Race & Gender Stereotypes Blog

2-23-09-WWLS Station- 11:35
Radio
Sports Radio guy says something about “he was just a white kid”
Stereotype that white kids aren’t as athletic as minorities
Racial Stereotype

2-21-09, 4 p.m.
Personal experience at Crossroads Mall (Journey’s)
Comments made to Asian woman from employee asking if she’s from the US.
Racial assumption/stereotype


2-26-09-TNT-Network 8:35 p.m.
Television
Charles Barkley during halftime show: “Chopsticks ain’t big in the ghetto.”
Racial stereotype
8:35 p.m.

2-25-09
Television
Family Guy-Axe Commercial
Inappropriate images of women on men
Gender Stereotype

2-20-09, 2:00 a.m.
Film
Undercover Brother
Accusation scene-Conspiracy Brother and Undercover Brother
Racial AND gender Stereotypes





2-24-09
Film
Role Models
Danny meets Ronnie
Racial Stereotype that black kids grow up in broken home (Ronnie)

2-25-09
Classroom experience Professor Chavez
Class discussion about “Chick Flicks”
Gender assumption/stereotype

2-25-09
Print Ad
ESPN the Magazine, pg. 13
Passive woman
Gender stereotype
2-27-09

Film
Talladega Nights
Carley Bobby leaves Ricky to be with Cal Naughton Jr.
Gender stereotype that women are attracted to money

2-27-09
Television
That 70’s Show-FXHD, 9 p.m.
Kitty as a homemaker
Gender Stereotype



I honestly wasn’t surprised with the outrageous amount of stereotyping that existed in media. Without constant reminders of these stereotypes, it would be too hard for them to stick around. That is how stereotypes die. What is sad is that if you see or hear a message enough, it at some point begins to sink in no matter how wrong it may be. This is why some of these preposterous stereotypes stick.

I’ve heard it many times from everyday people: “Behind every stereotype there is a grain of truth.” When I was younger, this statement really had my mind racing. Finally I started looking at this topic in a different way:

It’s always baffled me as to why individuals are defined by their race rather than by themselves. It’s something that as a minority I’ve come to realize I will never escape. I think often times a white person is evaluated more on their intellect and merits, whereas minorities are often evaluated on how much they measure up with their stereotyped race. For example, I’ve had a white girl talk to me and say, “wow, you’re really not that ghetto.” She said this as if I was on some kind of 1 to 10 ghett-o-meter grading scale (1 being Bryant Gumble and 10 being the entire Wu-Tang Clan).

One racial experience that really got to me as I was recording this was the employee at Journey’s shoe store in the mall. He was helping out an Asian customer who did have a slight accent, but nothing overbearing at all. Anyway, she asked the salesperson if she could buy the shoes and have them sent to her house. “You are from the United States, right? ….Because we only ship to the United States.” That shocked me. I thought it was quite ironic that the employee was black. You’d think that minorities would often times be more sensitive to other minorities, but this yielded no such case. You don’t get to witness such ignorance on a daily basis. The way in which the question flowed off this guy’s tongue ever-so candidly was a thing of beauty.

The cultivation of images through stereotyping is horrendous obstacle for people to overcome to truly see past color. Is it a realistic goal? Probably not, because as long as we keep telling jokes that start with, “So a Jew, a Chinese guy and a black dude walk into a bar,” or keep accepting as a form of truth what we’re being shown on TV, we will forever consciously or subconsciously begin to reinforce the stereotypes in our own way.