Hons 392 Homosexuality: deviance from gender roles in America

One of the main things that make homosexuality unacceptable to some Americans is not the sexual orientation of an individual, but the deviation from the gender role assigned to them by society. These people that defy the norms of their genders are dubbed with the title "gender benders". They are left without a gender identity that classifies what they truly are because the American society is only confines them to either masculine or feminine. Betsy Lucal points this out in What It Means to Be Gendered Me, which states that "a person who does not do gender appropriately is placed not into a third category but rather into one with which her or his gender display seems most closely to fit." Each description has its set sex attached to. When this changes, this out group experiences the consequences of going against the norm.

Gender is often associated with appearances, mannerisms, and is always visible. While not all homosexuals deviate much from their gender role, in many cases the homosexual community is immediately identified by their opposite-sex characteristics. Gay men are more likely to be expressive, submissive, and emotional, which are characteristics less valued by society and looked down upon especially for men. Society expects men to be more instrumental, aggressive, and self-reliant. Gay men are more likely to adopt or have feminine characteristics that are associated with women. This can be seen in the way they dress and behave. Lesbians also "gender bend", possessing characteristics like aggression, toughness, and dominance. This leaves society wondering how they escaped the socialization process which is constantly and continually being bombarded on an individual through family, school, work, and the media.

Because these individuals refuse to conform, aggressive attitudes towards them develop. This is seen with the emergence of homophobia in many cultures. While there is discrimination against homosexuals in America, Jamaicians tend to punish this deviant behavior more aggressively showing that it is absolutely not acceptable. In the Caribbean islands gays are constantly and brutally attacked with not much help from the law, and they also face the media's hate through violent music written about them as seen in Tim Padgett's The Most Homophobic Place on Earth in Time Magazine. Similarly in America, these people are called hateful names and made to look like a freak show in public settings. Even though a lesbian may display the desirable male characteristics that society values, they are shunned for deviating from the feminine role assigned to their sex. Gay men are extremely looked down upon for having "weaker women characteristics" and for declining the privilege of being a socialized male. Like many women, they face sexism and discrimination for their femininity.

How do these attitudes still exist in a nation as accepting as America? Culturally, men are seen as the bread winners that provide for their families during an era when procreation is highly valued, especially by families. For women, they are expected to be concerned with house and matters, and are expected to have children. In some areas of America, a woman that has more male children is still valued over mothers of daughters. Homosexuals have a hard time fitting into this traditional family view of things that is still valued in America today. Their deviance from their gender role and sexual orientation goes against the procreation way of things. Naturally, two males and two females are not capable of having children or showing distinguished gender roles based on sex through their relationships. Even when they try to adopt, people fear for the children's socialization process. While the outside world tends to discriminate against these people for going against the gender roles, their families and people close to them tend to shun them for deviating from the norm of a traditional family.

Although the media, school, and family may make these individuals feel like outsiders, socialization in America is changing slowly to accommodate them. This is mostly seen in advertising and the emergence of politically correct terms for them. Some examples of this are seen in advertisements by Dolce and Gabbanna, Kay Jeweler, and Levi. There are more friendly terms like "life partners" that people are using to describe these relationships. Gay activist and support groups have emerged and are allowed to share their concerns without facing as much brutality as in the past and as seen in other countries. America is experiencing more progress relative to some other places like in the Caribbean and Mexico. Europe and Canada are ahead in their accommodation process, while places like Italy are still in the building stages like America. In 2007, and activist group launched a controversial ad showing a baby wearing a bracelet that said "homosexual", symbolizing that sexual orientation is not a choice. Similar things have been happening in our own country, and as a result shows and movies like Will and Grace and Brokeback Mountain are giving future generations a new socialization experience through the media, which embraces and encourages an open attitude towards these deviant "gender benders".

An intimate night with Strange

So last night was the night for odd events. I didn't think reading in a stairwell could be so interesting. As I sat their catching up on a weeks worth of reading my peers made their way through the usually unpopular stairwell. The first occurance was one of the most off-setting which I caught as I looked up from my pages to see a peer with paper bags on his feet making his way to the girls' floor. I asked with curiosity why he had the noisy items attached to his feet. He simply replied that he didn't want to get his feet dirt. Moments after disappearing he swung the door of the third landing open and made his way back to his floor complaining that "they like him better". Just as I thought it couldn't get any stranger I heard jiggling noise making its way to the third floor. What could that be but a girl gearing up for the protest that was today. Apparently Santa elf hats are the perfect attire for an event of such manner. If a bag wearing boy and a Santa elf protester weren't interesting enough, a friend zooms through the stairs and tosses the craziest little pamplet at me. It started out being about little children celebrating Halloween and then randomly turned in to a tool of Christian conversion. I hand the bizarre pamphlet to a girl heading back down. The irony is that the bag boy thought that my reading in the secret stairwell was strange and even asked himself why everyone was acting so "sketchy" tonight. Just when I think the madness is over, I hear a sneaky individual creep into the stairwell underneath me. Whoever it is is oblivious to the fact that I am above them and whispers to themselves as I hear a repetative clicking sound. Seconds after they leave, the stairwell is filled with an awful smell and I through the towel in. The Gladwell book and I move the normal stairwell across the hall where we discover that there is a fifth floor landing in our building that leads to the roof. I finally get some peace and quiet and conquer my last minute attempt to conquer my assignment. I get 2 hours and 30 mintues of sleep to awake to a fire alarm at 5 in the morning. I couldn't help thinking for the rest of the day that a certain department wants something from me after luring perks from an email.

Strange

Oh how I have abandoned you my dear friend Blog

If you can't tell, I have been replacing my writing time with school assignments and that is no way to maintain a healthy relationship with a blog. So let's catch up. (Numerical style as usual--no specific order):

1. I decided to try lent this year which equals lent poetry minus liberty desert

2. Interesting life complications

3. 1 beautiful prom dress for my sister

4. A happy visit to lifegroup

5. An email that may change my life

6. A dorm prayer group with friends

7. One Intervarsity meeting on an off day

10. An interesting church with interesting people

11. Oh, and poetry night with a friend (let's begin here)

Tonight was pretty cool. I talked a friend into going to open mic night with me at this museum. We enjoyed the eclectic performances, and then... a real poet took the stage (ok not really, but it took him some guts to get up there and I approve of that) This moment just really stood out to me and I wanted to record it. ( :

Hons 392 How society permits criminal deviance with the use of prisons

As seen in Dentler and Erickson's Functions of Deviance in Groups, society does not always eliminate deviants, but instead allows it. This can be seen in the accommodation of prisons and jails worldwide. The norm and accepted behavior of almost all societies is to follow the rules and laws set out by their governments, but yet they make room for deviance by providing a place for intended offenders. Countries do this to maintain equilibrium as opposed to eliminating all deviants. The deviance allowed because of these institutions include: murder, theft, drugs, and many other arbitrary and even minor crimes.

The perks of allowing deviant norm offenders to have their on little home in society include maintenance of group performance, a reward system, and boundaries. In this way, having prisons establish equilibrium in an environment. With criminals a society is able to establish a heirarchy of behavior. Without offenders there would be no differentiation from the normal law abiding citizen and a lowly criminal. By showing society that there is a consequence for being deviant against the law, a social latter is started. Those that offend the law the least (conform to norms the best) are at the top with offenders at the bottom. By emphasizing this social latter society influences others to strive to be the best law conformers they know how to. This keeps one end of society striving for the optimum levels while the deviants keep these motives recharged by existing as a lower spectrum.

While society allows the existence of criminals, they make sure the social ranks stay clear through the use of the reward system. In many cases, the award is the privilege of government protection and programs. In most countries, the criminal looses the freedom to go where ever he/she wants. They also don't have the option of obtaining better selective jobs with benefits. Hostility is something that they also face not only from each other, but from the law enforcement whose job is to protect law abiding citizens. In November, two inmates died from brutal beating they received from Italian law enforcers. The fact that prison deaths are not as publicized as military ones or other types of deaths shows the distinction between the rewarded individuals of society and the deviant ones. Normally when a criminal first realizes their demotion in society they are overwhelmed and depressed. Some cannot handle the harsh condition under which they are forced to live. Around 150 inmates die each year in Italian prisons, while around 60 of those deaths are suicides.

Yet, many countries struggle with overpopulation in prisons. Some countries have to deal with more criminal deviance than others like the United States and the Republic of China who have the highest number of inmates. One reason this could be is that both countries are strong powers that want to be seen as dominate and in control, and one of the ways a group is distinguished is in part by the norms it creates for handling deviance and the forms of it that it is able to observe (Dentler and Erickson). Because these countries want to be seen as in control when it comes to protecting their citizens, they will have a more rigid law enforcement to deal with crime in their larger populated countries. While there is some absorption for "minor crimes" like traffic offenses, littering, and contract breeches, for the most part these countries crack down on more little crimes than others where certain laws don't even exist. This is seen with underage drinking and drug usage in America. Because the drink age is higher someone is more like to get in trouble with the law for distribution to a minor, public endangerment, or other fancy terms that can be used to convict someone for the same crime. In a way these stricter boundaries that the citizens have to live under shapes the nation's cultural identity. This is seen in the way America is viewed as more conservative than European countries when it comes to the laws and restrictions like these.

Although prisons and jail funding take up time and money, most societies see them as a necessity in not only controlling criminal deviance, but also allowing it to maintain equilibrium and give its citizens a social law abiding latter that they can strive for optimum levels on. In this way, prisons and law enforcement help establish a nation's identity by showing how they deal with deviance and what is considered deviant by their law, culture, and standards. With the allowance of criminal deviance, countries would not have distinguished systems to keep equilibrium on the law latter. They also would lose some control over their citizen's behavior without the motivation of rewards and the punishment system for not conforming to the law.

sources used:
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/node/12368

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States#Conditions

Hons 392 The Deviance in Polygamous Relationships in American Culture

While polygamy is accepted in other cultures like tribes and clans in Africa and Middle Eastern countries, for the audience in America it is unacceptable. Even the law forbids it when it comes to marriage. For those that violate the norm of monogamy within the States harsh judgment and queer looks are the consequences. As said by Howard Becker, deviance is determined by society's reaction to an act not the act itself. Unfortunately polygamists have been subjects of this labeling theory. Their act is seen as deviant by the conformist of the American culture when in fact under certain conditions their actions would be seen as logical and acceptable.

The primary deviance in this act is that the sexual restrictions of the society are being violated. Law and religion play a key role in shaping this standard that the majority conforms to. This oligarchy surprisingly has a great affect on the love lives of its citizens. This is seen in how a few Middle Eastern nations that are of another religion and allow polygamy embrace this behavior and turn it into a cultural norm. This shows the relativity of deviance. Many polygamists in America deviate from monogamy for religious reasons, or personal desires. They see themselves as the outgroup for being accepting to this idea and go ahead and join their own subculture. A specific example of this is the LDS Restorationist Movement with a certain group of Mormons. While legally unable to be bigamist, they find ways around the law to be considered religiously married. The HBO show Big Love depicts this subculture to many viewers, who are given an exaggerated perspective of how differently these people live. This causes stronger emotions to arise against this deviant nature, insuring that public display of this love will be culturally deviant for some years to come.

The secondary deviance seen in this act is breaking the norm of simple group relationships. The most natural and simplest type of group is a dyad. Anything after that gets more complex socially. The break from this simple structure has prompt society to label these people "polygamists", which has a negative connotation like "pedophile", "anorexic", and other deviant behavior. Polygamists are willing to deal with the complexities of larger groups to satisfy their love, desires, or religion. In his article on Polygamy, Alex Deane describes that one of the major cons in these relationships is the competition it causes amongst its partners, which can be confusing for children born into these structures. It also causes jealousy when a dominant partner arises. This is the chance that this group is willing to take.

While the reactions and discriminatory behavior towards this group may be seen as their own personal and social trouble, it is not impossible for this view to change in America. As seen with natural disasters morals and values can change quickly. Under the circumstance that there is an extreme death rate or imbalance of gender do to a tragic event like war, terrorism, or an epic natural disaster. Polygamy can easily become the norm for building up a nation or a races population. For America, which is a powerful and dominate nation, accepting a loss of power from this imbalance would be unacceptable up against its competitors. When it comes down to it polygamy could very well be used to build up the population to regain power. It could even be stamped with the stigma as patriotic, as seen with working women during the World Wars. It was against the norm during that time for women to take on male jobs, but that quickly changed due to the militant events. In an instant, women in the work force became patriotic. The government could even go so far as to legalize marriage for these groups just to retain the American values of marriage and commitment. While the chances of this occurring naturally are extremely low, given a dramatic event these outcasts can easily become an ingroup.

*photo from HBO's Big Love