WP2 Final Draft

Social norms are things that are seen as acceptable in our society. Many times these social norms are made normal completely unconsciously by people who seem to just “be going with the flow.” In today’s world, something as simple as wearing clothes can be seen as a social norm. In the comic above, two older people, a man and a woman, are seen casually strolling a convenience store with nothing but undergarments on. In our society, this is seen as completely unacceptable attire for shopping in public. However, in other parts of the world this may be seen as acceptable. Social norms are created over time and depending on where you live, who raised you, what religion you are, what kind of culture you grew up with, and several other things, they can be extremely different from what you may know to be socially normal today. In this particular comic, Tim Whyatt is trying to make the argument that depending on your culture and background, different behavior can be seen in several different ways.

Typically, it is not only seen as not normal to be wearing nothing but underpants and a bra out in public, especially in the United States, but to some people it may even be offensive! Many stores today have a policy of “no shirt, no shoes, no service.” People may be asked to leave a store if they violate this policy. Many stores, restaurants especially, claim that it is unhealthy for other customers for people to be walking around in bare feet or without a shirt on. A group called the barefooters are a society for barefoot living whose intentions are to provide a friendly forum to share experiences, thoughts, feelings, and tips on bare feet and barefootin'; to provide a "support group" for members encouraging and helping one another to get along in a shod world. In the state of Nebraska, there is no law that states that you are not allowed to sport bare feet into an establishment, but rather it is up to the owner of the establishment to make any laws regarding not wearing shoes. Some companies, because of insurance policies require customers to wear shoes into restaurants. This policy of “no shirt, no shoes, no service” is very different from indecent exposure.

Indecent exposure is defined as “The deliberate exposure by a person of a portion or portions of his or her own body under circumstances where such an exposure is likely to be seen as contrary to the local commonly accepted standards of decency, and may in fact be a violation of law. In some countries a breach of the standards of modesty is considered to be public indecency.” The key part of this definition is understanding that it is only thought of as indecent exposure when the local commonly accepted standards of decency have been violated. If these people would have been sporting their lovely underwear around, say a colony of nudists, or possibly around a group of barefooters, they would be much more welcomed. Clearly in this photo we have two citizens who have indecently exposed themselves. Although this is against the law and these people could be fined for it (of course, this is a comic) we as the audience find this humorous. Why? Over the past several years America’s idea of humor and acceptable clothing has radically changed.

Humor is “the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement.” (Wikipedia) Humor occurs when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprises it which is why we find the old people funny... We are surprised by the fact that they would not be wearing clothes in public. Of course, the fact that the people are exceptionally overweight makes them look even more humorous. In 1910, Anette Kellerman was arrested for wearing a one piece swimsuit in Australia. Some of you may be thinking to yourselves “Wait, aren’t one piece swimsuits the kind of swim suit to wear when you don’t want to show too much skin?” In early 1900’s, the social norm for swim suit apparel for women was a long dress with a very heavy top, and if you really wanted to test the waters, you wore a tank top. Nowadays, women’s one piece swimsuits are worn by athletes who are shown on worldwide television during the Olypmics.

American society today finds nudity and sexual based jokes funnier than it used to. Some of today’s “funniest” movies are full of indecent exposure and sexual innuendoes. Take “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” for example. If this movie wouldn’t have been banned from movie screens ten or twenty years ago solely because of its name, it would definitely have been banned due to its incredibly bawdy content. But in today’s society this movie was able to make $57,368,762. This is including DVD sales as well. Humor is something that is evolving with the human race. Future generations will find some things funnier than what, say, freshmen in college find funny. As humor keeps changing, it will continue to surprise humans. Tim Whyatt, the author of this comic, is another person who has discovered that American Society finds nudity funny. His website is full of raunchy comics, calendars, and cartoons and in his “About the Artist” portion of his website he can’t even tell us anything about himself without trying to be humorous.

We can tell that the woman with no clothes on in this picture clearly has no idea that she is out of place due to the look in her face and by reading what she is saying. The look on her face seems to be saying “can you believe this?!” Not only has she completely missed that she is being alienated but she thinks it is bizarre that the “darn computer crashed!” She thinks that today is just another normal day for her, but obviously cannot be taken seriously due to her socially unacceptable ensemble.

There is very clear visual hierarchy in this photo. The thing that jumps out at me first is, well... the fact that the people on the left have no clothes on! I see this as the main vector of attention because I have grown up in a society where it is only acceptable to wear clothes out in public. The second thing that grabs my attention is the kind, confused looking woman standing next to these people who seems very taken aback by the sight that she is seeing on what seemed like a normal day for her. Her eyes are pointed down and her body is turned the opposite way of the two unclothed people. We can tell that she too is confused as to what she is seeing because before she encounters these people, her body is faced in the direction of the items that she is shopping for. Based on these two things, we can see that the author is setting the stage for a very uncomfortable setting for the woman on the right which shows that she is not welcoming of the unkemptness of these two people. This adds to the argument that different cultures judge different things on whether or not they are acceptable.

Works Cited:

Hanssen, George E.. "Barefooters". State of Nebraska Department of Agriculture. November 16, 2009 http://www.barefooters.org/health-dept/NE1997.pdf.

"Wikipedia". November 10, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellerman.

Tim, Whyatt. "Whyatt". Whyatt Cartoons. November 16, 2009 http://www.whyatt.com.au/.

Rough Draft

Statement of Purpose

WP2 Rough Draft

Social norms are things that are seen as acceptable in our society. Many times these social norms are made normal completely unconsciously by people who seem to just “be going with the flow.” In today’s world, something as simple as wearing clothes can be seen as a social norm. In the comic above, two older people, a man and a woman, are seen casually strolling a convenience store with nothing but undergarments on. In our society, this is seen as completely unacceptable attire for shopping in public. However, in other parts of the world this may be seen as acceptable. Social norms are created over time and depending on where you live, who raised you, what religion you are, what kind of culture you grew up with, and several other things, they can be extremely different from what you may know to be socially normal today. In this particular comic, Tim Whyatt is trying to make the argument that depending on your culture and background, different behavior can be seen in several different ways.

Typically, it is not only seen as not normal to be wearing nothing but underpants and a bra out in public, especially in the United States, but to some people it may even be offensive! Many stores today have a policy of “no shirt, no shoes, no service.” People may be asked to leave a store if they violate this policy. Many stores, restaurants especially claim that it is unhealthy for other customers for people to be walking around in bare feet or without a shirt on. In the state of Nebraska, there is no law that states that you are not allowed to sport bare feet into an establishment, but rather it is up to the owner of the establishment to make any laws regarding not wearing shoes. Some companies, because of insurance policies require customers to wear shoes into restaurants. This policy of “no shirt, no shoes, no service” is very different from indecent exposure.

Indecent exposure is defined as “The deliberate exposure by a person of a portion or portions of his or her own body under circumstances where such an exposure is likely to be seen as contrary to the local commonly accepted standards of decency, and may in fact be a violation of law. In some countries a breach of the standards of modesty is considered to be public indecency.” The key part of this definition is understanding that it is only thought of as indecent exposure when the local commonly accepted standards of decency have been violated. If these people would have been sporting their lovely underwear around, say a colony of nudists, they would be much more welcomed. Clearly in this photo we have two citizens who have indecently exposed themselves. Although this is against the law and these people could be fined for it (of course, this is a comic) we as the audience find this humorous. Why? Over the past several years America’s idea of humor and acceptable clothing has radically changed.

Humor is “the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement.” (Wikipedia) Humor occurs when the brain recognizes a pattern that surprises it which is why we find the old people funny... We are surprised by the fact that they would not be wearing clothes in public. Of course, the fact that the people are exceptionally overweight makes them look even more humorous. In 1910, Anette Kellerman was arrested for wearing a one piece swimsuit in Australia. Some of you may be thinking to yourselves “Wait, aren’t one piece swimsuits the kind of swim suit to wear when you don’t want to show too much skin?” In early 1900’s, the social norm for swim suit apparel for women was a long dress with a very heavy top, and if you really wanted to test the waters, you wore a tank top. Nowadays, women’s one piece swimsuits are worn by athletes who are shown on worldwide television during the Olypmics.

American society today finds nudity and sexual based jokes funnier than it used to. Some of today’s “funniest” movies are full of indecent exposure and sexual innuendoes. Take “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” for example. If this movie wouldn’t have been banned from movie screens ten or twenty years ago solely because of its name, it would definitely have been banned due to its incredibly bawdy content. But in today’s society this movie was able to make $57,368,762. This is including DVD sales as well. Humor is something that is evolving with the human race. Future generations will find some things funnier than what, say, freshmen in college find funny. As humor keeps changing, it will continue to surprise humans.

We can tell that the woman with no clothes on in this picture clearly has no idea that she is out of place due to the look in her face and by reading what she is saying. The look on her face seems to be saying “can you believe this?!” Not only has she completely missed that she is being alienated but she thinks it is bizarre that the “darn computer crashed!” She thinks that today is just another normal day for her, but obviously cannot be taken seriously due to her socially unacceptable ensemble.

There is very clear visual hierarchy in this photo. The thing that jumps out at me first is, well... the fact that the people on the left have no clothes on! I see this as the main vector of attention because I have grown up in a society where it is only acceptable to wear clothes out in public. The second thing that grabs my attention is the kind, confused looking woman standing next to these people who seems very taken aback by the sight that she is seeing on what seemed like a normal day for her. Her eyes are pointed down and her body is turned the opposite way of the two unclothed people. We can tell that she too is confused as to what she is seeing because before she encounters these people, her body is faced in the direction of the items that she is shopping for. Based on these two things, we can see that the author is setting the stage for a very uncomfortable setting for the woman on the right which shows that she is not welcoming of the unkemptness of these two people. This adds to the argument that different cultures judge different things on whether or not they are acceptable.