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Thread: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

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    Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    So, for a nonverbal communication class, I have to write about the following experience:

    Alter your appearance in some significant way, so that it is very different from your usual presentation--i.e. change your style of dress, hair, makeup...You can also use props, like crutches, wigs, an eyepatch, etc.

    Then go somewhere where your manner of dress or appearance is at least somewhat out of place--play tennis in a prom dress, wear a zoot suit to an academic conference, attend a swanky garden party dressed like an OG, etc. (I think this is part of the assignment; I don't have it in front of me right now.)

    Note any differences in how you are treated and how you interact with people, paying special attention to nonverbal behaviors.

    So...what do my brilliant & creative SW friends think?

    I'd love to compare the experience of dressing like a shameless hussy and then dressing like a devout Muslim woman. But I don't know all that much about Islam, and I would want to do this exercise in a spirit of respect, so I'm not sure I could pull it off. (Comments from any Muslim women on the site would be greatly appreciated.)

    Also, I'm not sure where I'd go to do these experiments.

    Any ideas? I'm open to all suggestions. I think it could be a pretty enlightening experience if I put enough thought into it. It's not due til the end of the semester, so I have plenty of time to prepare.
    "Doc still loved true things, but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress." - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row


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  2. #2
    madmaxine
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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Quote Originally Posted by Nicolina View Post
    I'd love to compare the experience of dressing like a shameless hussy and then dressing like a devout Muslim woman. But I don't know all that much about Islam, and I would want to do this exercise in a spirit of respect, so I'm not sure I could pull it off. (Comments from any Muslim women on the site would be greatly appreciated.)
    I'm not Muslim but I have read about Caucasian women who converted to Islam being singled out for extra (read: negative) "attention" when they go out publicly (w/headscarves, to the mosque, etc.) I say this because there might be no way for you to get an objective sample of reactions given your appearance as a Caucasian woman costumed as a Muslim woman.

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    God/dess Lena's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Go into a strip club in a nuns habit, and then go to a catholic church dressed for the strip club. :-)



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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Quote Originally Posted by madmaxine View Post
    I'm not Muslim but I have read about Caucasian women who converted to Islam being singled out for extra (read: negative) "attention" when they go out publicly (w/headscarves, to the mosque, etc.) I say this because there might be no way for you to get an objective sample of reactions given your appearance as a Caucasian woman costumed as a Muslim woman.
    Yes, I've thought about this. Which is why I would want to know enough about Islam to get into the character of a Euro-American who had converted to Islam, y'know? I would certainly do it with the understanding that my experience would be different than that of a woman who looks Middle Eastern. However, I'd be interested in my own somatic and psychological reaction to being dressed that way, you know? Again, the more I understood about Islam, the more interesting it would be.

    Of course, I could also go nuts and do the burqa thing. Then nobody could see much of my face at all, and I might avoid this problem.
    "Doc still loved true things, but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress." - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row


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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lena View Post
    Go into a strip club in a nuns habit, and then go to a catholic church dressed for the strip club. :-)
    Yes, there's always that, isn't there?

    I could maybe get away with the nun's habit (somewhere other than a stripclub, I'm thinking) more easily than the hijab because of my ethnicity, and that could actually be interesting too.

    But I don't know much more about Catholicism than I do about Islam (born and bred a heathen, I'm afraid), so I'd have to study up a bit either way.

    I might just be brash enough to pull a Mary Magdalen on some unsuspecting parishoners somewhere....but again, I want to avoid being downright disrespectful. Maybe I could do it at a Unitarian service?
    "Doc still loved true things, but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress." - John Steinbeck, Cannery Row


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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    You might not need to know more about Catholicism-people may just run awwwaaayyy from Nic the nun. Or at least I would! Nuns are scary. I'm sure there's a number of basic "Islam (or Catholicism) for dummies" books out there that can give you the low down. And you need to go somewhere out of context, so you needn't worry about parishioners. I will tell you though-booksstores are full of nuns.

    Sadly I know very little about Islamic dress, though I bet the reaction would be a great one to research.

    Even a small diff. makes a big diff. in dress. Sometimes I change it up just for fun. And because I'm Harriet the spy.

    This sounds so interesting. Keep us updated!

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    Veteran Member thefrog's Avatar
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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Quote Originally Posted by Nicolina View Post
    I'd love to compare the experience of dressing like a shameless hussy and then dressing like a devout Muslim woman. But I don't know all that much about Islam, and I would want to do this exercise in a spirit of respect, so I'm not sure I could pull it off. (Comments from any Muslim women on the site would be greatly appreciated.)

    could you make contact with a civic group or a muslim church in your area. explain your class assignment and ask if they can assist you.

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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    Go eat at McDonald's wearing a cocktail dress or gown. Then go to a hole in the wall type bar.

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    Default Re: Help me brainstorm with your big brains?

    I really think you should approach this with less shock and more "different walk of life" thought.

    Like playing Tennis in a prom dress is an OBVIOUS ringer for reaction.

    But try changing the subtleties, like (no offense Blade) Wear an item with a confederate flag and some stone wash jeans in the mall, and interact with people there as a purchaser of product, act respectful and almost as if you have no idea what it means, document that.

    Or Dress so that your ass hangs out a little bit, and do the same, see if you notice people treating you differently.

    Go to a strip club dressed like a stepford wife, but interact as if you're a HUGE customer.

    Am I missing the point of all this? I love doing this kind of thing. When I first started my business I REFUSED to wear anything but hawaiian super hero shirts, just to prove a point. Point proven. I was broke. When I went professional, it was like night and day.
    People are not ruled by their memories.

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