The normality in the misnormal of Serena's nude photo
Some see it as normal, Serena enjoyed herself going nude, are we ready for more?
A lot of reactions has trailed the recent pregnancy photos of Serena Williams on the Vanity Fair magazine, where she posed nude. While some are of the opinion that the Tennis Star may have gone too far since she is regarded as a role model to many women, others see it as ‘freedom’ for womanhood.
Wherever you belong on the side of the argument, it is more than certain that we live in a world of constant flux, where some changes are inevitable. Whether you regard it as good or bad, it all depends on your value orientation which is a function of religion and cultural environment we find ourselves.
Serena Williams Nude photos is only a glimpse, a tip of the iceberg to what tomorrow will bring. What seems immoral today is what will become the norm tomorrow. Every craze, fad and fashion which we accept today had once been considered a taboo and inappropriate.
The presence of the material component of our culture and its radical transformation, especially through science and technology will trigger new forms of the immaterial component such as attitude and behavioural change.
At the turn of the 20th century for instance, women in the western world do not wear trousers. The world in fact had fashioned out what is fit for both sexes as a way of differentiating them (except in Scotland where men wear skirts). In some African rituals, many of which are no longer practiced, a woman wears trousers whenever she is about to be sacrificed either because of crime committed or witchcraft. A day a woman wears trousers is regarded as a bad day (ojo buruku l’obinrin n wo sokoto), a saying among the Yoruba people.
Those who deviate from what was hitherto regarded as normal such as not accepting political correctness (now made popular by Trump), nudity, homosexuality soon become ‘prophets’ of their new found way of life with admirers and followers - we are all social actors, others cheer and watch us on and others loathe us. What determines the acceptability and growth of this new deviancy will be the instruments of social control such as law and state apparatus. Where state apparatus or law is firm and constraining, such as in Saudi Arabia, Vatican City and Iran, deviants are not welcomed. They are ostracized and face the wrath of the law. Social control mechanisms of religion, membership of a larger community with strict rules of engagement can also deter others from following suit.
As religion looses more ground to secularism, and as the individual is empowered to have his/her own world and define his/her self-concept without recourse to the state, there will always be more deviance, more behaviours that will first come with disdain, rebuke and venomous social anger. All it needs to thrive is a space – the social media, mainstream media, other folks who had wanted to do similar things and of course, the folks that don’t just care (liberals). We will have more pregnant ‘Serena Williams’ walking along the street naked, more Johny Depp coming forward to talk about assassinating the president of the United States and so on.
In conclusion, we have not seen the worst of deviance as long as our world continue to exist. Some incredible stuff will still emerge just as we achieve incredible technological fit. It is a law of progress. However, in the midst of every social deviation, usually gradual, there will always be that side of the society who will ever remain unmoved. They will always detest everything that threatens to topple their held belief. The society is then again torn apart into two negating sides. At the end of it, the society becomes balanced through this conflict of values – a necessary one for that matter.
Wherever you belong on the side of the argument, it is more than certain that we live in a world of constant flux, where some changes are inevitable. Whether you regard it as good or bad, it all depends on your value orientation which is a function of religion and cultural environment we find ourselves.
Serena Williams Nude photos is only a glimpse, a tip of the iceberg to what tomorrow will bring. What seems immoral today is what will become the norm tomorrow. Every craze, fad and fashion which we accept today had once been considered a taboo and inappropriate.
The presence of the material component of our culture and its radical transformation, especially through science and technology will trigger new forms of the immaterial component such as attitude and behavioural change.
At the turn of the 20th century for instance, women in the western world do not wear trousers. The world in fact had fashioned out what is fit for both sexes as a way of differentiating them (except in Scotland where men wear skirts). In some African rituals, many of which are no longer practiced, a woman wears trousers whenever she is about to be sacrificed either because of crime committed or witchcraft. A day a woman wears trousers is regarded as a bad day (ojo buruku l’obinrin n wo sokoto), a saying among the Yoruba people.
Those who deviate from what was hitherto regarded as normal such as not accepting political correctness (now made popular by Trump), nudity, homosexuality soon become ‘prophets’ of their new found way of life with admirers and followers - we are all social actors, others cheer and watch us on and others loathe us. What determines the acceptability and growth of this new deviancy will be the instruments of social control such as law and state apparatus. Where state apparatus or law is firm and constraining, such as in Saudi Arabia, Vatican City and Iran, deviants are not welcomed. They are ostracized and face the wrath of the law. Social control mechanisms of religion, membership of a larger community with strict rules of engagement can also deter others from following suit.
As religion looses more ground to secularism, and as the individual is empowered to have his/her own world and define his/her self-concept without recourse to the state, there will always be more deviance, more behaviours that will first come with disdain, rebuke and venomous social anger. All it needs to thrive is a space – the social media, mainstream media, other folks who had wanted to do similar things and of course, the folks that don’t just care (liberals). We will have more pregnant ‘Serena Williams’ walking along the street naked, more Johny Depp coming forward to talk about assassinating the president of the United States and so on.
In conclusion, we have not seen the worst of deviance as long as our world continue to exist. Some incredible stuff will still emerge just as we achieve incredible technological fit. It is a law of progress. However, in the midst of every social deviation, usually gradual, there will always be that side of the society who will ever remain unmoved. They will always detest everything that threatens to topple their held belief. The society is then again torn apart into two negating sides. At the end of it, the society becomes balanced through this conflict of values – a necessary one for that matter.
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