The Role Of Deviance In Muslim Women

Deviance, according to the textbook refers to “any violation of norms, whether the infraction is as minor as driving over the speed limit, as serious as murder or as humorous as Chagnon’s encounter with the Yanamamo”(Henslin). Howard Becker described it like this ‘it is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act that make some deviant” (Henslin, 158). Society makes the decisions as to who is deviant and who is not. When someone walks into a room and does something that is different than what the individuals are used to seeing from them they can then make the decision as to whether they are deviant or not. This can also happen when you are out in the public and you walk up on a group of people that look different from yourself or others. This can be by the way they are dressed or by their nationality. At this time you can make the decision as to whether are not they are deviant. There are many different form of deviance throughout …show more content…
We tend to look at these women as being different, when in reality they are no different than us. The only difference in appearance is that they cover their face. These same Muslim women can in turn feel that our women are deviant. They see the norm as being covered from head to toe when the American women dress more revealing. Let’s say a friend of ours walks into a restaurant, club or even work and she is wearing a Burqa. We would consider this friend to be deviant. If we were to walk into either of these places wearing a Thobe and Ghutra these same friends would now consider us to be deviant. In a previous writing I used an example of a norm violation that I performed on my employees. This norm violation was one that really through the employees for a loop. No one in the room really knew what was going on when I did this other than my partner that I chose to watch for reactions. At this time I believe we could honestly say that everyone in the room thought of me as being