Social Psychology Assignment 1: Breaching Experiments and Analysis

This report delves into the realm of social psychology, specifically focusing on breaching experiments designed to challenge and analyze societal norms. The author, a male student, recounts personal experiences and observations, including online interactions and public behavior, to illustrate how individuals react when social expectations are violated. The assignment explores themes of male entitlement, feminism, and gender stereotypes, examining how these factors influence social interactions and perceptions. The author challenges traditional male behaviors, such as manspreading, and analyzes the reactions received, highlighting the discomfort and surprise elicited by these actions. The report underscores the importance of self-awareness and the need for both men and women to understand and adapt to evolving social dynamics. Through personal anecdotes and reflections, the report aims to provide insights into the complexities of social norms and their impact on individual behavior and societal perceptions. The report concludes with the author's support for feminism and equality, emphasizing the need for a shift in radical notions about women.

Running Head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Topic- To call out male entitlement, women are creating a flurry of social experiments
Student name
University name
Author notes

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Abstract
Women should not have power over men but should have it over themselves. In the
streets and on the internet, feminism is going to greater heights in order to challenge stereotyped
men’s behavior and is not mere world fallacy (Swann, 2015). Present generation women are so
fed up with the issue of male entitlement that they have started coning terms for them like
‘manspreading’ and ‘mansplaining’ and have also started developing social experimentations to
discover exactly what happens when women stop being well-mannered and poise and start acting
like males. To be clear, it is not about a woman acting like a man, but it is about a woman acting
like a woman and their success is what matters the most.
Keywords: feminism, male stereotypes, social abuse, social norms.
Women psychology differs considerably from their male counterparts. Social media has
created a buzz on their lives and women become victims of social abuse. Here I am going to
share my experience of online criticism one of my close friend faced and how I violated social
norms and challenged male behavioral stereotypes. Like other boys I am also a social media
active person and has been stereotyped for being a male by other women. A friend of mine
uploaded her photos and videos and shared it with her friends and close acquaintances. But I got
sick of hearing the criticisms she received from male strangers who compliments her photos and
then expect return conversation from her. I generally do not reply to strangers but in order to
change the thought of my friend I had to talk to the stranger and taught him a good lesson about
how the whole male community is being dishonored for some persons like him. Frankly
speaking, I hate this attitude of theirs and decided to flip the coin by answering them with the
most awkward reply. As expected, the stranger failed to understand my tactics and got confused
and retracted the previous compliment from her profile and stopped sending her chat requests

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altogether. Actually, I felt superior and relieved and a sense of pride was there in my feelings,
pride for not challenging the male stranger but a pride of self-belief and self-satisfaction of being
a male (Sprague, 2016). I have understood the fact that due to some men whole women
community is getting uncomfortable and are blaming male stereotype and wrong interpretation
of feminism for everything.
Another recent incident happened where I broke the social norm of male sitting posture in
public places like in trains and subways. Generally male sit with their legs wide open and this
gives them a sense of dominance and empowerment and they sit at ease in that posture. And
contrary to this, women generally behave with dignity in public places and sit with legs crossed
(Squire, 2016). I thought of challenging the male posture culture myself being a male and after
boarding my train I directly interrogated a male traveler with wide opened legs and questioned
his V-sitting posture. To my surprise, people started glaring at me as if I have said something
wrong. Everyone specially women passengers, looked at me with utter discomfort as if there is
something wrong and my salience is doubted. I actually felt bad and awful for them. He was
capturing almost three seats all alone and I told him to sit properly so that other passengers could
have their seats. Only later a fellow women passenger asked him to take his bag instead and sit
there. But I was surprised rather I would say shocked because the traveler hardly listened to me
and acted as if nothing happened. This incident makes me realize that feminism is a word in
itself and male stereotypes cannot be uprooted from the society (Sprague, 2016). Yes, it can be
reformed to some extent but men will be men no matter what and some are harming the whole
reputation of the male society. Unless and until such male start moving out of the way of women
the stereotype will exist and women cannot help it (Gross & McIlveen, 2016).

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So, I would suggest that women should learn to give everyone a damn and should start
the most courageous act of thinking about themselves, aloud. Women are already stronger and
the world needs to change their own way of perceiving that strength of theirs. They are already
empowered and need to accept it. I suppose gender equality and feminism are just myths and has
no real existence only behavioral act is the main thing. Feminism is not important but the
underlying ambition behind it is the most important (Eagly & Wood, 2013) and both men and
women should understand this. We men well know that there is no limit to what women can
accomplish and if they are self-determined no male stereotype could restrain them from
achieving what they desire (Thibaut, 2017). I being a male support feminism and equality for all.
So, it is high time the radical notion about women should change and it is time for them to say
aloud, if not me then who? If not now than when?

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References
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2013). Feminism and evolutionary psychology: Moving
forward. Sex roles, 69(9-10), 549-556.
Gross, R., & McIlveen, R. (2016). Social psychology. Routledge.
Sprague, J. (2016). Feminist methodologies for critical researchers: Bridging differences.
Rowman & Littlefield.
Squire, C. (2016). Significant differences: Feminism in psychology. Routledge.
Swann, J. (2015). To Call Out Male Entitlement, Women Are Creating a Flurry of Social
Experiments. Retrieved from http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/01/12/women-are-
creating-social-experiments-call-out-sexism (accessed on 19 February 2019)
Thibaut, J. W. (2017). The social psychology of groups. Routledge.