Deviance

Deviance and Social Control On August 25, 2013 the world watched in disgust as celebrity Miley Cyrus twerked and gyrated on stage at the Video Music Awards Show. People caused a fuss over her back up dancers all being African American women with large derrieres, her twerking, pointing to her feminine area on her body, pushing her face in one of her dancers derriere while smacking it, grinding on a foam finger, and grinding on a married man. The sociological perspective on deviance is described by “sociologist Howard S. Becker [as]: It is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act, that make something deviant” (Henslin 190). Although this behavior is deemed as normal in music videos and clubs, it was considered unacceptable because Miley Cyrus started her career as a child star on Disney Channel; a cable network that targets children of all ages. Miley started on a sitcom called Hannah Montana and quickly became popular with kids. Even though the star is now 20 years old and no longer work as Hannah Montana she is still considered that little girl from Disney and it shocked the world for her to behave in such a way. Also, it was deemed inappropriate by the Parents Television Council because MTV “falsely rat[ed] th[e] program as appropriate for kids as young as 14” (LA Times). The social control of deviance takes many forms, including the actions of the police (Henslin 195). On this particular behavior, social control happened right after the show aired, as many took to social media sites to respond and others voiced their opinion via television. For example, "Morning Joe" co-anchor Mika Brzezinski, on MSNBC, was not amused by the performance at all, calling it "really, really disturbing." She continued saying that Miley Cyrus was “deeply troubled, deeply disturbed” (LA Times). On NBC's "Today" show, guest co-anchor Brooke Shields, who played Miley's mom on "Hannah Montana," called the performance "desperate." Co-anchor Willie Geist, on Today show,