We have started our in class presentations this week. Today’s presentations dealt with stereotypes in the media. Our class actively engaged in the discussions and while we were looking at gender stereotypes the discussion drifted to homosexual stereotypes and the stereotypical Christian response to homosexuality.
As a Christian, this stereotype bugs me because I know where people are coming from. I think this picture sums up my feelings towards the whole thing pretty well (excuse the language):
Blogger ‘Cogito’ states;
‘A stereotype is just a recognition of a statistical probability as a likely truth in most if not all cases. Its partly wrong when you don’t have an intellectual basis for the stereotype. The true moral crime is holding an individual to a generalized expectation and standard while failing to recognize their potential individual uniqueness and capabilities.’
http://cogitoergocogitosum.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/why-prejudice-and-stereotyping/
Isn’t that the saddest part of stereotypes? Failing to recognise individual uniqueness.
Classifying people into stereotypes is such a sad, dangerous thing. More and more these days I think people are trying to break out and stand out. Often these attempts lead people to join a different stereotype. Not wanting to conform may lead you to conforming to a group of non-conformists.
I came across this excellent article titled Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilisation and it is all about this exact point!
Douglas Haddow writes;
“And yet, it is this ironic lack of authenticity that has allowed hipsterdom to grow into a global phenomenon that is set to consume the very core of Western counterculture. Most critics make a point of attacking the hipster’s lack of individuality, but it is this stubborn obfuscation that distinguishes them from their predecessors, while allowing hipsterdom to easily blend in and mutate other social movements, sub-cultures and lifestyles.”
In an attempt to break out of the mould and to not conform, the ‘Hipster’ movement began. The article describes the hipster movement as;
“…the end product of all prior countercultures, it’s been stripped of its subversion and originality.”
As original as people try to be, we’re all relational at our core so we migrate towards group and groups are ultimately united by mindsets, music, fashion etc….creating a subculture….and subcultures often lead to stereotypes. Stereotypes exist or can be recognised where a group of like minded people are gathered.
During the tutorial we discussed a movie called But I’m a Cheerleader – a movie FULL of stereotypes.
A few years ago a movie was released called Saved. As a Christian, I’ll admit, I was slightly anxious about the messages this movie would send and how it would portray Christianity. Here’s the trailer:
By the end of it I just had to laugh. It is an entire movie built on stereotypes. As in “insider, looking out” I’m sure people would see Christianity and the church this way; I don’t blame them. BUT, then you get a director/writer who takes these things and takes them to the extreme.
In my opinion, stereotypes often stem from extremes. More often than not these extremes are negative.
Islam – terrorism.
Blondes – stupidity.
Jocks – brainless.
Christians – judgement.
Stereotypes exist. They do. They help us to ‘classify’ people and cultures to a common denominator. When we dwell on the negative extremes of a stereotype they become dangerous and have the potential to develop into prejudice or racism.
I found this great article titled Stereotypes and Prejudices, which states;
“A “stereotype” is a generalization about a person or group of persons. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. In the absence of the “total picture,” stereotypes in many cases allow us to “fill in the blanks.” Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the stereotype is unfavorable.”
The article also suggests:
“This may be how some stereotypes developed in the first place; a series of isolated behaviors by a member of a group which was unfairly generalized to be viewed as a character of all members of that group.”
On the flipside of the negative associations of stereotypes; should stereotypes be something that we celebrate too? Do they denote a culture or subculture? Are there positives in stereotypes that should be embraced and celebrated? I have a feeling that a lot of people who recognise the stereotypes of the cultures they belong to, pick and choose when they are happy to celebrate and embrace a ‘classification’ and when they fight back to be recognised as being different to that stereotype.
When I consider some of the stereotypes I may fit into, I definitely consider both the positive and negatives of each for example: Christian, actor/performer, South African coloured, Gen Y, an artsy-fartsy type.
I read a very amusing book a few years back (written for Christians by a Christian author) called The Christian Culture Survival Guide.
One of my favourite sections of the book is titled ‘Fifteen Kinds of church people to look out for’ which includes Christian stereotypes such as:
- Know it all bible nerds
- Overly enthusiastic church welcomers
- The Praise team rock star
- The Perfect church family
- The pastor’s wife, and
- The desperate male divorcee
It’s a book many people wouldn’t get if they weren’t involved in a church. It’s probably a book that some Christians would be offended by. It’s all just based on stereotypes and the acknowledgement that they exist. It’s smart and it’s witty. Like any good Irish, black or blonde joke.
The Broadway musical, Avenue Q features a song titled “Everyone’s a little bit racist”. Lyrics include:
Ethnic jokes might be uncouth,
But you laugh because
They’re based on truth.
Don’t take them as
Personal attacks.
As the blogger ‘Cogito’ stated earlier, stereotypes develop as a result of “statistical probability as a likely truth”. Yep, stereotypes exist and they developed from some form of probable truth along the way. As he goes on to say, “the true moral crime is holding an individual to a generalised expectation.”
I always find it really interesting to watch stereotypes in play. Like when people meet for the first time and expect people to be/act a certain way because of their race, class or beliefs.
I love seeing stereotypical walls broken down when relationships deepen and people are seen as human individuals rather than being labelled or classified.
Living beyond stereotypes is an individual responsibility. Yes, we can acknowledge they exist but why limit our own mindset and the potential of other individuals by generalisations? I’ll leave this one on a positive note. I found an article on eHow.com about how to ignore stereotypes (in four easy, practical steps): http://www.ehow.com/how_2086546_ignore-stereotyping.html
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