Am I a Deviant?

Miriam A Marvin

Blog Post 2

Soc 360

Professor Williams

Part One: Am I a Deviant?

I have always known I was deviant, since I was quite young. In elementary school, my deviance was based largely upon my economic status. I knew that because my clothes came from Wal-Mart opposed to the mall and because my mom gave me a rat tail hair cut I was seen as less than or apart from my peers. My mother did not have a pleasant upbringing and this shaped how she raised me. The unorthodox means by which I was raised later led to my being placed in foster care. It took me quite awhile to realize that I do not have to be what was expected or become what I was labeled. There is academic proof that our upbringing and conceptual reality do not have to shape our future but they play an important role.

Howard Becker's labeling theory(1963), which states that the labels we are given in life can become self fulfilling prophecies, very easily applies to my situation. As soon as I was placed in foster care, I was treated differently. There were some who pitied me and acted as though I had a debilitating disease and others who acted as though the reasons which led to my being placed in foster care were contagious. The general consensus was, however, that I was a freak and unwanted by my own parents thus I must be a bad person. I acted this out by skipping school, fighting and other mischievous activities.

This fits well with the theory that anyone has the potential to become their label. This was clearly shown in Howard Becker's The Outsiders (1963) in which the Saints came from the right part of town and obtained jobs and acted out the labels they were given. The Roughnecks, similarly, acted the part of their “bad boy” label. Both groups were participating in the same criminal/deviant behaviors as adolescents, but because of the labels they were assigned, the groups were treated very differently by the public and law enforcement as well. The Saints could easily talk or buy their way out of trouble, while the Roughnecks were generally punished for their misdeeds. This shaped their adult lives as well, as the majority of the Saints went on to achieve middle and upper class jobs, while many of the Roughnecks ended up in prison or addicted to substances. Clearly, the labels given by society can define who you are and who you will become, if you let them.

The second theory which best explains my deviance is Differential Association, as explained by Sutherland & Cressey. This theory implies that our behaviors and value systems are learned from those persons closest to us. We can learn how to think, behave, and interpret the world around us. This can be beneficial or harmful, depending upon the persons from which the behaviors are learned. In my case, I learned from the girls in the foster care system who had already been in the system for awhile and learned various coping mechanisms, or means of dealing with their situation and the feelings associated with it. These girls taught me how to run away, and how to survive effectively as possible while on the run. It took quite awhile for me to realize that these girls were significant in my life as they had already learned to deal with the feelings and situation in which I had found myself. I looked to them for advice on how to cope with canceled visitations with my mother or with abusive foster parents. The lessons taught were all to my detriment, but at the time it seemed like the most valuable information available to me. It all goes back to the age old cliché, “If only I knew then what I know now”.

This realization hit again while I was reading Mary E Gilfus' study From Victims to Survivors to Offenders (1992). In the study, Gilfus interviewed 20 women of varying race and offenses which landed them in prison. Of these women, Gilfus found that all of the women came from homes in which abuse was prevalent in all forms. The women in the study stole, sold themselves and other criminal activities to support themselves while on the run. In time, most of the women turned to drugs to cope. Another commonality between the women was their tendency to turn towards abusive relationships and stay in them out of a distorted sense of loyalty and love. The men to which they formed such strong attachments would beat them and belittle them, but they stayed because they felt it was true love. This tended to come from a lifetime of abuse, running away, and being brought back.

This study was difficult for me to read, as these points hit home. I watched my mother stay in relationships which were verbally and physically abusive. As I began to date, I walked right into the same types of relationships. My mother had relayed the message that love was shown by physical violence, and I took that lesson and ran with it. While this is not a pleasant example of Differential Association, it is a strong example. My mother was who I looked to for an example of how to live, love and interact with people. Even a bad message can be relayed just as quickly and strong as a positive one.

Another example of Differential Association was shown by Julian Sher (2010), when she discussed the epidemic of young girls being forced, coerced and generally tricked into sexual slavery. These young girls run away from home to escape the horrors they have encountered there, and run right into a pimp who gives them a false sense of security and belonging. These men then convinced or sometimes forced the girls into selling their bodies to support the “family”. This alleged family was the group of other girls and the pimps themselves. As horrifying and ugly as these acts are, the pimps become the most significant person in the girl's lives, and these men are teaching them all of the wrong things. Similar to my example, it clearly shows the damage the wrong lessons can do to a young girl.

Part Two: My Deviant Act

For my deviant act, I wore pajama bottoms (fuzzy white ones with pink polka dots), tennis shoes, and a white, fuzzy bathrobe. I wore this outfit to school, as it has been instilled that we should dress for school as we would for work. To further the deviation from societal norms, I made a point to fix my hair very well and apply my make-up as though I was wearing a dress. I did not want there to be any misunderstanding that my outfit was an accident, to simply be chalked up to lack of time. In short, I was a hot mess.

When I first arrived at school, I received quite a few funny looks and people who stared and laughed. The hardest part of this activity was trying to keep a straight face when people would literally stop in their tracks. I went to both of my classes dressed the same way, and received quite a few odd looks. My psychology professor kept looking at me as though I was in the middle of a psychotic episode. It was a lot of fun, as the reactions were so varied.

Some students/faculty tried to act as though they did not see me, or to stare covertly. I saw a lot of the back side of text books, to say the least. Overall, though, the most fun I had was in the cafeteria. The students eating their lunches seemed confused and bemused by my outfit. This is where one student asked me why in the world I was wearing pajamas. I simply replied I wanted to be comfortable and able to take a good nap in my car between classes.

There was no benefit or harm to my outfit, other than being very comfortable all day. Being deviant so overtly was quite funny, and I found myself laughing all throughout the day. The reactions of other students and faculty were not rude, just very confused. It was interesting to me that social norms prohibited people from asking me why I decided to wear my pajamas to school. The one student who did seemed very nervous during our conversation, as though I may just lose my mind and curse them out for asking. While this would never have happened, I realized there are some situations in which addressing someone's differences can make the person addressing them just as uncomfortable as the perceived deviant.

This was a concept I had not considered, that the reason deviants are segregated and demonized are because we make people uncomfortable. Society as a whole does not know how to act, what should or shouldn't be said in our presence, and what our reaction to them will be. I have always known I was deviant, but I never even briefly entertained the idea that I make others unsure of themselves. This makes me wonder how much everything could change if people just took the time to get to know each other, on both ends of the spectrum.

Word Count: 1,544

References

Gilfus, M. E. (1992). From Victims to Survivors to Offenders: Women's Routes of Entry and Immersion into Street Crime. Women and Criminal Justice, 4(), 63-89. Retrieved From:

http://cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/schwartj/pdf/gilfus.pd

Sher, Julian. (2010). What It's Like to Be 17 and Having Sex for Money. Chicago Review Press.

December 16. Retrieved from: http://www.alternet.org/story/149228/what_it %27s_like_to_be_17_and_sex_for_money

Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders-Defining Deviance. In M. Konty, Boundaries: Readings In Deviance, Crime and Criminal Justice (pp. 1-18). Pearson Custom Publishing.