Kaylee Moore chose to dress like a man for a class assignment to break a social norm and observe reactions. At the mall, she received many stares from both children and adults for her male attire. During a family dinner, her grandmother told her to change but she did not, and family members whispered and judged her choice. The assignment showed that society judges people who do not conform to perceived norms of dress and behavior.

1. Kaylee Moore
FYS 100
Breaking a Social Norm
In class we were asked to break a social norm throughout the day and see other’s reaction’s to
breaking that social norm. I chose to dress like a guy thinking it would be easy since I have a lot of
guy friends. I chose this because I wanted to see if other’s reactions were what I expected. I
expected people to stare at me, give me weird looks, talk about me, and think that I was gay or
something.
The first place I decided to try to dress up like a guy was the mall to see all the different
reactions from people. As I expected I had a lot of stares from little kids looking and laughing at me.
But there was actually adults doing the same things. I felt very uncomfortable because everywhere I
went everyone was staring at me. I dressed in some true religion jeans with my boxer’s showing a
little bit, a pair of white forces, and a Chicago bulls men’s shirt with a snapback. I even tried to talk to
other girl’s in stores in a friendly way but they thought I was trying to hit on them or something.
The second place I went was to a family dinner where a lot of my family and family’s close
friends were attending. When I first walked in my grandma asked me why I was dressed the way I
was, I simply told her that this is how I dress now. She proceeded to ignore what I said and told me I
needed to change but I didn’t. Family members and friends were secretly whispering and talking
behind my back. I heard one of my Aunt’s say I was probably just going through a phase.
This assignment showed society judges other’s if they don’t do what is considered to be
“normal”. I was being judged for how I dressed and I was the exact same person I was before.
Dressed like a girl or boy I was still myself, I’m not gay and I don’t like girls and just because I dress a
certain way shouldn’t give others that idea. I catch myself sometimes assuming or judging someone
else for not doing what I think is normal but to them it is.