Deviance: Why Do People Still Target Others For Being Different?

566 Words3 Pages
In western society we are becoming more understanding of differences between individuals; race, ethnicity, sexual identity/preference, and other attributes that were formally extremely deviant are slowly becoming norms in society. While there are steps being taken towards a more accepting society, we still have a lot of work to do. This being said, people still target others for being different. This paper will be structured in a slightly unconventional way. Because I believe that you need a full story to truly understand why someone is deviant, I will begin with the deviance I have been a part of and then follow with connections to more academic theories. History To really understand my own deviance it’s essential to look at my parents, more…show more content…
I was always worried I wouldn’t grow up and be like my mother- but I was equally as frightened that I would become her. My mother, out of pure rebellion against her parents, had a plan to have children young. She gave birth to my oldest brother shortly after her 20th birthday, and two years after that, had another boy. I arrived two years after that. My mother had 3 kids all before her 25th birthday. Everyone always said that I would be the first female in both families to pursue a career and life of my own choosing before settling down; this would be the difference between my mother and I. I was still frightened of the future. Everyday someone would tell me how much I look or act like my mother, I never saw any validity in his or her claims but I would not argue, I would nod and say “thank you”, because I was raised to be a “lady”. My mother would often tell my brothers and I that we saved her life; before we came into the world she had nothing left to live for. I always assumed she meant that figuratively, as mothers usually do. My mother meant that statement literally. Before she had met my father and started a life together, my mother had attempted suicide, and spent months in the psychiatric wing of Sunnybrook
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