Challenging Male Restroom Etiquette Essay

The folkway I chose to focus on is regarding restroom etiquette for men. According to the unwritten laws that every man knows, under no circumstance do you use the urinal directly next to another person. When entering a bathroom, the rules state that the gentleman should choose the urinal farthest away from any other man and at very least leave a one urinal buffer between them. It is very simple, if there is no option but to break the buffer zone, you should wait. This folkway, in essence, urges men to avoid using the facilities next to each other at all costs. In efforts to study this phenomenon, I intentionally went against it. In order to observe mens reactions, I went to different locations on campus that were home to urinals and purposefully chose the incorrect one. I found multiple restrooms which had numerous urinals, waited until someone chose a space to occupy, and proceeded to use the one directly next to him. Initially this breach produced minimal results and so I took it a step further I began starting up a conversation with the neighbor. Prior to adding the conversational aspect however, I made the prediction that the targeted man would react much more drastically and become observably more uncomfortable.Being a man myself I tend to abide by the rules set forth by this folkway so as a result intentionally breaking it came very unnatural to me. In the beginning trials of the experiment I found myself feeling awkward and very uncomfortable as all my life I have done my best to avoid the very situation that I now aimed to put myself into. Acting in a deviant manner started out being difficult and troublesome for me but as I performed more trials it started becoming easier and I started to feel more at ease. Conversely, as the actions became more natural for me, the subjects tended to show increased levels of awkwardness. As...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Character Analysis of Basil Hallward in The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Novel by Oscar Wilde Essay

The main character in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian, is a man too easily influenced by his surroundings. He is quoted as saying, Basil Hallward is what I think I am Lord Henry is what the world thinks me Dorian is what I would like to bein other ages, perhaps (Wilde). This comparison falls in line with the moral of the story because Dorian is stuck with eternal youth and beauty even though he has a wicked soul. This causes different views of him by people who observe his daily life. Dorian is a sponge throughout the novel that absorbs everything and allows it to shape his personality, morals, and actions. Dorian Gray takes influence from Lord Henry, Basil Hallward, and the culture of society during which the novel was written. Lord Henry is the epitome of a wealthy, hedonistic gentleman seeking only pleasure, with little regard to cost or consequence. Lord Henry Wotton outwardly propounds hedonism, but it is his extreme egotism that drives him to manipulate both Basil Hallward a
Read more

Religious Symbolism in The Blessed Damozel, a Poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Essay

Dante Gabriel Rossettis poem The Blessed Damozel is full of religious symbolism. There is talk of saints, and the poem itself takes place in heaven. But underneath the religious symbolism is a deep sensuality, that makes one wonder if the white rose of Marys gift referred to in line nine is the gift of Mary the Virgin, or the somewhat less virginal Mary Magdalene. While the Damozel is in heaven, her appearance in heaven, her behaviors in life, and what happens when she and her lover are reunited suggest some less than virginal dealings, yet the damozel is blessed and resides in heaven. Rossetti was the child of liberals kicked out of Italy a heavily catholic country for their extreme political views. While Rossetti himself was not political, he may have espoused similar views regarding politics and religion as his parents. In the poem The Blessed Damozel, Rossetti was given the chance to essentially create his own heaven. Most everything he wrote seems to show that Rossetti espoused
Read more

An Analysis of the Character of Chichikov in the Poem, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol Essay

Dead Souls takes place in the Russia of the late 1800s, where, unlike in America, one must be born into a prosperous family in order to have opportunities. The main character, Chichikov, is clever enough to develop a scheme in which he can rise from being a petty clerk to a respected landowner. In order to do this, Chichikov moves into a new town, pretending to already be a landowner, and begins a quest to buy the names of dead serfs who have not yet been officially reported dead. Each person that Chichkov presents this offer to has a different reaction, starting with the shy and introverted Manilov. Though he does not understand Chichikov's need for the names of these dead serfs, Manilov is a character that is so desperate for company that it does not take any effort to trick him into selling his dead souls cheaply. However, as Chichikov continues his journey, he starts to deal with more clever landowners who become suspicious of his scheme. Chichikov finds that the townsmen know
Read more