Deviant Behavior: Willingly Being Whipped

One of the deviant behaviors that I watched, that really stood out to me, was the whipping of women in Ethiopia.  These women would willingly be whipped by the stickman, in order for their cousin or brother to become a man. The women would taught the stickman and encourage him to whip them.  Which may seem unusual to us, because in our culture being whipped or hurt by a man, would usually put that man in jail and have him accused of a crime.  The scars from this whipping can be to the Ethiopian women as both a reminder of strength and is something to show pride in which is a positive sanction, or it can be a reminder of their brother’s failure and is something that brings shame which is a negative sanction.  The more scars the women have, shows the more strength and is a symbol of beauty.  This is very different from our culture and what is socially acceptable.  Here in the US if a woman has scars, she may try to hide them or fix them with plastic surgery, because it isn’t acceptable.  Having an even skin tone and perfect skin is what is socially acceptable here in the US.  So these women in Ethiopia, willingly be whipped and have these permanent scars to us maybe taboo, but in their culture it is what makes them beautiful and shows their strength. Because of ethnocentrism, watching this, to me, was worse than watching the other two deviant behaviors, because in the US those behaviors are things we may see when we walk through the mall or are at a baseball game, but being whipped, I see as a punishment, not something you do willingly and would give you strength and pride.