Stereotyping Through Body Image (hms)

It is truly sad that we live in a society in which many believe that body image directly correlates to human worth.  I am choosing this topic as my final blog entry because I know that this issue is something that is not talked about as much as felt. No one wants to admit that they look at a person who is heavier in weight and thinks less of them because of it, but it does happen.  I have come into contact with many shallow people, but this doesn’t stem from just shallow people.  This is a societal downfall that we have because we are told that ‘less is more’, and this applies to body size unfortunately.  In this blog entry I will address both sides of this weight issue; to confront the stereotypes of people being judged for being overweight AND underweight.

The main victims of body image and the hurtful stereotypes that go along with it are women.  Although there is no denying that men deal with these stigmatic problems as well, women are more targeted in the media and other life-situations to question their size. So, in this blog entry, I am going to focus mainly on the female population.  Women are more unhappy with their weight on average and are more likely to see themselves as overweight and in turn remain unhappy.

What are some stereotypical arguments against people who are overweight? It’s easy to think of a few off the top of your head, but I will list some main points that cannot be denied.

• ·      Lazy, unwilling to change their diet to live more productively
• ·      Depressed
• ·      Careless
• ·      No sexual drive
• ·      Never exercises
• ·      Only eat fast food or grease-based foods
• ·      Bad employees
• ·      Unintelligent

And now for a list of stereotypical arguments against women who are considered to ‘too skinny’ or underweight.

• ·      Skinny girls don’t eat
• ·      Obsessed with exercise
• ·      Judge anyone larger than themselves
• ·      Mean
• ·      Vain
• ·      Superficial
• ·      Eating disorders
• 
  

These arguments can be seen all over the media and how they portray each ‘size’ of women. We are all fairly familiar with the controversial Barbie study. According to an article by Mary Duenwald on Body and Image, "a 1995 study found that for a woman with an average body type to attain Barbie's shape, she would need to grow 24 inches (making her more than 7 feet tall), take 6 inches off her waist and add 5 to her chest."

Another troubling study that demonstrates discrimination against women does not have to do completely with physical size, but I find it very interesting. In Russett’s article on “How to Tell the Girls from the Boys”, she quotes Stephen Jay Gould and points out the inconsistent evidence that correlates between brain size and body size in women. “We might ask if the small size of the female brain depends exclusively upon the small size of her body. Tiedemann has proposed this explanation. But we must not forget that women are, on the average, a little less intelligent than men, a difference which we should not exaggerate but which is, nonetheless, real. We are therefore permitted to suppose that the relatively small size of the female brain depends in part upon her physical inferiority and in part upon her intellectual inferiority” (Russett 37).  Excuse the long quote, but I think that this is a pretty disturbing theory. It goes to show how many stigmas and stereotypes women face when it comes to physical image.

I think it would be really helpful if more people understood that physical appearance doesn't accurately portray a persons health, either. There are plenty of women with meat on their bones that are healthy and fit.  The definition of metabolism is "the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life". Nowhere in that sentence does it say that people who are heavier are substantially more unhealthy than others. The size of your body does not determine the health of it. "'Size acceptance is really important,' Dr. Burgard agreed. 'I don't see how we're going to stop eating disorders until we stop reading character into the size of people's bodies. It's stereotyping. We've made progress against other stereotypes, and we can make progress against this one, too' "(Duenwald).

But really, when did the shaming of ANYONE’S body become okay? I am curious because all I see these days is judgment coming from people who are upset with the way society ‘hates on’ girls who are too large, but there is still a lot of judgment towards girls who are too thin. Why is it okay to be confident about being curvy and voluptuous, but for girls who are naturally very thin, they are just left in the dust as to how they should feel.  The ‘real women have curves” phenomena is basically calling out all the thin women in the world and telling them they aren’t truly feminine anymore. I am completely ecstatic that so many women have taken a turn to be confident in their body size no matter what, but the issue still stands true. Skinny chicks get judged just as much as big girls, and the vicious cycle needs to end. All it does is encourage women to constantly find something wrong with themselves, and that is something we will continue to see. " ''It's very hard to find a woman who really likes her body. Even if she likes the shape, she will not like her toes, her knees, her elbows or her ankles. There's always something wrong.'' (Duenwald)

Gender Has It's Own Role in the Workforce

Why is it so awful for a man to pursue a career in fashion, and why does it seem extremely odd when one woman steps out of the “norm” and pursues a career in, let’s say construction?  Each and every person on this earth has different interests and it is peculiar to me that, from a social stand point, those different various interests are demanded by everyone to be put in to a category of either only being a female or a male “thing.”
If you are a male, you are “supposed” to want to tear things up, put things back together, construct different various things, repair house hold items, or negotiate with others for a living.  Just as similar as if you are a woman, you are supposed to either
A) Be a stay at home mom
B) Pursue a career making food
C) Become a teacher
D) Become a nurse

You can see how oh so different the two gendered categories for careers differ from one another.  Shockingly ladies and gentlemen, we do not live in the nineteen fifties anymore, we are in the twenty-first century. A time where women can tear things up, and men can be the ones to clean up after the women. A time where one can finally pursue all of the different interests that they wish, but yet there are new and exciting stereotypes that drastically go against this.

 Why can’t a woman pursue a career in both “gendered” fields such as this woman in the clip below and not be criticized for anything?



You heard that first part right? The part about living in a “man’s world?”  Yes, that caught my attention as well.  This whole sense of being in a man’s world is somewhat discussed in Chapter 4 of Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine.  She says that the reason a woman may not be more likely to go in to a field that is primarily “fit” for men is due to the fact that many women believe that men will not accept them in th position or that they will simply not fit in with whom they will be working.  The old school thought of not being able to fit in, in a certain situation may deem more important than ever before when a male or female, either one, is choosing a career for themselves. She goes on to discuss how recently women have not been saying that they do not have interests in the science field (as they used to do before), but now they are taking those careers and more women are in the science field than ever before.   Betty Friedan, in the Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud, talks about the term “penis envy” in which Sigmund Freud coined.  This term is saying that women are almost jealous for the male part that they do not have, turning it in to more of a metaphor than actuality, and at the same time reinforcing the point that Fine makes about not fitting in to a position in the workplace.

What are new stereotypes, that seem to be more popular now?  Today, if a male wants to pursue a career in fashion design because when he was in high school he excelled or found a new interest while sewing in home economics, why would he be criticized?  Directly after announcing he was going to pursue a career in fashion design, the first thing people would say would not be congratulations and they know he would succeed, it is obvious that he is gay and is only pursuing the career because that what something a gay man would pursue.  If a woman wants to accept a job in construction or welding because she grew up with four brothers and they all always helped their dad repair things around the house growing up, how would she be criticized for choosing this career?  Again, she would not be congratulated, but she would be called “butch,” or more commonly known as a lesbian.

Why do humans have to categorize people the way they do? Why are they forced to associate the terms “lesbian” and “gay” with specific career choices in the first place, and where does all of this nonsense root from?  A lot of it, I think, directly comes from the media. There are so many media choices out there from newspapers to social networking that it is hard not to get caught up in all of the madness. So called “news” in the media basically tells people what to do and what not to do, and even to judge people for what they do in certain situations.  It is really unfair that individuals have to go through mistreatment at the workplace just because they are a specific gender, and it is sad that people discriminate because of that. 

Stereotypes Stay at Home Dads Face (JL)

            A new trend has hit society; women are now full-time providers for the family and men stay at home to take care of children. Fifty years ago this would have been unheard of. However, in society today equality is present everywhere, even in the home.  For example, I am the product of a single father and though he worked, he was also a stay at home dad. He ran his own business and controlled his own hours. But for more traditional home with a mother and a father, the parents have options regarding who can stay home. One parent can earn the income and the other can take care of the domestic issues. There is no problem with men staying home to raise the children, but the majority of society has yet to realize this. According to Gerson, society's gender reinforcement roles pull women into staying home with the children, but not the men. Most believe the older gender assumption that men are supposed to be the bread winners and provide a source of income for their family. The career field shows no slack for men when it comes to their children situation because most are not accustomed to the idea; but are women the only parents that should get maternity leave? Gerson says that involved fathers can be just as nurturing and supportive. But when these men are seen by others nurturing and supporting their kids without their wallets, then they are stigmatized.

            These stay at home fathers are often considered less masculine in the eyes of society. These fathers are perceived usually as lazy, feminine, or not strong enough to support a family. This is not always the case, as some men choose to be stay at home fathers. They also face the obstacle of not living up to the mother role as well as a woman. In "Moms at Work and Dads at Home: Children's Evaluations of Parental Roles,"  Adam, a stay-at-home dad of three, discusses his feelings on being unemployed and having his wife go back to work. He began his interview by saying that “although he 'liked the domestic stuff, cooking and all that,' it was 'not working' that posed such difficulties for him 'as a man.'"  A man can provide for his family in more than one way, but society only sees a male supporting his family in one way: financially. Men who do stay at home and do the "women's work" are not seen as real men. Other men view stay at home dads as the woman's property, they tend to believe that they are not man enough. The study from this journal states that children view a mother staying home more acceptable when compared to the father. The results came from asking 2^nd and 5^th graders how they feel about the situation. The kids also said it was acceptable for both parents to work full time. When even children feel that a mother is more fit to stay at home with the children than a father, it seems men have the whole community against them before they even start.

            The article "It's Almost Like I Have a Job, but I Don't Get Paid" claims when a man becomes a stay at home father it is sometimes not done by choice. A prime example is when 70 men in Canada lost their jobs and their wives had to go to work while they stayed home. Through their stories, it seems the men had a collective feeling of inadequacy and judgment from their friends. This problem would apply to anyone because nobody would want this pressure placed on them. The men felt they were inadequate because of their lack of ability to financially support their families. Stay at home dads are stereotyped by society as failures and therefore less of a man. If you aren't a good of enough man to support your family, the typical response is the assumption that you aren't really considered a man. Men really do feel this pressure from society. My father said he shared similar feelings with being a stay at home father. He is disabled and wasn't able to work, but he was a single parent and is a full time stay at home father now. He said he felt pressure from others, mainly his brothers, for not being able to work and carry his own weight. Despite his injury and the stigma attached to men in the home, he loved being a stay at home father. To this day he feels it was his destiny and always talks about past memories of our childhood. It shouldn't be stigmatized for anyone to stay home with their children.

            Nobody should be hesitant to play a sport or show emotions because of their fear of potential labels. People are being persecuted by their own fear of a negative stereotype. Your gender should not be taken into account for everything you do. We seek equality between genders, but when the change does occur, it seems different and full of judgment from others. If we learn anything it should be to accept change and welcome equality. Once we welcome equality and accept it then our culture will change. 

Roles JL

Athletics has been around for centuries, beginning with the Olympics thousands of years ago. The Olympics were started by men who wanted to display their power and strength. These ceremonies were forbidden to women. Women who were caught trying to catch a glimpse of the competitions were murdered by being thrown off a cliff. It was in the culture that the winners of the Olympic Games honored the Gods with their displays of athletic ability. Men versus men, and the strongest best man won. This is similar to what men do today still. According to Kimmel, we are very homosocial creatures, meaning that we relate to other men on certain levels, but a majority of what we do is to impress other men. (Kimmel)

Being an athlete, I am constantly surrounded by males, and because I am a sociology major, when I get bored I usually study my teammates. It has been my experience that most men tend to closely follow their hegemonic values and try not to steer too far away from their masculine roles. When we start to divert from the four crucial rules that we need to follow closely in order to be dominant and/or accepted in society, then we are socially punished and stereotyped into the category of homosexual. No man wants his masculinity to be in question, so we do all we can to avoid the possible persecution by society.

Kimmel says the four rules for hegemonic masculinity are:

1. No sissy stuff

2. Be a big wheel

3. Be a sturdy oak

 4. Give em hell

These four rules really sum up what a man is expected to do in order to be considered a man in contemporary society. These four rules are constantly displayed for me when I am around the other 119 players on my team. It seems that every day is a "pissing match" and we compete to see who the "top dog" is.

The first rule, "no sissy stuff" became more clear to me when I went through some judgment from other players because I did not participate in the last installment of practices this spring. I had surgery in January and unfortunately had a slow recovery. Some of my teammates and coaches seemed to have a prejudice against me for not "manning up" and playing, even if toughing it out meant injuring myself further. Football is a very physical sport and needs tough people to play and I certainly consider myself tough.  I have been playing on the team for years, but as soon as I miss four weeks, my status as someone with guts and who could take a hit dropped severely and I was judged. When you are expected to be physical with these guys every day, when you’re suddenly unable to compete everyday it is difficult to maintain your social status of mainlines. Your reputation slowly declines because you cannot physically display your toughness. 

The second rule, "being a big wheel" is constantly displayed in our locker room. There seem to be arguments every day; it rarely comes to be a physical altercation, but in some extreme cases, guys feel the only way to settle disagreements or conflict is through using their fists. When you play such a violent sport, every day seems to be a power struggle between players. Arguments occur over everything from sports to women. The arguments get louder as players yell at each other, and dominance is always shown after a player wins an argument over another player. The winner always has to make sure it is known that he is the superior man and beat the challenger that day, which seems to be similar to evolutionary psychology. Barbara Smuts' article dealt with human nature and men's "caveman" nature. All of these points seem like men showcase their masculine features and manliness to impress women. Is it in our minds to always brag on our features and accomplishments in case a potential mate will be impressed and ultimately attracted? I think it's natural to do this and we may not think about actually doing it but we may subconsciously do so.

The third masculine rule of “Being a sturdy oak” is always an important one to men. I've heard since a young age that all a man has is his word. Being reliable is always an issue for some guys on our team. Our coaches hold us at a high standard of being reliable because if others cannot count on you then you usually tend to not be as dedicated, trust worthy, or loyal as other players. If a guy is late too at all then he is looked down upon from the coaches as a lazy, undedicated player.

Our final rule is “Give em Hell.” The men I know really do take crazy risks all in the name of proving something to others. I do enjoy watching some of the dumb things my drunken teammates have done over the years, but the point is men take stupid crazy risks that a lot of people have no idea why they would attempt to pull these foolish stunts. According to Kimmel, men have a case of self-entitlement, especially from wild acts that display their superiority. Men are competitive especially when there is a female on the line. Maybe men resort back to our cave man instincts. Is it a problem that men are always in combat? I think it is and men should realize not everything is a competition. However, this concept would be hard for men to accept or change due to the societal stereotypes that are placed on men if they break away from following these four rules. 

Stereotypes and Age (hms)

I thought that for my second blog entry, I would focus on something that is general and break it down. Stereotyping literally happens in every corner of every social issue there is, and so it’s not hard to find examples.  What I am going talk about this time is stereotyping against age groups.  I will focus on just a few very broad age groups that have overlapping age limits that we all can understand as ‘children’, ‘teenagers’, ‘adults’ and ‘elders’.

First I will just simply list some negative AND positive words (and/or phrases) that are often associated as attributes of these different age groups. Although I am completely aware that these are not all true, it is definitely something that can be agreed upon as a stigma of age in each group.

CHILDREN:

• ·      NEGATIVE: Loud, bratty, annoying, unintelligent, vulnerable, unworthy opinion, unaware of their actions, attention seeking, naïve, tantrums
• ·      POSITIVE: Imaginative, caring, non judgmental, sweet, enthusiastic, energetic

TEENAGERS:

• ·      NEGATIVE: Annoyed, selfish, dependent on others, unintelligent, judgmental, arrogant, lazy, partiers, not driven, careless, disrespectful
• ·      POSITIVE: Spunky, fresh minds, energetic

ADULTS:

• ·      NEGATIVE: Stern, bossy, forgetful, work-obsessed, not understanding, judgmental, no fun, serious, busy
• ·      POSITIVE: Mature, independent, organized, wise, caring, smart

ELDERS:

• ·      NEGATIVE: Forgetful, cranky, smelly, bad of hearing, short, weak, quiet, loud, bossy, wrinkly, don’t understand todays youth, strict, looks down on teens
• ·      POSITIVE: Wise, gentle, adores children

As you can see, a lot of these positive and negative characteristics within each age group can be manipulated and rearranged around each other.  That right there is a good enough reason as any as to why stereotypes shouldn’t ever be a legitimate way to judge someone’s character. Children can certainly be bratty and misbehave, and they sure are naïve and unaware of their actions, but that doesn’t mean that they should be treated poorly because of these stigmas. Teenagers have raging hormones that affect their everyday life; probably one of the hardest life changing time periods in anyone’s life.  But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be treated as young adults who can grow with guidance from their peers and elders.  If they are continuously looked down upon because of the lack of experience they have with a lot of situations, they will be continuously discouraged and not get anywhere.  As for adults and elders, it’s unfair to treat them as if they are all the same strict, bossy, know-it-alls because they have so much to offer to younger generations as well.

Gender stereotyping fits into this category as well when it comes to young children especially.  We have all read about the controversies dealing with 'pink is for girls and blue is for boys'.  Peggy Orenstein certainly deals out her fair share of criticism in her article "What's wrong with Cinderella?"  In this article, she expresses her feelings about the 'princess craze' and how Disney and other big toy companies have created an entire world of gender biased toys for children, and how it is affecting them negatively.  Little boys and girls grow up playing with the toys their parents and teachers give them, and what is being offered to these young children is just 'corporate mind control'.  Although there are 'no studies proving that playing princess directly damages girls' self-esteem or dampens other aspirations', there are studies that show that "young women who hold the most conventionally feminine beliefs are more likely to be depressed than others and less likely to use contraception"(Orenstein).  I thought that was a pretty bizarre study but I do understand how harmful growing up and having to fit the mold of a perfect princess would be.  

We see a lot of these stereotypes portrayed in characters on television and in movies, usually a lot more dramatized than necessary.  In a way, I feel like these kinds of stereotypes are easily used in the media because it gives people something to relate to.  There are so many stereotypical television shows and characters that it’s almost hard to recognize it anymore.  And although it is unfair to use these stereotypes as serious reflections of these age groups, there has to be some truth behind it or else it wouldn’t exist.

In the media, children are often portrayed as lively, cute, energetic, always wanting candy, running wild, etc.  Teenagers can often be portrayed as emotionally unstable, not worried about realistic problems, wearing baggy clothing, often experiencing underage drinking, etc. Elderly people are sometimes the most silly stereotpes seen on television, but maybe its because there is also often some truth to it too.  They are portrayed as wearing old sweaters and slippers, not so active, big framed glasses, dentures falling out, etc.

-An example of the baggy clothes young men are often portrayed as wearing, "Generation Y"

-Discrimination on elders for their age, not having any faith in them.

Like I said before, these stereotypes didn’t just appear out of nowhere.  There is some truth behind each stereotype, and that’s ok! For example, children truly ARE naïve to their surroundings and can be very energetic and also whiney, but that doesn’t hold true to every child at every moment.  Teenagers are hormonal and at a vulnerable and pressuring age that makes things difficult for them emotionally sometimes, but not always.  Adults can often be very into their work and forget to listen to their children and pay attention to their needs sometimes.  And elderly people really do experience memory loss and clumsiness, but its not their fault.  It is important to make sure that children and young adults realize the difference in growing old and feeling old, and how that can affect an elders feelings as well. "Children, keen to understand and find their place in society's most salient social divide, are born into a half-changed world, to parents with half-changed minds" (Fine)

Can One Be Influenced By Toys?

What’s the first thing people ask when they see a pregnant woman? The answer is, “Oh congratulations, is it a boy or a girl?”  The world is so fixated on putting people into gender categories, that even a four month old fetus is put into one!  Why does it matter if a child is dressed in blue or pink?  Why is it acceptable for a girl to wear blue, but not acceptable for a boy to wear pink? Why can’t boys play with dolls and girls play with trucks?  These are some of the questions that puzzle many people, but yet they are still accustomed to be the first to ask.

Where does this toy gender dilemma even originate from?  According to Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bloduc, Daniel Malcuit, and Louise Cosette, it all began with the parents of the children.  The parents believed that it was almost more “natural” for a female child to play with household items, or more soft toys where if they played with them, they would not get hurt or dirty.  It was more “natural” for a male child to play with toys that involved them to play rough, go outside, and get dirty.  These assumptions made by the parents may actually describe why these children reacted the way they did in this experiment below.

In Cordelia Fine’s book Delusions of Gender, she describes the results of a study tested on thirteen month old babies.  The study showed that thirteen month old boys favored more of the so called “boyish” toys such as trucks, cars, and other various vehicles (work equipment or otherwise).  The thirteen month old girls, however, seemed to favor tea party items, baby dolls, and household toys, traditionally known as the “girlish” toys.  When both genders of children were put in front of “gender neutral” toys such as blocks, the results show that both, boys and girls, would play with these toys as they would the toys supposedly associated with whichever gender they belonged.

This picture below sort of portrays what was displayed by the results of the experiment that Cordelia Fine explained.

Along with watching they’re parents, how else might children display actions of being aware that the world divides males and females in various ways?  Another big reason that I really have witnessed was toys.  One major way that children can view and see that there are toys specifically made for girls and toys specifically made for boys is through television.  In research done by Isabelle Cherney and Kamala London, American children spend anywhere from one and a half hours to three hours or more of watching television each and every day.  “Television programs with limited time to devote to character development often resort to stereotypes.  Continued exposures to stereotypic information have been shown to influence memory and stereotypic conceptions of gender roles.”

Not only do young children get influenced by the television shows that they watch every day, obviously a lot more television watching is happening than when I was a kid, they get influenced by the commercials!  I never realized this until we started talking about it in my Women’s Gender Studies class, but it really is a big deal.  Think about it, how many times do you sit down and watch a show on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or Disney Channel and see a commercial that shows a young boy cuddling and feeding a new baby doll that does some new “real-life” activity.  I, for one, have never witnessed any such advertisement, I almost think that sort of thing is not “allowed” in society.  But, however in advertisements I have seen girls playing with what was traditionally known as a “boysih” type of toy.  Why is it socially acceptable for girls to play with “boyish” toys, but not okay for boys to play with “girlish” toys?

When I was a child, especially around Christmas time, my grandma would always have all of the grandchildren up and we would all look through all sorts of news paper advertisements and kids toy books and we would each circle anything that we were interested in asking for Christmas from our grandparents.  What I did not really notice was that all of the toys were color coated.  Some were for blue (obviously for boys), where others were pink (intended to interest the girls).  It never occurred to me until I seen this picture below.  This picture not only shows that there is a definite color difference in the two almost identical toys, but actually the toy that is intended for boys is more expensive than the toy that is intended for girls!  Also, as you can see, the “boys” laptop even has double the functions as the “girls” laptop.

Quite honestly, I think that this will forever be a mystery.  Even the video below portrays a female who is quite puzzled, and even upset and outraged, about how the department stores try to force a girl or boy to pick a specific toy.

http://www.icherney.com/Research/Publications/Sex_Roles_Cherney_London.pdf

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF00288339

Coredlia Fine-Delusions of Gender

Stereotypes Stretching Across Cultures (HMS)

 Stereotypes are universally known as being a definitive form of a stigma attributed to someone or some group. But how can you define someone’s character without really getting to know them? This is a question that I think is deserving of a legitimate question because, quite simply, no one wants to be placed into a stereotype.  Grouping individuals by race, gender, religion and politics are often all huge victims of stereotyping.  But something that I want to focus on has to do with what I study in my major, Anthropology.  I can thank my teachers for what I have learned through the Anthropology department, because now I truly know what it means to be culturally sensitive.  Stereotyping different cultures is a huge problem all around the world, and it’s no different or less concerning than any other type of stigmatizing. If anything, I think it is a more detrimental type of stereotyping because it furthers the gap between cultures and individuals from different places.  As Walter Lippmann put it, "All strangers of another race proverbially look alike to the visiting stranger. Only gross differences of size or color are perceived by an outsider in a flock of sheep, each of which is perfectly individualized to the shepherd"(Lippmann).

I feel that it’s honestly difficult for the average person to recognize cultural stereotyping, mainly because it is just another form of national character.  And I don't just mean American culture, because cultural stereotyping happens to every single culture.  However, we are often raised with the idea that America is the greatest country, and it is sad to say that a lot of people stick to that idea as if every other culture in the world is inferior.  We can be so narrow as a culture in ways that harm us if we refuse to open our minds to what else is out there.  To extend that idea, we as Americans have a lot of negative stereotypes as well.  We are considered obese, lazy, and extremely materialistic.  And as an American I can easily say that that is absolutely true of many, and also absolutely untrue of many.  That is the problem with stereotypes; they dumb you down to one personification when there is so much more to see.

I can think of a TON of other huge stereotypes on different cultures, just to put this point into perspective that is hard to deny.

·      Arab and Muslim’s = terrorists

·      Italian = seductive, over the top

·      Southerners = rednecks and racist

·      Northerners = rich and snoody

·      African American = outside of the United, all are poor.

·      Asians = all good at math, all bad at driving.

·      Jews = cheap and greedy, big noses.

·      Irish = drunks or red headed

·      Mexican = all immigrants

·      German = likes beer, cheese and sausage

·      Amish = no fun and strange outfits

As offensive as that list is, you can apply it to so many people and their thoughts when they look at the average ‘non-American-looking’ person.  And when I say ‘non-American’, I just mean that many people don’t take into consideration that the United States is a huge melting pot and many American born citizens come from a different ethnicity.  Sure, it’s easy to generalize cultures into these categories because some of it can be considered true, but it doesn’t make it right to leave it at that.  It is completely unfair to take those stigmas and not even consider individual people in these cultures.  Obviously not every American is obese, lazy and all about materialistic items.  So it makes perfect sense that obviously not every Asian person is good at math and bad at driving.  It really should be pretty self explanatory, but I wanted to bluntly look at some of these huge (and false) stereotypes because it represents a lot more than we see.

I think Walter Lippmann phrased it well in his book "Public Opinion" as he says, "For the most part we do not first see, and then define. We define first and then see. In the great blooming, buzzing confusion of the outer world we pick out what our culture has already defined for us, and we tend to perceive that which we have picked out in the form stereotyped for us by our culture".  We literally do not know any better than what we see every day as mistakes in stereotyping others, because it happens constantly. It is in our up-bringing and schools, media and elsewhere. We have to be educated on what is wrong and right in this area and that starts in the home, I believe.

The media is a HUGE contributing factor to why we have such a high stigma placed on other cultures.  What we see on television is so insanely limited to what it’s really like in other cultures, or worse, what we see is often false.  The kinds of limited coverage we see on huge news in other cultures makes you realize how skewed the media is.  When I studied abroad in Italy last summer, there was hardly any news on any channels anywhere. Then again, it was during the Olympics, but I was shocked at how much news we watch here in America.  So my point with that is we are not the only culture that views other cultures differently by nature.  What we see on commercials about African people are that they are impoverished and helpless.  What we see in the media about Asians is that they are very technologically advanced.  What we see in the media is what molds our minds to understand what other cultures are like, when in reality there is so much more.

A big contribution to the woes of stereotyping cultures deals with stereotyping them in gender as well. It is known that we see women placed very low in value in many countries set apart from our own.  Cordelia Fine explains in her book "Delusions of Gender" what it is like to have a cultural outlook that is gender biased.  "Neurosexism reflects and reinforces cultural beliefs about gender- and it may do so in a particularly powerful way. Dubious 'brain facts' about the sexes become part of the cultural lore" (Intro).  In the same way that we are pretty much hard wired as babies on what it means to 'be' a girl or a boy, we have very skewed perspectives about how seriously some cultures view their women. In muslim societies, women have so little self expression that it sometimes drives them to extreme protest and danger. In China, little girls are so unwanted that the male population is disturbingly high, and women are auctioned off by their families for marriage.  However, there are still a lot of cultures out there that praise women very much, and whole societies live as matriarchal communities. 

We place these very limited attributes on entire cultures because of what we see through the media and little experience with interaction.  Although I spent 8 weeks in Italy this summer I didn't come home saying that all Italians are obsessed with food, loud, aggressive  etc.  I can definitely say that some of the stereotyping was true, such as they drive fast and have poor manners sometimes.  But that's sort of my point about stereotypes as well is that sometimes they really are true, and that's fine.  It just becomes a problem when that entire culture is forced into one kind of category to represent everyone involved.  I think that it is time to stop misrepresenting what is shown through the media about other cultures, but that's a huge fish to fry and an argument that has been happening for years.  I will end once more with a quote from Walter Lippmann that pretty much sums up this argument, "If we cannot fully understand the acts of other people, until we know what they think they know, then in order to do justice we have to appraise not only the information which has been at their disposal, but the minds through which they have filtered it".