Prompt 7

In any group in today’s society, there are certain standards or ideals that people aspire to achieve. Every action that people take have political implications, no one is just neutral. By following the crowd, an individual is making a statement. They are either afraid to break out of the norm, or feel more comfortable following it.

The “radical” groups described in Pitt’s book perform extreme modifications that baffle other groups that view them. “Normal” individuals would not do flesh hangings or cover their entire body in tattoos. However, there are certain extreme modifications that are still seen as normal. These practices are used to fit in with the “norm” in an attempt to become the ideal. An example of an extreme act of the “normal” community is cosmetic surgeries. These are measures taken to achieve the ideal. For example, if a person wants to lose weight, they can have liposuction. If a girl wants to have more feminine features, she can surgically change those features. All of these surgeries have the health risks because something could go wrong. These are extreme steps that a person can take that seem “normal” in today’s society. However, these may have been very strange to people a few decades before. These surgeries have become so common that people don’t find them “radical” anymore. These practices may be just as extreme to the “strange” body modification of the “other” groups, but the majority of society has become more comfortable with these practices that they are longer a strange encounter.

I think that these “normal” acts have the same political potentials because most practices are strange when they are first introduced. However, once people become comfortable with the idea, it will assimilate into the “normal” culture. Therefore, the “radical” acts will not be radical once people become comfortable with them. This example occurred in the book with the bellybutton piercings and the Fraternity brandings. These practices started as “abnormal” and then became part of the “normal” culture.