Reflection: Week 5

   A question was raised up this week that really struck me. We were shown a video (The Problem with Jeggings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPJz850ibII) that depicted how different trends were emerging by combining different articles of clothing (jeggings = jeans + leggings, nirt = not a shirt) and also how as the years go by, so do the fabric in the clothes we wear (less coverage, more skin). Then our professor showed us a painting (the title of which, I forgot) and asked us to relate it to the video. I inferred that both the painting and the video showed how different people have different perspectives on what is acceptable or decent; how normal is really something subjective. Then she flashed the question: What is normal?

   The question of what sets the difference between normal and abnormal has come across my mind plenty of times in my life. I'm the kind of person who really spends time to think and reflect not just about my personal life but even the external factors that affect it. During those times, I've questioned what is normal for the society we live in today. Because if you look at it, the standards of normal have changed through out the years. Take for example, in the 1800s, women and men wear layers and layers of clothing, complete suits and afternoon and evening dresses; but if you're out wearing those today, people will think that you're trying too hard to look good or that you're wearing some sort of costume. Another is that years ago, men found women more attractive if they were curvy and voluptuous contrasting to how the standard for women today is slim and athletic. I've thought that maybe the notion of normal is something psychological. Imagine teaching your child that saying "yes" means no and saying "no" means yes and he'd grow up believing what you've taught him and for him that'll probably be normal. Things we consider normal nowadays are things that have undergone the approval of the general society and have lived through the first degree of questioning and scrutinizing. 

   I've read a book back in grade school entitled "Frindle" by Andrew Clements and if I remember correctly, it was about how a boy was so persistent in renaming the ballpen into the word frindle and at the end he succeeded and the word was even recognized in the dictionary. I often think that normality could be analogous to that; like if I would want something to be socially acceptable, all I'd have to do is convince a number of people to believe in it as well. Just like how we've gotten accustomed to more revealing outfits as daily/casual wear as opposed to how they used to be frowned upon by society. 

   This gets me thinking, what else would be considered normal in the future; and in following the logic, would there be more good normal or bad normal?