Gender Norm activity, Kechley Bruna

Gender norms are Society’s rules used to control the behaviors of each gender. The value of theses gender norms decrease due to living in New York during the 21st century. I found it very difficult to think of a behavior to perform that was considered outside of the “norm” or rather unaccepted in today’s society. There are females who wear baggy clothing and there are men who wear nail polish; these behaviors are widely accepted. While I was sitting on the bus thinking of a topic, I realized that many females find it awkward and self-conscious to eat in public. So, since I just came from McDonald’s I decided I would eat my food in front of all the strangers on the bus. Since I was quite hungry I did not feel weird performing this activity however I did receive a few reactions. Many of the passengers did stare at me probably because of their own hunger or maybe my attempt to violate this gender norm. This activity reminded me of how movies that show couples at restaurant and the man is often seen eating a delicious steak while the women is portrayed eating a salad. Many women also want to be seen as proper so they figure that eating a salad or something small would do the trick.