"NORMALIZATION" – WHEN PHRASES THAT SEEM FAMILIAR ARE ACTUALLY FAR FROM IT

• "Men build the house, women make the home."
• "A man with a big mouth is classy; a woman with a big mouth leaves the house in ruins."
• "Boys must be strong."
• "Children do as their parents place them."
• "Blood is thicker than water."
• …

These sayings could not be more familiar to anyone raised in Vietnam. Language has long been used not only for everyday communication but also distilled and shaped into profound prose, soaring poetry, and image-rich folk verses and proverbs that express moral beliefs, educational values, and ways of life in Vietnamese culture.

However, from one generation to the next, with continual social change and the advance of information technology, people's understanding of the world has become increasingly diverse – and now many phrases that express traditional moral beliefs no longer fit modern viewpoints; to put it bluntly, they are… "outdated." Especially sayings related to gender, for example: "Men may have five wives and seven concubines / Women should be faithful to one husband" – these are not only strongly criticized on moral grounds but also run counter to the law.

Still, many extreme traditional beliefs have been so deeply ingrained in the subconscious and worldview of Vietnamese people that they continue to be used widely as something "natural" or "everyday." Those beliefs have been and continue to permeate social life, contributing – to varying degrees – to inequality and discrimination in different relationships.

So how exactly have they affected us? And why must we eliminate those "outdated" beliefs? – The project "Normalization" was created to answer these questions.

🎯 PROJECT PURPOSE

"Normalization" is a media project by the 1LLUSIONISTS Club that explores how language and speech shape people's perceptions and Vietnamese culture in the contemporary era. By tracing and analyzing language from its roots in traditional folk culture to today's everyday conversation, the project aims to demonstrate the influence of phrases that, although steeped in discrimination and prejudice, have gradually been unconsciously accepted as "norms" because they've existed for so long or been repeated across generations – and thus become standards in social life.

🔑 KEY MESSAGE

"More than just a saying" is the central meaning of the mechanism of "normalization." It exposes the danger of underestimating the power of language, and it pushes back against the dismissive attitude ("It's only a familiar saying/joke") that allows prejudice to take root in our consciousness.