Stereotypes - Blog Posts
What do you think of the stereotype that all asians are smart?
It is very harmful due to the following reasons:
There is a lot of pressure within the Asian community for Asian children to do well academically and this stereotype just intensifies the need to do well outside of the Asian community.
If an Asian child is having difficulty at school then it is assumed they are being lazy. This needs to stop! Some Asian children have learning difficulties and instead of pinpointing the difficulties the Asian children are deemed as lazy because they are not living up to the “smart Asian” stereotype.
If there is a sudden drop in the academic performance/ attendance of an Asian child at school then people say “they don’t care anymore” when in reality it may be due to personal issues/ depression/ anxiety/ anorexia and many other mental issues.
If an Asian person does do well on an Exam, then their achievement is brushed off as “well you’re Asian so it’s normal”. This actually lowers self esteem and self worth, I can tell you this from personal experience.
Ultimately, the “Asian kids are smart” stereotype hinders society from viewing Asian children as capable of having disabilities; as capable of having a mental illnesses: as capable of being an individual person rather than some foolish stereotype.
It has a greater effect than some people think so think twice before you repeat it to another person.
I just started watching the amrican adaptation of bbc ghosts and i fucking hate it.
Especially Isaac. He replaces the Captain as the new gay character who's in the military. However, unlike the Captain, being gay becomes his whole personality. Every joke turns into "oh, haha, get it, he's feminine because he's gay!!!".
The reason i loved the Captain so much, was because he WASN'T a stereotypical depiction of a gay man. He technically fit male gender roles (strong, authoritarian, stern, fit, literally in the military) despite being queer. Sure, there's jokes about him finding men attractive, but they are the same as the jokes about Thomas's crush. He doesn't get turned into some stereotypical caricature of a gay guy. He has a couple moments like that, like when he played the fairy godmother, but he doesn't constantly get portrayed as feminine just because he's gay.
Isaac however? Any joke related to him is tied to him being gay. Even the military stuff. He finds out that Hamilton is way more famous than him, and of course, the thing that bothers him the most it that there's a musical about him. (get it? Because obviously gay men love musicals. And girls like pink and boys like blue.) Hell, even when he sits, he does exaggerated fem poses.
Especially with the American adaptation, it just feels like they turned an amazing depiction of a queer character, with a personality outside of their queerness, into a very flat and stereotyped one.
I don't mind fem depictions of gay men. There IS gay men, who behave exactly like Isaac. And, this is a comedy show that relies on stereotypes: all ghosts are some sort of stereotype.
However, I'm sick of media trying to frame it as "gay man = feminine". There's so, so many queer characters who are portrayed as inherently "different". In so many shows, lesbians are always butch and gay men always feminine and it's framed in a way that suggests that they are gnc BECAUSE of their queerness, and not in addition to it, and i hate it.
Its just a way to enforce gender roles despite queer identities. Because if a woman likes other women, that must mean shes similar to a man, right?
What about straight gnc characters. Why do we rarely see cishet characters break gender roles, without it being depicted as something bad? (the few examples of gnc characters in popular media that i can think of, are like, guys who out on a dress and got made fun of because of it.)
Can we please stop with the whole "boys are blue, pinks are girls and queer people are gnc!" shit? It's really annoying. And it frames queerness as something different, something that fundementally changes/affects a person's whole personality. Like seriously. Do you not think that the depiction of "same gender attraction = your whole personality is different" is really really fucking weird? I know that it has historical context and everything, because many gay man do behave stereotypically feminine (either as a subtle hint at their queerness, or just because they are already a "deviation" from the norm, so why not say fuck you to the whole system and live your life however you want?) but. But please please please stop pretending like queer people are inherently different from cishets. That just gives people an excuse to be homophobic.
(feel free to add your own take, im sure there's plenty of other interesting perspectives on this that are different from mine, but be nice about it! I wanna have a discussion, not an argument.)
@vasyandii Thanks for bringing light to that person’s actions. Now let me throw some more in.
Watermelon and fried chicken, why is it offensive to black people?
(Read this to learn about more harmful black stereotypes)
Watermelon and fried chicken was once a staple of income for the freed post civil war. Black farmers wanting to earn money , grew watermelon. It was actually very popular to the point a certain group of people didn’t like that.
Watermelon also wasn’t just something for us to sell. It was a sign of liberty and freedom for us.
______________________________________________
Chicken , chicken was the only livestock slaves could keep or own. Another source of income that eventually was stolen. You know that iconic restaurant KFC is a good example of this. (Search up the origins of the KFC recipe.)
Another item painted in a negative light, and used against us to justify hatred and dehumanization.
(Read this to see the full extent of how this can affect someone of color and more history.)
We have slowly started taking back a lot of things, but with the way these once liberated items been painted to stain. Shame only follows us.
It had never once graced my little head, growing up in the south. Eating these foods with joy that they made me into something others looked down upon.
I was just a child , enjoying food that was made/grown by the people I loved. I love my family, and I love my community.
Thank you all for reading this , and remember to do research and ask. It will not hurt your pride to ask someone of color if what you created/wrote is harmful in any way.
We will not be upset with you for asking us questions regarding our history. But we will , if you intentionally ignore the struggles and causes.
Plus , some aren’t always willing to share their experiences/history. Respect that decision too. We don’t owe anyone anything if we don’t feel like your intentions aren’t great.
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black Woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black Woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black Woman.”
-Malcolm X (1962)
(Originally made on insta by @michaelabalogun)
[Multiple people have pointed out that the Sojourner Truth speech isn’t accurate. Interesting none of you bother recommending other resources to spread awareness of what it’s like to be a Black Woman while you are pulling attention away from the main point–Black Women need to be recognized. If you have such a problem with how accurate the speech is, just know I looked into it and apparently she approved the second version which also expresses how she’s feeling. Let’s move on or pm me and I can list some alternatives if it’s weighing on your mind.]
listens to lemon demon, tally hall, lena raine, cavetown, jack stauber, 100 gecs, femtanyl, hkmori, frost children, and xaev "yea, im trans how could you tell?"
Random people: "You get to go to college for free since you're Native American, right?" Me: *cries a slow, single tear as the wind picks up my hair and a flute plays mournfully from nowhere*
does anyone here have much info on irish travellers, especially cant? i’m still developing a character, i’m thinking of her being a traveller, and want to know if i’d be offensive w anything 😭
uh so a few questions if anyone wants to answer
1. what are some neutral/positive terms in use to travellers? i know lucht siúil in irish, and mincéirí may be in cant..? i know basically nothing, i only found out one of the terms i thought was neutral was actually a slur from a romani tiktoker 😭
2. where is cant developed from? what would be the correct name for it? any info on the language is welcome lol
3. things to avoid in the character/character design (i wont be basing much around her ethnicity anyway, if anything).
4. where do you consider your roots to be from? ireland, england, norse, even if theres a region that would help a lot
5. do much travellers still travel? like are they still nomads?
literally ANY info would be welcome, i know nothing and cant find much 😭
A handful of people believe that more conservative/religious people might not accept lgptq people, but that's wrong.
In my experience most people are generally accepting regardless of who they are.
REPEAT AFTER ME
SENSORS ARE UNDERRATED (ISTG THESE PEOPLE ARE OFTEN STEREOTYPED AS ‘BLAND’ AND ‘BORING’ JUST WHY)
XXTJs ARE NOT HEARTLESS (PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING TO ME ‘ OMG YOU CAN’T BE AN INXJ YOU’RE TOO NICE!’ AND I WAS LIKE I’M STILL GOING ON AN IDENTITY CRISIS BUT NO-)
INFPs AND ISTJs (In my opinion) HAS THE WORST STEREOTYPE AMONGST ALL. I MEAN NO HATE BUT INFPs ARE OFTEN STEREOTYPED AS AN “UWU MENTALLY UNSTABLE, DEPRESSED, WEAK CRYBABYS THAT CAN’T DEAL WITH LOGIC AND ALL,
WHILE ISTJs ARE OFTEN STEREOTYPED AS MECHANICAL ROBOTS WITH NO FEELINGS AND ONLY CARES ABOUT BOOKS AND LOGIC WHO CAN’T TAKE SARCASM OR JOKES THAT’S LITERALLY NOT TRUE THIS IS WHY THE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS EXISTS.
AND NOT TO MENTION ESXPs BEING STEREOTYPED AS PARTY ADDICTED CHADS WHO HAS LIKE 2093849829 FRIENDS.
Rant
Ok so I'm probably gonna sound like an asshole but I really need to vent kinda
I kind of hate posts but also love posts that are "stop stereotyping all of _ as _"
Because I'm the stereotype, I'm the androgynous looking nonbinary, I'm the stereotypical autistic, I'm the gay furry, I'm the gay autistic, I'm the young therian, I'm the fucking stereotypes that people hate, I'm the stereotypes that people are trying to get rid of
But I'm that, so I always feel personally attacked even tho I know the post is meant for good
I'm just the unlucky person who has to see all these posts and think "wow that's me, I must be doing something wrong" and I feel like shit
I know it's stupid, I know I should just be happy that people are spreading awareness, but I just feel like I'll be looked down upon for "spreading the stereotype" when I'm just being me
I hate how I overthink things so much to the point I can't even be happy people are expressing themselves :(
Why do I have to be the stereotype? Why can't I be a little bit different?
God it sucks
Sorry I just kinda needed to say this, I know someone is probably gonna get mad at me for feeling this way and buddy, I'm mad as well
My Interesting Opinion
Every animal can be matched to a high school student “stereotype”
Ravens are goths. Not crows, never crows.
That brings me to my next point. Crows are theater kids. Look up any crow behavior, and you will see theater kid written all over it
Orange cats are Himbo jocks. No I won’t explain.
Pandas are also himbos, but they aren’t jocks
Raccoons are the loners that create a friend group together
I have this thing with Quails… they just seem like wannabe mean girl material
if you have any other animals, please tell me. I just wrote down the ones I could think of right now
Sex Sells! Exploring the Music Industry.
NO. 1
From “Chapter Two: Hip Hop, Context, and Black Girlhood.” Counterpoints, vol. 399, 2012, pp. 16–31. ‘‘The hegemony where domination is maintained through contemporary democratic societies not through the use of force, but through winning the consent of the people.’’ How many times has Gen Z heard from educators, politicians, and parents alike that the rap genre today should be discouraged as the lyrics are filled with violence, exploitation, criminality, and sexual themes? The music industry understands that the culture of black and brown people perpetuates the idea of fighting against such domineering systems but, unfortunately uses those ideas against that very people. Major music artists such as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Jermaine Dupri, and Percy ‘Master P’ Millers share a large majority of profits with major record labels, but the industry as a whole is ‘white controlled’. And if any rapper wants to be successful socially and financially, they will change their image and structure their performance, lyrics, and music videos to cater towards the ‘White imagination.’
NO. 2
But then there is the other side of the fence that believes that people are going to gravitate toward what they feel motivates them, inspires them, and utterly captivates them no matter the judgment that is unleashed. Regular people cannot change how the music industry operates, so it makes more sense for these rappers to make steady profits from these mega companies. Plus, it is not the responsibility of these rappers to enforce a cleaner message for children and young adults. New female rappers like Ice Spice, Megan the Stallion, Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, and others are breaking the ‘glass ceiling’, and are widely successful and popular for their music. They are bringing more attention to the rap game and are paving the way for the next generation of female rappers, proving that they can be just as successful as their male counterparts, if not more. Their success is encouraging more women to pursue rap/hip-hop.
NO. 3
Most female rappers of the time today could not be where they are without honoring those who contributed to hip-hop and rap: young Black and Latino youth. From “Under Construction’: Identifying Foundations of Hip-Hop Feminism and Exploring Bridges between Black Second-Wave and Hip-Hop Feminisms, ‘‘In the late 1970s and 1980s, hip-hop was. in part, a response to the class exclusivity of the New York disco scene and the growing gang culture of inner-city New York. Initially, the culture was created as a social and recreational space for the working-class and poor folk who had been pushed to the fringe of society and forgotten. Gradually, hip-hop emerged in the recreational space but also in which to voice contempt for the living conditions of the economically and racially marginalized. From its inception, hip-hop has represented resistance to contemporary political and economic oppression that makes social marginalization possible.’’
NO. 4
As a woman of color and anthropologist, I completely understand both sides of the controversy of rap. As much as female rappers are breaking the rap game, so to speak, their lyrics perpetuate negative stereotypes of the Black community and hostile misogyny toward women. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, for society’s judgments towards rap and the people who create it will be called into question, but there should at least be a conversation about it so that we can all have a better experience. Society itself holds a double-edged sword when it comes to this, as this music is appreciated by suburban white males, wanting to identify with a culture that is not there behind closed doors while belittling the culture and artists in the limelight. No matter the judgment and hypocrisy, these artists success speaks for themselves.
The racial aspects of Sci Fi, Fantasy and other forms media
NO. 1
One of the blog posts I have written before was titled ‘Mean World Syndrome’, which talked about how race and media affects everyone on a global scale. Racial aspects of sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media have long been a source of controversy. From the stereotypes of aliens in Star Trek to the whitewashing of characters in movies like Avatar, Prince of Persia, etc. these issues have been a major source of discussion in the media landscape. In many cases, racial stereotypes have been used to create a sense of ‘otherness’ for the characters of color in order to reinforce a sense of white superiority. This has led to criticism from fans, activists, and academics who have called for more representation of people of color in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media.
NO. 2
In the entertainment business, inclusivity is hard to come by, and in some cases, the representation of characters of color in these genres is inadequate and often offensive. Characters of color are often relegated to the sidelines and made to serve as the backdrop to white characters’ stories, or they are depicted as tokens and stereotypes. This lack of meaningful representation has led to a push for more diverse casts in sci-fi, fantasy, and other forms of media. ‘‘Like many social sciences, international/intercultural/interethnic communication and media studies are primarily an Anglo-American media images have always been critically dissected, often by scholars with some kind of privileged tie to other cultures—Most makers of these blockbusters are mostly white males with English as their mother tongue, mutli-millionaires or aspiring to become one as soon as possible. They usually internalize a mid-Atlantic view of global history and geography, its central myths and legends. So many blockbusters remain ethnocentric, even today—they tend to make non-Westerners look at the world through Western eyes.’’
NO.3
In addition to representation in the stories themselves, the casting of actors to bring these characters to life has been another source of debate. Many actors of color have argued that they are often typecast into roles that are stereotypical or that do not reflect the true diversity of the world. Films or TV shows with fantasy/sci-fi themes on Netflix, like Chambers or Raising Dion are not being properly advertised because, like Inclusive Advertising: What’s Holding the Industry Back? claims, ‘‘The industry itself is not diverse: The advertising industry — across the ecosystem and at all levels — is not representative, which is itself a barrier to creating representative and inclusive content. Only 19% of in-house and 23% of agency survey respondents reported that their leader almost always considers the demographic diversity of their team when developing content. That, and individuals (in these marketing companies) lack awareness of and access to the knowledge, skills, resources, and tools to create representative and inclusive content. Individuals are confident in their ability to create representative and inclusive content, but only if provided with adequate tools and resources.’’
NO. 4
Of course, there will always be people who dislike seeing a more diverse setting, especially against the established order of Western ‘‘whiteness’’ ideologies. Ultimately, the best way to ensure diversity in these genres is to continue to create stories that feature diverse characters and cultures. If authors, producers, and casting directors make a conscious effort to create more imaginative stories that are inclusive and reflective of the real world, then audiences will be able to experience a more authentic and meaningful experience.
My opinion on the moral discourse surrounding certain celebs or authors Part I
will include links to Part II and III when posted
I love social media. But I hate the backlash that comes every time someone has a different opinion than the generally accepted view. I hate how when someone decides not to take a stance against things like the lgbtq community they get hated or shammed. I hate how we can't just like a certain celebrity but we have to care about whether they have a good background. Supporting black people, supporting the lgbtq community is important, but if your tactics are going to be to shame people who don't support you, then how are you any different from those who oppressed you? This is a small account, and I don’t know how many people would read this. But if you did, thank you for taking the time to do so, and feel free to comment your views, as I know there will be many. I will try to respond to those I could (if any). I believe that our world is changing, and we can't do anything but to accept it. But I also believe that accept doesn't equal support, and while I may not buy rainbow t-shirt, I believe that as long as I don’t insult these people, it is okay, and I shouldn't be shammed because of that. Nor should I be afriad to say I don't wholly support the generally accepted views. I have to believe that, because if social media has become a place where I get insulted or get called racist or homophobic simply because I like certain author or certain celebrities, then social media's original goal of allowing everyone to expres their opinions as long as it doesn't hurt anyone is no longer there.
Stereotypes
Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined
[Image ID:
Stereotypes in American Sign Language. The sign labels: fingertips of U shape brush across open B handshape a few times. And the sign universal: hands in Y handshape, palm down move horizontally in a circle. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green, blue, purple, and pink in different stages of the sign.
End ID]
My dudes. My pals. My homeslice bread slices.
Never have I experienced more gender stereotyping than in cake decorating. Please. Friends.
Interests, colors; these things have no gender.
As someone who grew up fem and whose favorite color has ALWAYS been blue/turquoise.
No.
*smack smack smack*
I smack you with newspaper.
“It’s for a boy/girl” is Not an aPpRopriaTE response to my questions abt the specifics on your cake
Sometimes I can spend hours thinking about how a lot of gay stereotypes (fast walking, weird sitting, struggling with numbers, weird fashion, etc.) are just symptoms of neurodivergence, because neurodivergent people are more likely to be open about their sexualities due to not giving a fuck about social norms and have accidentally shaped straight people’s perception of gay people by just being rad as fuck.
There’s also a large grey area between an Offensive Stereotype and “thing that can be misconstrued as a stereotype if one uses a particularly reductive lens of interpretation that the text itself is not endorsing”, and while I believe that creators should hold some level of responsibility to look out for potential unfortunate optics on their work, intentional or not, I also do think that placing the entire onus of trying to anticipate every single bad angle someone somewhere might take when reading the text upon the shoulders of the writers – instead of giving in that there should be also a level of responsibility on the part of the audience not to project whatever biases they might carry onto the text – is the kind of thing that will only end up reducing the range of stories that can be told about marginalized people.
A japanese-american Beth Harmon would be pidgeonholed as another nerdy asian stock character. Baby Driver with a black lead would be accused of perpetuating stereotypes about black youth and crime. Phantom Of The Opera with a female Phantom would be accused of playing into the predatory lesbian stereotype. Romeo & Juliet with a gay couple would be accused of pulling the bury your gays trope – and no, you can’t just rewrite it into having a happy ending, the final tragedy of the tale is the rock onto which the entire central thesis statement of the play stands on. Remove that one element and you change the whole point of the story from a “look at what senseless hatred does to our youth” cautionary tale to a “love conquers all” inspiration piece, and it may not be the story the author wants to tell.
Sometimes, in order for a given story to function (and keep in mind, by function I don’t mean just logistically, but also thematically) it is necessary that your protagonist has specific personality traits that will play out in significant ways in the story. Or that they come from a specific background that will be an important element to the narrative. Or that they go through a particular experience that will consist on crucial plot point. All those narrative tools and building blocks are considered to be completely harmless and neutral when telling stories about straight/white people but, when applied to marginalized characters, it can be difficult to navigate them as, depending on the type of story you might want to tell, you may be steering dangerously close to falling into Unfortunate Implications™. And trying to find alternatives as to avoid falling into potentially iffy subtext is not always easy, as, depending on how central the “problematic” element to your plot, it could alter the very foundation of the story you’re trying to tell beyond recognition. See the point above about Romeo & Juliet.
Like, I once saw a woman a gringa obviously accuse the movie Knives Out of racism because the one latina character in the otherwise consistently white and wealthy cast is the nurse, when everyone who watched the movie with their eyes and not their ass can see that the entire tension of the plot hinges upon not only the power imbalance between Martha and the Thrombeys, but also on her isolation as the one latina immigrant navigating a world of white rich people. I’ve seen people paint Rosa Diaz as an example of the Hothead Latina stereotype, when Rosa was originally written as a white woman (named Megan) and only turned latina later when Stephanie Beatriz was cast – and it’s not like they could write out Rosa’s anger issues to avoid bad optics when it is such a defining trait of her character. I’ve seen people say Mulholland Drive is a lesbophobic movie when its story couldn’t even exist in first place if the fatally toxic lesbian relationship that moves the plot was healthy, or if it was straight.
That’s not to say we can’t ever question the larger patterns in stories about certain demographics, or not draw lines between artistic liberty and social responsibility, and much less that I know where such lines should be drawn. I made this post precisely to raise a discussion, not to silence people. But one thing I think it’s important to keep in mind in such discussions is that stereotypes, after all, are all about oversimplification. It is more productive, I believe, to evaluate the quality of the representation in any given piece of fiction by looking first into how much its minority characters are a) deep, complex, well-rounded, b) treated with care by the narrative, with plenty of focus and insight into their inner life, and c) a character in their own right that can carry their own storyline and doesn’t just exist to prop up other character’s stories. And only then, yes, look into their particular characterization, but without ever overlooking aspects such as the context and how nuanced such characterization is handled. Much like we’ve moved on from the simplistic mindset that a good female character is necessarily one that punches good otherwise she’s useless, I really do believe that it is time for us to move on from the the idea that there’s a one-size-fits-all model of good representation and start looking into the core of representation issues (meaning: how painfully flat it is, not to mention scarce) rather than the window dressing.
I know I am starting to sound like a broken record here, but it feels that being a latina author writing about latine characters is a losing game, when there’s extra pressure on minority authors to avoid ~problematic~ optics in their work on the basis of the “you should know better” argument. And this “lower common denominator” approach to representation, that bars people from exploring otherwise interesting and meaningful concepts in stories because the most narrow minded people in the audience will get their biases confirmed, in many ways, sounds like a new form of respectability politics. Why, if it was gringos that created and imposed those stereotypes onto my ethnicity, why it should be my responsibility as a latina creator to dispel such stereotypes by curbing my artistic expression? Instead of asking of them to take responsibility for the lenses and biases they bring onto the text? Why is it too much to ask from people to wrap their minds about the ridiculously basic concept that no story they consume about a marginalized person should be taken as a blanket representation of their entire community?
It’s ridiculous. Gringos at some point came up with the idea that latinos are all naturally inclined to crime, so now I, a latina who loves heist movies, can’t write a latino character who’s a cool car thief. Gentiles created antisemitic propaganda claiming that the jews are all blood drinking monsters, so now jewish authors who love vampires can’t write jewish vampires. Straights made up the idea that lesbian relationships tend to be unhealthy, so now sapphics who are into Brontë-ish gothic romance don’t get to read this type of story with lesbian protagonists. I want to scream.
And at the end of the day it all boils down to how people see marginalized characters as Representation™ first and narrative tools created to tell good stories later, if at all. White/straight characters get to be evaluated on how entertaining and tridimensional they are, whereas minority characters get to be evaluated on how well they’d fit into an after school special. Fuck this shit.
Can we also get rid of the whole “person obsessed with technology is automatically on the spectrum” thing as well ?
fandom hcs are like:
-shy anxious person is ace
-badass but nice girl is bi
-mean bitch is a lesbian
-bubbly extrovert girl is pan
-all men are gay (unless they're flirty in which case they're bi)
So.
I'm the flakiest artist to ever flake uuuugh. Sitting on a bunch of half-inked or half-colored works-OHNOsomethingelseIwannadrawimmediatelyONTOTHEPILEWITHYOU- will I finish?? Ever?? WE JUST DON'T KNOW.