Do you think normality is subjective?

Yes, principally because it is defined by the observer. If it was objective, normality would have a generally agreed upon definition.

Yup!

Mostly yes, in matters of world view, creativity, lifestyle choices, personality factors, but…if one strays to far over the bell shaped curve, keeps little boys in their basement and wears clown costumes well….haha

All experience is subjective. My view of an event will vary from others. All views of behavior are subjective. Cultural differences often dictate various degrees of normality.

Of course.
What’s “normal” in Damascus bears virtually no resemblance to what’s “normal” in Detroit.

@Coloma Haha well yes. However I would generally call such behaviour as possibly anti social behaviour, unconventional or possibly eccentric.

Depends on how many you have had to drink….the more drinks you have, the more normal things seem.

@NerdyKeith Well yes, wearing clown costumes could be eccentricity but not if you have the bodies of boys buried in your basement too. haha

Of course it is, but there is also societal consensus which defines acceptable normality in each culture.

Normality doesn’t exist. As others have said, it is fluid and not remotely definable. Normality as opposed to what?

@elbanditoroso Well I suppose you might argue that the opposition to normality would be diversity and individualism.

Normal is a stupid word except in, perhaps, a medical or statistical context. I think most of the time when people say something isn’t “normal” they mean it isn’t “average.” Big difference.

@Mariah Yes I agree with you there. But I would always suggest that in terms of medical context that the word “natural” or “regular” is used in the place of “normal”.

Well…

It depends who you ask.

@NerdyKeith Beg to differ, Keith. NORMAL range for heart rate: 60 – 80 bpm. NORMAL range of respirations: 10 – 14 rpm. NORMAL range for blood sugar: 70 -100 mg/dL There are abnormal people outside of those ranges. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are unhealthy. Bjorn Borg’s resting heart rate was 40 bpm. I you had a resting HR of 40bpm, you’d be barely conscious and severly 02 deprived.

The same goes for society. For better or for worse, there are accepted normal ranges of behaviour. These ranges change with time—what was acceptable in 1955 is often unacceptable today and vice- versa. Normal ranges of behaviour are also difficult to define, and often subjective and that is why many people are uncomfortable using the terminology. Picking one’s nose and eating it on the subway, constantly interrupting someone else, and farting loudly with impunity in public, or even getting too close to someone when talking are all unacceptable behavious in our culture. If someone behaves outside of normal range, they gets noticed. That in itself isn’t so bad and should be expected. That’s how humans are.

The American Psychiatric Association discourages using the words normal and abnormal, but it’s all over the DSM-5, our main reference of diagnostics. Andy Warhol, for example, behaved outside the accepted normal range and he made it work for him. And so did Hitler—and look what happened to him. There are ranges, and there are ranges.

@Espiritus_Corvus is correct. Nurse notes shorthand WNL is “within normal limits” and applied to multiple tests and functions. (Did no one click my hilarious eight second link? I’m STILL laughing!)

@Jak AB! AB Normal!

@Espiritus_Corvus When I went in for a colonoscopy, my resting heart rate right before the procedure was 44 BPM. I got asked how much I exercised, when I said I ran five days a week they said I was within limits.

@Espiritus_Corvus Thats interesting, I’m more accustomed to hearing the terms regular and irregular. For example “an irregular heartbeat”

Let me put it this way:

In my subjective opinion,
normality and abnormality are
objectively abnormally,
even extraordinarily,
perhaps quintessentially,
subjective.

@NerdyKeith
Regularity of a heart beat denotes rhythm, whereas rate denotes the speed at which the heart beats per minute.

@zenvelo
Yep. Athletes. What’s normal for an athlete is not normal for the average person. If everyone ran five miles a day, we would have to adjust what we define as normal. And this is a good point. It;s done quite often. In the two years since I’ve left medicine, many normal ranges have been changed. That is why in order to keep our licenses, we must take a minimum 24 credit hours of study per year. And if you are wise, you’ll take a lot more.

It’s also a lesson to people who are phobic about the word “normal.” The word is meant only to be a point of reference, not as a badge of first class world citizenship. Like many words due to abuse over time, the meaning of the word to many has been perverted to approximate “one of us” and abnormal to mean “one of them”. That is foolish and rather than cast out a perfectly useful word, it is better to use it properly and reclaim it and not surrender to stupidity. That is why I appear to be beating this to death. This is a pet peeve of mine. This is a very old hippie argument. It had more to do with our distrust of authority and anti-establishment-ism during the war than it did with logic. We often threw the baby out with the bathwater in our zeal for change.

We may have our comonalities, but like our heartrates, ultimately what is normal for me is not normal for you due to our different life experiences and situations. And it is challenging at times for us to understand that but incumbent upon us to do so.

rant rant rant… sorry. I should go to bed now.

So I guess being a women who is madly in love with a goose and takes him in the hot tub with me….well…you be the judge. lol

@Coloma I thought you were a parrot lol

@NerdyKeith I am, I need a lot of stimulation and I talk a lot. lol
My goose is my “dog”, he turns 18 this July, raised him from a wee gosling. Best “dog” I ever had. haha

@Coloma HaHa that’s awesome. What sort of dog is Goose?

@NerdyKeith I meant to say my goose is my dog. He is a white chinese gander, remember, my trans-gander joke? haha
He began life as ” Marilyn” then morphed into “Marwyn.” when his penis shot out one day and traumatized me. lol

@Coloma Ah yes I remember that haha. That’s hilarious :D

@NerdyKeith Coloma is a wrangler of geese and horses. Nuestra vaquera de la Sierra Nevada (pero no hay vacas).

@Espiritus_Corvus I see lol. Thats good to know :)

Society dictates what is normal within itself. The same for an individual. Therefore, we may feel completely comfortable with our own traits, as they are normal for us, but in the greater society one or more of our traits may be considered abnormal.

I have told many people to not get caught up in what is normal. Concentrate on what makes you whole and happy. Is normal all that great, anyway!?