text: Andrada Sima

 

"What is normal in this world?", a question that many of you have probably pondered over time. Normal is something relative and differs from one person to another as it passes through the filter of perception and has gone through a permanent process of change. What seemed normal yesterday seems crazy today. For example, in the ancient world, slavery was seen as something normal. In the Middle Ages, dying at age 30 was also considered perfectly normal. Equally normal was the opinion propagated in the 15th century that the earth was flat. The same thing happens with the abnormal which, like the normal, has many facets. You've probably been told that it's not normal to look a certain way or act or think. Here are some of the things that should be normalized:

 

01. "Imperfections" of the body (acne, stretch marks, cellulite, marks)

          The so-called "imperfections" of the body are considered abnormal because of patterns that have been created over time on social media in which we should fit. We get tons of ads about how to get rid of cellulite, stretch marks, or acne, or how to cover them up, but none that teach us how to accept and love them because they're part of our bodies, they define us. Instead of being seen as imperfections, something that disfigures our body and is disgusting, they should be seen as art on our skin. I admit, I also looked at them as something abnormal, I was ashamed to let them be seen, I was able to do anything just to get rid of them, but now I started to accept them and look at them from a different angle and if you are facing the same problem I encourage you to do the same.

 

02. Be part of LGBT   

       We live in a society that considers any non-normative person in terms of sexuality, identity or practice who is part of this community to be "strange", "out of the norm" or "atypical". The LGBT movement was and still is the subject of numerous conflicts that gravitate around social institutions, namely the family, marriage, work, its members still being discriminated against, and even assaulted either physically or verbally. Surely you have also met people who find it out of the ordinary that two men or two women hold hands in public, or that a person has changed sex. Instead of judging so much and categorizing those people as "abnormal" they should ask themselves the question: "What is so abnormal about choosing to love who you want or be who you want to be as long as you don't disturb nobody and you don't hurt anybody? ".

 

03. Mental disorders

           An individual suffers from a mental disorder when he no longer accepts himself or others, when he has an excessive preoccupation with his own body and his own person, when he loses contact with reality by withdrawing into his own world and can no longer adapt to the norms social, occupational and cultural. This disorder is still viewed by society as a shameful, even reprehensible condition, which is why some are reluctant when it comes to turning to a psychologist or psychiatrist. Why should mental disorders be seen as normal? Well it's very simple. We are living in times where it is downright impossible to maintain your constant mental health, as all kinds of events occur throughout your life that can throw you off balance emotionally and cause you certain disorders, the most common being anxiety and depression. But these are as normal as can be, and people who face something like this should not be considered "crazy", but what is abnormal is the refusal to treat them. 

 

04. Being a woman and not wanting to have children

          The role of women in society was and still is a very controversial one, with many believing that women's purpose is to procreate. Of course this mentality is wrong, because there is nothing abnormal about choosing your lifestyle and what you want to do with your own body. "My body my, choice" is a slogan that is meant to represent the idea of personal bodily autonomy, bodily integrity and freedom of choice. It is also the opposite of treating women's bodies as property and asserts the importance of a culture of consent. And yet still in some countries abortion is illegal or women's access to the morning-after pill is limited. We must understand that it is everyone's right to choose whether or not they want to have a child and that we should no longer label them as "selfish" or "insensitive" because no one is in a position to judge them, not knowing the reasons why they make such a choice. 

 

05. Tattoos and piercings

           Tattoos and piercings are also controversial topics. Tattoos have been made for thousands of years and started in tribes to mark functions, not in prison as some would think. Like tattooing, piercing dates back thousands of years, with the oldest earring mummy dating back nearly 5,000 years. The world's view of them is divided into two categories: those who believe that they are an art form and an expression of individuality, self, freedom, creativity and everything that makes them different and beautiful, and those who think that those people who have tattoos and piercings are "frustrated", "complex" and even "satanists". How are women who have tattoos or piercings viewed? A study carried out in France showed that in the eyes of men, women with tattoos are considered to be more receptive to their advances, in short they are "easy" and "vulgar", again another example of the wrong mentality.

CONCLUSION: Everyone is free to decide what is abnormal for him, but at the same time he must understand and accept that for others abnormality is actually normality.

"Who decides what is normal? Normality is an invention of the unimaginative."

Alda Merini