created by society (Becker, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010), then the norm is also defined as well. In this case, as an obedient person that follows the rules, I am not considered deviant. By following rules, I have not been labeled as an outsider (Becker, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010), but kept my position as an insider. However, when I was around 18, I introduced to my friends and family the concept of deviance. I did not break any of the laws laid by society, but I broke the tradition of love relationships, especially for someone that age. Instead of having a partner who lives near me, I just happened to fall in love with a guy online. On top of that, I had met him on a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), which is not the normal place to find love interests. Eventually, he came to visit me in Canada, my homeland, and stayed over at my place every summer (yes, with my parents too!). After three years, we’ve decided to get married and I was going through an immigration process. After these events, I now have labels such as “immigrant”, “online relationships”, and “young married couple”. My experiences can be shared along with others who have the same label as I do (Becker, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010), which I have done when people are having long-distance or online relationship problems or immigration questions (also with the stigma that comes along with the labels). At first, my situation was problematic because my family and peers were trying to warn me of the potential failures that could happen to me, by falling in love with an outsider and by living in a new area alone. In other words, we had a conflict of norms since I wasn’t in a regular relationship and my behavior was recognized as deviant according to my peers (Becker, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010). “He might cheat on you, after all, you met him online!”, “early marriages will most likely fail”, and “don’t go!” are what I hear the most from my peers. Luckily, my friends and family eventually understood my intentions and my new life went well.

My strong sense to avoid rule-breaking (besides the exception mentioned previously) could also be explained by the control theory, which has four components: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief (Hirschi, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010). First, having a lack of attachment to the society can create deviance in an individual since he/she has been alienated by his peers. In my case, I have support from family and a couple good friends, which is why my most of my actions are not deviant since they are expected to be normal according to them. Second, people have a commitment to not break the rules since they fear punishment. Commitment is one of the huge components that explain my lack of deviance. I do not want to break any rules that may put my future at risk, which explains why most of my behaviors are normal. Third, involvement explains how a person is too busy with his life with conventional activities. My life is not as busy as a person who has a full-time job with children to take care of after work, but I do have a part-time job while going to school full-time. By having to do homework, attending classes and work, I have little time to think about or to do deviant acts. Lastly, deviance can be explained by the deviant’s beliefs and whether they are also shared among the society. I believe in the rules that I have which are also commonly valued in my group. For example, I pay my bills on time and I do not steal. Everyone I know believes in those same values.

As the date approached to do a deviant act for this blog post, I was really nervous. As a person who prefers to conform to the norms, I really had no idea what to do. Even the thought of going in an elevator and standing in the opposite direction compared to everybody already gives me a lot of stress. As I heard what my classmates were going to do, it seems like most of them were able to perform a deviant act as if it were nothing special or out of ordinary. It makes me wonder, could their behaviors be explained from the differential association theory? Since criminal behavior can be learned (Sutherland and Cressey, as cited in Thio, Calhoun, and Conyers, 2010), so are deviant acts then. Perhaps, these classmates of mine have deviant siblings or peers that could have shaped their easy-going attitude when performing deviant acts. In my situation, my family has a strong sense of justice and my brother is probably the most perfect man I’ve ever met. I also don’t recall my friends being deviants either. After thinking about my deviant task for a long time, I have decided to go for something easy but also irritating to the general public: paying my purchase in small change.

I went to Target, Winco, and Wal-Mart. All of these stores are always packed with customers in my neighbourhood, so imagine the pressure I have gotten when I decided to pay with small change! Luckily for them, my purchase was small, between 1 and 3 dollars. When I started to fish for change in my wallet, for all of these instances, I felt like I was more aware of my deviant act than the rest of the people. I knew that, according to the norm, I was to either give the cashier my credit card for a smooth and easy transaction or to pay with a large bill. Instead, I was stalling everyone’s time by paying with small change. As I was looking for my penny or a dime, the clock seems to tick louder. I felt like I was hurried on my behalf and from others. Today, we have created many convenient ways to facilitate our busy daily lives, such as simple payment transactions in our capitalist society. Credit cards are now widely accepted and used and even strongly encouraged to build a large credit. However, to see someone pay with pennies, dimes, and nickels, it seems as if the person has come from another world. One would even assume whether the person is poor or not, since collecting and paying change are associated with the poor (like beggars). In my case, I did not look poor due to my race (the stereotype that Asians are rich, especially the immigrants) and my overall image so I’m assuming that people thought I only wanted to get rid of my change. It would have been interesting to see people’s reaction if I tried to dress like a beggar. I doubt it would have worked though because young Asian female beggars seem to be non-existent, especially in my neighbourhood. There were no rewards in paying with small change, however, it is an annoyance. I wouldn’t call it a harm, but I assume that stalling people’s precious time during transaction could be really frustrating. What if the person was really in a hurry? Luckily, nobody confronted me directly, but I did feel their frustrated auras (could be an illusion) and strong stares at me and my wallet. In the past, there were a couple times when a person in front of me could not get their card to work or were looking for change. Even I felt frustrated and wished he/she would hurry up. That’s just how norms, like paying with a credit card or with a large bill during transactions, have been shaped thanks to our busy lifestyle.

Word Count: 1,368

References

Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers. 2010. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6^th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Blog Post 1: How Do You Spot a Deviant?

Lacking material in every category, I finally decided to study commercials since they are easily accessible on YouTube. In this Bud Light commercial, there is an instructor who is teaching immigrants on how to speak proper English while ordering a Bud Light, because in America, English is the norm. However, if people want a Bud Light from them, they can revert back to their immigrant status and say “no speak English”. We can clearly see who is normal in these commercials. The instructor who knows how to speak proper English in America is normal compared to the immigrants who are considered deviant. According to Becker, if a group cannot obey the group rules, then their purpose will be hindered. It seems like if these immigrants knew how to order their beer in English, then they are finally accepted in the group and their purpose of speaking English properly will be achieved (Becker 1963). However, by saying “no speak English” to fight off people who wants to have their beer, they revert back to the immigrant stereotype that they are anti-social and unapproachable.



A black man sat beside an elderly white woman at a bus stop. Frightened, she decides to clutch onto her purse and puts her purse on the other side, out of his reach. The black man is amused because this old lady is associating his skin color (master status) to many misconceptions about black people, that they are deviants, dangerous, criminals, and robbers. In comparison, this old lady is normal, innocent, and needs protection. Feeling humorous, the black man decides to scare the old lady and she runs away. In some way, the message can be translated along the lines of “if you distance away from black people, you can be safe” because in the end, she ends up running away from him. We can understand more of this issue of racism in one of the clips we watched for class called What Would You Do? Racism in America (ABC 2008). People were more aware of Black people in general and frightened by them.



Snickers, a chocolate bar brand, made an ad that made fun of gayness. In this commercial, a white man is speed walking down the street. Suddenly, a black man pops out of a tank and shouts condescending words about speed walking and associating it to being gay. He says that the speed walker is a disgrace to the “man race” and he needs to run like a real man. Obviously, the man who’s speed walking is the deviant because he’s acting gay and he’s being mocked by pointing out that he’s not a man anymore, in terms of race and gender. This reminds me the reading from Scudera who writes that being gay can seem to have an effect on objects or actions (2011). The norm in this case is a man who’s muscular and holding a weapon. This image creates a difference in manliness between them. At the end of the commercial, the man in the tank proceeds to shoot the speed walker so he would start running like a man. By correcting the white man’s actions so that he wouldn’t act gay anymore, that expresses the media’s ideals of heterosexuality and manliness.



And lastly, we all wear clothing in our culture because it is the norm. If a person walks around only in underwear, people would react to his or her indecency negatively and he would probably be stopped by an officer. In this commercial, a man works in an office environment and he is exposed to something that is not the norm. All his deviant coworkers are wearing nothing but underwear on casual Fridays while he (looking uncomfortably) is only wearing normal clothing by our standards, looking as though it may seem he is actually the deviant one because he does not fit in the norm of his environment. The end of the commercial clearly shows that we can express ourselves without the need to strip down by building our career elsewhere. By doing this, our normal values are preserved and we will not need to blend in at an odd place.

Word Count: 691

References

ABC. 2008. “What Would You Do? Racism in America.” YouTube Web site. Retrieved January 21, 2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNu-WZdHzaA&feature=player_embedded)

Becker, Howard. 1963. The Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York, NY: Free Press.

Scudera, Domenick. 2011. “My Gay Lifestyle.” Huffington Post, November 1, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2012 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/domenick-scudera/my-gay-lifestyle_b_1063570.html)