The whole idea surrounding social
construction and norms—specifically mythical norms—in Chapter 6 were very
interesting to me. Our social world
emerges through our actions and rules/norms that we follow. The more I think about norms, the more I get
frustrated with the way society often praises these things. Granted, some norms are good to follow such
as forming lines or not picking your nose in public, but majority of societal norms
are complete bogus.
Mythical norms are Audre Lorde’s
metaphor for those who occupy positions of power in society; that they are “the
norm”, or even average or typical is a myth.
The book provided an example of the mythical norm in mainstream US
culture as male, white, Christian, nondisabled, young, thin/athletic,
heterosexual, and either upper or middle class.
This makes it difficult for men who are not all of these things to find
their place or even their own identity because they don’t match up to what is
perceived as what is “normal”. An
example of this would be from the movie Love,
Simon. The movie is about this guy
named Simon and he lives a pretty normal life, except for the fact that he is gay,
and nobody knows. Throughout the movie,
Simon does not get to be who he truly is because he is fearful that people—especially
his friends and family—will think of him differently. He is hiding a huge part of his identity
because it goes against what most people view as “normal”. Not everyone carries the mythical norm that
everyone should be and is straight.
It is frustrating that norms like
this even exist in the first place, because is there really such thing as being
“normal”?
Love,
Simon Trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment