We all have learned overgeneralizations about groups of people (ethnic, religious, racial, ideological, political, etc, etc). As we grew up, many of us assumed that these "stereotypes" were correct.
Think of two "stereotypes" or assumptions you had about groups and write about the following: how do you learn the "stereotype?" And how did it end?
14 comments:
One assumption that I had when I was younger was that men were to do what society said was normal like hunting was ony for men. I have since learned that any gender can hunt. Another example would be that men were not supose to clean and cook, because that was a women's job. Again gender does not determine what a person should do. Another assumption that I had when I was younger was that women could not be in the polical arena. That changed when I became older. I think a person learns what the are taught when they are younger and it stays with them until they are able to make their won decision.
Henry you are asking a minority to talk about other minority and stereotype them. I am going to have a field day on this topic. Well let me start off by saying don’t make fun of others if you can’t make fun of yourself. And if you dish it you better eat it too.
I was under the impression that all Chinese (Asian) people look alike with our slanty eyes and we know karate. On top of that, we are smart especially in math equation. Well, time to educate you ignorant people. Not all Asians are Chinese, and karate is a form of self defense from Japan. Gong Fu (not kung fu) is the martial arts from China. If all slanty eye people supposed to be smart, why am I still in College? I am as dumb as a rock.
On that note, I was told that there are 2 types of white people. Rich white snobs and poor white trash, but since the other name for white people is CaucASIAN, would that make every white person my relative.
Why is all Black American, to be politically correct, are called Bros & Hos. Down south or the dirty south, Georgia, Carolinas, etc…. everybody is CUZ. Is it beCUZ they hate swimming but love watermelon, hate height but like to get high.
Moving on to Latinos or Hispanic, to be politically correct, I believed they are the smartest and hardest worker. They are so smart and good with their hands. They could fix anything broken. If a car can’t start, they use a screwdriver to start it up. Drive the car to a mechanic and sell the broken car for parts. Tell me that isn’t smart and hard working. No job is too small for Latinos.
Like I said earlier can’t make fun of others if you can’t make fun of yourself. Just want to make everybody laugh again.
This a tough one. Not because I do not make overgeneraliztions. I am certainly not above laughing at or telling the blond joke or a stereotype joke. I am trying to think of a stereotype that my parents may have given me and nothing stands out in my mind.
I just recently had to teach a lesson in Sunday school that has the children looking at a picture and deciding who needs Jesus the most. I hated this lesson the first time I had to teach it but used it to point out that as Christians we should not be making judgment calls based upon people's looks and religious beliefs, what their hobbies might be.
The way we (including myself)learn about stereotypes is that we may hear people's opinions or the few people that we come in contact with color our vision for other people who have similar characteristics.
I just thought one but it really isn't about a group of people. I can remember a family that every year got sent home with head lice. We were told to stay away form these kids so we would not catch the lice. I can remember thinking that the kids must be dirty in order to get head lice. I learned later that head lice actually like clean heads.
Even though I do make judgments. In a face to face encounter the person is treated with unconditional respect. I can think of an incident where these kids from NCCC had to dress up outlandishly. They happened to come into Burger KIng to order a meal and I waited on them. They came back to me the next day and told me that I was the only one that did not treat they differently.
One assumption that I had was you can tell a lot about a person by the way that they dress. I was wrong on that thought because you can't tell everything about a person by their clothes. I work at a bank, and I see all walks of life come in to my job on a daily basis. There are people who come in dressed to the nines who have nothing and are struggling to make ends meat, but only we know that, you would never know that by just looking at them. And then there are the people who come in, who have ripped clothing and are dirty from working all day, and they are rich. By looking at these people you may think one thing, but really in reality you don't know the truth, and you definitely can't judge a book by it's cover.
I don't remember hearing any negative stereotypes at home. I have a very mixed family. However growing up I did hear other people say things about groups of people like the Irish drink. Jewish people hoard money. Italians are mafia. I learned at a young age that stereotyping is wrong and hurtful and that people do it out of fear and ignorance.
Growing up my family was and still is very old fashioned. One stereotype I learned from my older relatives was how racial they were. They always told ethnic jokes or always put down other races. I grew up with friends from different ethnic backgrounds and thought my familywas wrong. I would just sit in disgust as my family would act this way and think nothing of it. I teach my children to get along with children of all races and hope one day this ethnic stereotype will come to an end.
The other stereotype was religion. My parents raised us to be Catholic growing up. I am a member of the catholic church, but am not an actively practicing parishioner. My son does attend CCD classes regularly (against his will) just as I did growing up. There are many people that I feel take religion too far at times. I do believe in god some ways, but am not totally sure I believe all that is written. My mother is the type that goes to church every week and attends all religious holy days as well. I don't understand the whole religion thing completely especially if there are so many different views and beliefs that everyone has.
Growing up I saw through interactions with my mother and father, as well as in society, that a womans place was to marry, have children and cater to everyones needs. I saw that many women did all the household chores, were not incouraged to work, and were not valued for their opinions. As I grew I developed a stereotype to men, thinking that most men were selfish, lazy, domineering and controlling. However, I have since learned that not every man is my father and not to judge all men for my fathers flaws.
My parents adopted a black child who they took in as a foster care child at the age of 3 days. They said they were not racist people and wanted to help this child have a better life. However, it's ironic to listen to them talk about politics. Deep down they still think that every poor person on welfare and doing criminal acts is black. I don't feel that I have inherited this racism. I have watched my brother grow into a very well respected man. I think that no matter what color you are you have the capability to apply yourself and make positive choices in life. Sometimes you just need a helping hand. I have learned, through many of Henry's classes, that alot of crime and welfare recipients are not just black and that my parents are ignorant to what is really happening in our society and they fall for what the media wants them to believe.
Coming from a single parent homeI really never was taught to stereotype as my family and I grew up not so wealthy. So I never believed to stereotype others when I was not in a good living situation. But some of the things I've heard especially coming from a old fashioned Puerto Ricans is how the man is supposed to take care of the bills and he is to work whereas the woman is to do all house hold duties in the home like the cleaning. Another is from friends I've met over a period of time who for some reason had all the same thoughts. They believe that all Black Americans are loud.
Well, I was always taught that Black people were better dancers than White people. I guess Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake could make an exception. LMAO
I thought growing up that all white people were racists. The concept never really hit home until I saw the movie "Roots". I heard stories of how my mother was treated in the South Carolina as a child. She was taking out of school, made to pick cotton and tobacco. This was surprising to me because even as a child I viewed this to be very recent history. Later I saw the movie. It made many people upset. And the stories of racism were every where. People had fights over the pain the movie resurfaced.
As I grew older this "realization deepened as I was told of certain towns or side of towns I should not venture for expectation of harm because of my race & ethnicity. By the time I was 11 years old I had been called nigger by Caucasians divining by many times. At seventeen I was chased by a van full of young college student yelling that racial term...
I later gathered my friends and we found the van parked in front of a house where a college party was. We beat up every one who came out of the party. We approached the house and knocked at the door the. The person who answered assumed we where friends of one of their "black friends". We were welcomed in drug, drank and partied to our fill... Later in remorse I thought this was probably how racism was perpetuated. One person or group offends another and they retaliate... Also as I grew and began to build relationships all types of people; I found out that there are good and bad people of every race, ethnicity and cultural group. I now take people on a case by case, person by person perspective.
I have learned many sterotypes from peers,certain family members and society when I was young or in my teen years. Before making my comments I would like to say by no means are my comments meant to offend any ethnic background but my comments are blunt.
I assumed that all African am people were all "Ghetto", and un-educated.
White people were all rich/lucky to some extent, smelled funny when they sweat,had smaller body parts from my ethnic background and hated all African am people.
Asian people all smelled like rice, didn't like African am. people and also had smaller body parts compared to other ethnic backgrounds.
Latin/spanish people had to many kids and couldn't afford them, they used and abused the welfare system and always talked about people in spanish rather than in english.
Over-weight (fat) people ate because they didnt care about themselves, no one loved them, they were lazy and use food as an excuse rather than deal with life's up's and downs.
Men dont cry, men dont hang around women, men dont cook, bake etc.
Ok, all these things of course being in my adult-hood now I dont believe but these were assumptions or sterotypes I learned from society. I learned that all people are not alike and to never judge anyone! I have made it a personal goal of mine to mingle/mix with all ethnic backgrounds and learn from their life's exp. All my assumptions have made an a** of myself but that was the old immature,un-educated Aaron the new an improved Aaron never judges only observes now lol.
Wow a stereotype that I was taught as a child. Well one sticks out in my mind, my grandmother use to always tell me to stop hanging out of the front living room window. She use to make the correlation that I was acting like the Spanish. Since then I have learned that not only Spanish hang out the windows and talk or yell out of their windows, they are just perceived as doing it more often because, they are calling their kids in for dinner.
Another stereotype I was taught growing up was only men and can take out the trash. This chore was known as a nasty chore and women should not be bothered doing such nasty things as putting the trash out. Since then I have become a “trash taker outer” when I moved out on my own…..
Arcola Bowden,
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