Norm Violation: Dressing Code
Norm Violation: Dressing Code
The Norm
The norm I chose to violate involves dressing code. I intend to wear my clothes inside out in a public place. Clothes are essential elements within the society. The primary functions of clothes are to cover up human nakedness and to protect the body from physical harm such as sunburns, cold and rain. However, clothes also have social significance. In most societies, clothes are used to communicate a person’s genders, age, social status and occupation (police and military). Clothes are also used to communicate emissions, mood and feelings.
There are informal rules that dictate how different members of the society should dress. For instance, the society does not expect an old woman above the age of 70 to dress in tight jeans. There are also informal rules that dictate how people should dress in different occasion. For instance, the society does expect a lady to show up in a black veil at wedding. Though dressing code is largely dictated by informal codes, these norms are deeply entrenched into the society. This is why I choose to violate this norm. During that exercise, I wore an official trouser and blouse. The pockets of the trouser were all out, and the stitch lines for the blouse were clearly visible.
Place of Violation
I decided to walk down a busy street in the city’s central business district while wearing my clothes inside out. Various reasons led to the selection of this location. One of the reasons is that this location is away from the residential areas and; therefore, many people do not expect an individual to show up while “inappropriately” dressed. In the residential area, a person may be excused for not been so keen on dressing.
The second reason as to why I choose this location is because the central business district is considered a formal place. This is an office area and thus, most people walking in these streets are dressed in official wears. The final reason as to why I choose this location is because the human traffic. The streets in the cities central business people are heavily populated since these areas form central meeting points for people from all corners of the city. Therefore, society expects individuals to dress appropriately when going to such crowded places. The large population of strangers also provided a suitable audience for this exercise.
I picked a working day to perform this exercise. The reason at why I settled on a working day is because, during working days, the streets in the central business district are usually filled by well dressed individuals. It is rare to find an individual who is “inappropriate” dressed in these streets during the working day. Different code of dressing may be acceptable during the weekends or holiday but not on a working day.
Experience
I felt extremely anxious before this exercise. At some point, I felt like I could push through with this exercise. I thought I would look like a mad person when I show up in a busy street with my clothes inside out. I was also worried what other people would think of me. The fact the location reduced the probability of me meeting people who might know me was a little comforting. The experience was also exciting during the exercise. At first I was embarrassed walking through the street with people looking at me. The features of my dressing were the most striking and people kept staring.
At some point, I felt like I had done something wrong or totally evil. However, I began to feel at ease as time passed. I stop being embarrassed and started enjoying the look on people’s face as a passed by them. After the exercise, I had a feeling that was extremely fulfilling. I was extremely happy that I overcome my fear and do what many other people would not consider doing.
Reaction
People had varied reaction when the spotted me on the street. Majority of people just started in amazement and surprise. This group of people did not say something but the look on their face spoke a thousand words. I could tell that some thought that I was crazy. A significant number of people responded with a smile when I passed by them on the street. They did not say anything buts most of them though that doing such a thing may be fun. A small proportion of people communicated verbally. However, the communication was not direct as most of them shouted from a distance. Their messages were mainly satirical. They said that I looked fabulous.
Conclusion
I learnt that norm intricate part of human societies. Although most of these norms are defined by informal codes, they are deeply entrenched into the human mind. The society expect each and every individual to conform to these norms though, in some cases, there is nothing wrong with going against the norms. For instance, there would be no harm if a man wears a skirt to work. However, this action would be viewed as totally wrong by society. I also learnt that, as a social being, I have strongly conformed to most of these social norms. Before this exercise, I would never have imagined myself appearing in public while dressed they way I was dressed during this exercise. Even during the exercise, I could believe that it was me who was pulling such a stunt.
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