She Speaks Out.

My sociology prof is a different sort of bird.  She loves to debate and argue but at the end of the day she will shoot you down and make you feel like a fool.  I have somewhat enjoyed the class by keeping my mouth shut.  It's been a very difficult process for an outspoken chick like me, but I was bursting to get my opinion in one of these days.  Well, apparently that day was yesterday.

The topic in class this week is "Deviance".  Oh fun!!  Yesterday we were discussing in particular, whether online porn or sex would be considered deviant.  The term deviant means anything that goes against cultural norms and apparently it doesn't always have a negative connotation (or so I've learned).  It's hard to wrap the brain around that, isn't it?  Here is how the conversation went between my prof and I before, oh, about 100 students or so:

Her:  Is online porn or sex deviant?

(And the regular, front row favoured types respond their typical kiss-ass response.  *Yawn*)

I think about it, formulate a response, and raise my hand at the back of the class.

Me:  Well, considering sex itself is a cultural norm, I'm not sure that online sex or porn could then be considered deviant.

Her:  People cannot have sex by themselves.

Me:  Well sure they can.  People masturbate.  Isn't that sex?

Her:  Individuals masturbate; people have sex. 

Me:  Ok.  The definition of sex is subjective then.  The fact remains that we don't generally discuss such private matters whether it be sex or masturbation, but it's still human nature to do so, therefore it's a cultural norm.  If people use online porn or sex to get off it doesn't matter because it's normal human nature to orgasm for pleasure. How can that possibly be deviant?

(And then I realized there were about 200 eyeballs staring at me.  I wanted to crawl under a rock.  Here I was discussing masturbation in front of strangers.  What's wrong with me?  But I was positive my point was a most excellent one and I wasn't going to back down.)

Her:  But you're looking at the term deviant as something negative.  Sex or masturbation isn't negative.  It's a cultural norm when the behaviour becomes ingrained in our everyday life that we don't bat an eyelash at even the mere mention of it.  Is online sex or porn deviant then?

Damn.  Good point.

Me:  (Silence....followed by a VERY reluctant nod of the head.)  Yeah, I guess it is. 

It just goes to show you that we really don't know what we think we know even when we think we know there's more to it.  You know?

Fascinating.