The Importance Of Norms In Society

Register to read the introduction… My experiment was to see how people at the mall reacted when my guy friend and I held hands while walking together. Not only did I hold a man’s hand, but he is also African-American. My experiment broke the norm of the interracial couples dating each other. This experiment also broke the social norm that opposite sex couples are supposed to show affection in public rather than same sex couples. Although same sex couples and marriages have become more accepted in the United States, it is still a very controversial issue that has led to split results of opinion polls. In one study performed by the Gallup Organization, about 52% of Americans support same sex marriage, while 43% of Americans oppose same sex marriage. This has changed significantly over the years, as the same study was performed in 2001, yet showed only 35% of Americans supporting same sex marriages (Study: Opposition to). To start my experiment, I went to the Valencia Town Center Mall on a Saturday at approximately 2:00 pm. This was purposely done on a Saturday so the mall was more packed and we could view more reactions. Starting in Macy’s, my friend Cory and I walked through the jewelry section, consistently asking the sales associates questions, looking as if we were shopping for Christmas gifts. Next, we wanted to go a step up, so we shopped in the purse section. While this would seem normal to shop for a purse to give someone for Christmas, Cory tried on many and I critiqued how they looked on him. We made sure there were people around and noticed their reaction, while trying to make this seem as real as possible. To view the reactions of people more of our age, Cory and I walked outside of Macy’s into the main section of the Mall. We did not have a set location to go to, but just walked around wandering store to store trying to “Christmas shop”. While traveling the mall, we either held hands …show more content…
Although I do have a girlfriend and am not gay, I am ashamed of society’s reaction to me holding my friends hand. I did think that I would be uncomfortable holding another man’s hand in public, yet I thought people would be more accepting of it. In our first experience at the jewelry counter at Macy’s, the sales associate asked if I was shopping for my girlfriend or mom. I replied saying I was shopping for my boyfriend, Cory, while pointing to him. The sales associate initially was at a loss for words. After about ten seconds, the associate tried to direct us more towards the men’s jewelry. Cory kept insisting that he liked the women’s jewelry more. Later, when we went to the purse section of Macy’s, a different sales associate approached us. As Cory tried on purses and I critiqued saying that the purse looked good, the associate agreed and said that whatever woman I was shopping for would love it. Cory, acting offended, told the associate that he was shopping for himself and asked me for my opinion on how the purse looked on him. Very confused, the associate apologized and went to go help other customers. While we walked around the mall holding hands and had our arms around each other, people gave us very strange looks. Not only did the people that walked by us make gestures or facial expressions, but we could also see some people across the mall look specifically at us and on a few instances point so another one of their friends could see us. When we were in some stores, we felt that we did not get the best customer service, as it took a while for someone to come help us or the associate was very hesitant when Cory and I were shopping for each other. In one store though, Hollister, we felt very welcomed by a man that worked at the store. He helped us shop for clothes and suggested what he thought would look best on our bodies. He also asked