Where did this idea of norms actually come from? According to Foucault, we have docile bodies and disciplinary power. Docile bodies relates to the idea that bodies can be easily managed. They may be used, subjected, transformed, and transformed through what he calls disciplinary power. Disciplinary power is looking after a population via monitoring and surveillance. He talks about the many institutions in which we are involved can create docile bodies. They are docile bodies because through them we are taught the means of discipline and how to police ourselves. If we steer one little bit off of the path in which society has set for us, we are questioned as to what our motive is. Foucault says that power acts within social relations and social contexts.
The idea of docile bodies and disciplinary power is not only apparent in schools and how we were taught to manage ourselves, but also by society itself. I can remember last semester when I took gender and sexuality with Professor Garcia. We talked about how women are constantly policing themselves because of what is acceptable in our society. We had read a journal article in which the authors talked about how women in labor tend to apologize for their actions in delivery. We learned that the idea that women are supposed to be calm and not yell, or what have you, is so instilled in us that we apologize for these things even though we are in so much pain. As females, we were raised to be gentle, the caretakers, the kind, etc. The class was taught that even though we were raised with these mannerisms, they tend to go out the window. The amount of pain tends to take control of our bodies and we are no longer exercising disciplinary power until we actually apologize for our actions.
In Professor Garcia’s class we also talked about how women tend to take the blame if the house is a little unorganized. Society has trained in that we are to be clean and organized. Anything out of the ordinary is considered to not be acceptable and we females tend to apologize for the looks of their home. I can personally attest to this phenomenon. If we are having guests over at my house and things are a little unorganized or messy, I am always apologizing to our guests for how the house looks. My husband is always telling me that I should not worry because people are not looking at how the house looks. He always tells me that even we are having guests over, if they do not like the way the house looks, they can leave. My reply to him is that it is not okay because I feel that it is my responsibility to keep up with the house.
In all, no matter how we look at things; we are constantly policing ourselves and monitoring our behavior. Society had instilled the ideas of disciplinary power and docile bodies into us that we are intuitive as to what society expects from us. Have you ever wondered how our lives would be if we did not exercise disciplinary power over ourselves? Can you think of any ways in which we could possibly change the norms of the society?
The idea of docile bodies and disciplinary power is not only apparent in schools and how we were taught to manage ourselves, but also by society itself. I can remember last semester when I took gender and sexuality with Professor Garcia. We talked about how women are constantly policing themselves because of what is acceptable in our society. We had read a journal article in which the authors talked about how women in labor tend to apologize for their actions in delivery. We learned that the idea that women are supposed to be calm and not yell, or what have you, is so instilled in us that we apologize for these things even though we are in so much pain. As females, we were raised to be gentle, the caretakers, the kind, etc. The class was taught that even though we were raised with these mannerisms, they tend to go out the window. The amount of pain tends to take control of our bodies and we are no longer exercising disciplinary power until we actually apologize for our actions.
In Professor Garcia’s class we also talked about how women tend to take the blame if the house is a little unorganized. Society has trained in that we are to be clean and organized. Anything out of the ordinary is considered to not be acceptable and we females tend to apologize for the looks of their home. I can personally attest to this phenomenon. If we are having guests over at my house and things are a little unorganized or messy, I am always apologizing to our guests for how the house looks. My husband is always telling me that I should not worry because people are not looking at how the house looks. He always tells me that even we are having guests over, if they do not like the way the house looks, they can leave. My reply to him is that it is not okay because I feel that it is my responsibility to keep up with the house.
In all, no matter how we look at things; we are constantly policing ourselves and monitoring our behavior. Society had instilled the ideas of disciplinary power and docile bodies into us that we are intuitive as to what society expects from us. Have you ever wondered how our lives would be if we did not exercise disciplinary power over ourselves? Can you think of any ways in which we could possibly change the norms of the society?