I am studying South Sudanese who are living in the United States and how they view homosexuality. Most people believe that homosexuality is a deviant thing. I did the survey because I wanted to know more about their feeling and understanding about other cultures. I had an experience in the summer of last year when I went to the Midwest. I met with some of my friends whom I did not meet for a long time. One day, we watched the CNN news coverage. The headline news was about the same sex marriage in the state of New York. One of my friends wanted to turn off the TV. After the news, we had a conversation about same sex marriage and how the state of New York allows it. There were a lot of arguments made by my friends because they do not like same the sex bill getting passed. Some of them asked if there are some people among us who like the announcement of the bill. I asked them what is wrong about the same sex getting married and why do they care. By that time, I observed most people get annoyed by the news. Some got mad at me and wanted to debate with me. I told them that America is a land of freedom and that includes the freedom to be who you are. Everybody got mad at me simply because they considered same sex marriage as deviant. Because of that issue, I found out that homosexuality is considered as something that is not normal. They told me that homosexual people are the people who really behave in a unique ways. One said that homosexuals do not conform to their society norm. I really had a hard time answering a lot of those questions directed to me. But these friends of mine do not know that I also disagree with the idea of same sex marriage. I do also consider as a deviant because Sudanese believe that marriage should be only between a man and a woman.
On the other hand, not only Sudanese dislike the idea of the same sex marriage but also some friends who are Americans. I realized that having little knowledge about the topic made me look like I am just supporting them for no good reason. The same thing came up when I told those Sudanese friends that I have a gay classmate; they considered me as a deviant simply because I have a gay friend. Sudanese make jokes about me sometimes because I told them I have gay and lesbian classmates. This was the time that I realized same sex marriage is something most people dislike. This is the time I knew when some people go in the opposite way of society, they are considered as a deviant.
I found that adapting to other cultures has difficulties. American culture was totally different. Things such as greeting and making friends were hard. Holding hands with friends was considered a deviant to American culture. However, one friend of mine told me one day that holding hands with someone is a sign of affection or relationship in American. I was like “okay I got it”. He said please do not hold hands with your Sudanese friends. But in Sudan, we do not consider that as a deviant.
I have also experienced discrimination myself when I came to the United State as an immigrant from Sudan in Africa. I remembered when one of co-worker at Seattle-Tacoma international airport asked why I am so black than black. The same thing was said to me by one of my classmate in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He said he never saw a black person like me. Sometimes students make fun of me simply because they never seen someone like me before in their life. However, all of the things that I had encounter like discrimination of skin color and same sex marriage are labeled as deviance because they are socially constructed. As I read articles about who is considered deviant, I find that it is the people who behave in sharply different ways from the custom and who do not conform to the norms of the society. Someone who ignores the common and behaves in a unique ways is said to be a deviant person according to me understanding. I think all of these are socially constructed by the society. I believe this is the same idea to what Howard Becker talks about in the article when he defined deviant as outsiders. People who break a rule that a society has already agree upon.
I really feel like an outsider because of all the ridicule people make about me. All of these things such as discrimination and color were considered as deviant because they are not in their culture. I was a deviant because they are found not to be American norms. I think important of acceptance is there but there are a certain things that should not be practice even though personal believe have influence on the society. In my opinion, people should not be allowed to be what they want to be simply because there are rule that govern the society.
Word count: 882
Citation:
Becker, Howard (1963) Outsiders defining Deviance. Boundaries readings in Deviance, crime And Criminal justice, P 1-18.
