Your Stereotypes

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AllegroDiRossi
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Your Stereotypes

#1 Post by AllegroDiRossi »

This isn't a post about discussing stereotypes, but more about what kind of effect they have on the individual person being stereotyped. Post what stereotype you've been targeted with and how it made you feel.

Because I'm white, I think I'm better than everyone - I don't think that I'm better than anyone, but I think I try harder than a lot of people I know. I think that shows through in my accomplishments, such as going to college when most people in my graduating class stayed in my hometown, got pregnant and haven't done anything with their lives in the past three years.

Because I'm white, everything is handed to me - No, I have to fight tooth and nail every semester to keep my scholarships that allow me to go to college. Anyone else could have this scholarship if they worked has hard as I have to.

Because I like anime, I must be socially awkward and have no life - I like to watch anime, but I also really enjoy all the things I do outside of anime. My friends, my family, my schooling, my job, those are all things I enjoy and have a healthy connection with that aren't affected by my interests.

Because I'm gay, I'm out to sleep with any guy who moves - I actually don't find that many people attractive, so I don't want to sleep with many of them. Then there's the whole, I like to have an emotional connection with people.

Because I'm gay, I think I know everything - I had someone say this to me once, and it was actually pretty ridiculous. But I guess it comes from living in a small conservative town my whole life.

Because I used to have suicidal tendencies, I'm obviously unbalanced and will never have healthy relationships - I think it's because I tried to die that I value life and the people around me so much now.

- - -

I think that the stereotypes that bother me most are about my race and nationality. It's because in my experience, these stereotypes aren't so publicly acknowledged and addressed. They're the underlying feelings that I've had to deal with that aren't ever really given a voice. It's not like some of the stereotypes I've seen about that are poked fun at or disproven in public ways (e.g. TV shows, movies, news, etc.), but more often these stereotypes are just assumed without the chance to address or reform them.

I'm also really bothered by the stereotypes that are pushed upon homosexuals. I think this is the inverse of the ones I face with race and nationality because these stereotypes have been so present in modern culture that in spite of evidence to the contrary, we can't combat them because media still propagates them. Media doesn't allow for those opinions to change, just reinforces the old ones even as new ones try to take form.
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#2 Post by CaesMRaenes »

I know that we're not discussing about stereotypes but I'm just tossing my two cents out there. Some stereotypes were made because the majority of the population is like that a.k.a. asians who try to be black but really do fail at it. Others, well, were made with assumptions.

With those two pennies tossed aside, here's my lil' input on stereotypes that I have encountered.

Because I'm asian, I'm dangerous and can fight - believe it or not, I can't fight for the life of me. But this stereotype seems to have protected me in the long run so I pretty much take it for granted. That's gonna get me hurt one day.

Because I'm asian, I'm intelligent and am amazing in math, art, and the piano - hahahaha~ I love math. I am amazing at it, and I'm not going to put myself in modesty because I know I am. I'm not an accountant though (another asian stereotype). Art wise, I love it. Appreciate it. Enjoy it. I live in it. I'm actually in college to become a graphic designer. Oh, and I used to play the piano when I was younger.

Because I'm Vietnamese, my family owns a nail salon - Goodness, how dead on that is. But yes, my father owns a nail salon. My mother works with him. I'm his secretary and handyman for everything.

Because I'm a first-generation child in America, I have no clue what is America - amen to that. I was born and raised in a Vietnamese community. To live and marry a Vietnamese man (um no, I refuse). To die as a mothering wife (I actually do want a family and live happily with my lover, thank you).

Because I like anime, I'm the scum of society - if you live in Georgia and hope to at least have a few friends down there, never EVER tell them you like anime until they discover it from you. My childhood was a wreck. I only had ONE friend down south and, well, pretty much lost communication with her anyways. Other than that, I live a very social life: go out to eat, watch movies, play soccer and frisbee, enjoy my feet in the fountain, that kind of life.

Because I'm an artist, I'll be dirt poor - you better believe it. Classes stole a whoopin' $500 from me in one quarter over a project that had the tiniest mistake. And that was supposed to be my food money for 9 months.

Because I'm related to people who sell drugs, I'm a b#@$#$ mother@#$@$# - I'm pretty awesome but I really don't associate myself with my uncles and aunts. They can be drug dealers all they want. I'll just enjoy my tea and coffee in my cosy little lounge.

There are others but the stereotypes usually make me laugh. I enjoy having to contradict the thought process of another since I pretty much take things lightly and calmly. They make really good stories too from my experience. Like, whenever my guy friends and I are arguing, they always interrupt me with "GO BACK TO YOUR KITCHEN!" and we just laugh it off. Or when my Filipino boyfriend pretends that he's an asian trying to be black. It's hilarious.
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#3 Post by Blue Sky »

I have money, so I must have it easy - Eh, more or less. We get sued a lot though.

I'm quiet and shy, so I must be a prude and/or extremely polite - Kind of the opposite really. Most of the time I'm thinking or talking about sex. :P

I'm smart because I get A's - Hell no. I'm really only good at english and writing. Otherwise, I barely scrape by on extra credit and praying.

I can draw well, so I must want to become an artist - Well yeah, actually. All I'm good at is drawing, and it's also the only thing I really have any interest in. Unfortunately, I'm not as good at it as people say I am.

I'm white so I must be a hardcore christian - Not at all. I'm atheist, but I really respect people that practice religion. It's good to follow what you believe in. :)

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Re: Your Stereotypes

#4 Post by chronoluminaire »

I'm from a generally fairly privileged group (white middle-class male, straight and cis-gendered and married, was able to go to a good university, etc), so I don't get many of these that stick in my mind. (I'm sure I do get many of them, I just don't notice.)

However, the ones I do notice are generally to do with religion:

"I'm a Christian, so I must be a young earth creationist!" - Argh! There are many sensible evangelical Christians who don't think every part of Genesis has to be taken precisely literally. Our church is full of them, one of whom has written an excellent book and founded an entire Institute for Science and Religion.

"I'm a Christian, so I must hate gays and lesbians" - This frustrates me incredibly, but one of the saddest things is that there's a lot of justification for this stereotype. I remember one occasions with a group of people from church in town on a Friday night, we got chatting with a group of lesbians who were very much playing up their stereotype rather than trying to avoid it or be normal. After a while one of them said "You're the only Christians we've met who've treated us like people." What a heartbreaking comment.

"I'm a Christian, so I must support right-wing politics" - This one doesn't happen so much in the UK, thankfully. The US seems to have a lot more of this crazy association between hard-line right-wing politics and evangelical Christianity. But you still get it from time to time over here, generally from people who don't know much about Christianity or politics... but stereotypes are often thus.
Last edited by chronoluminaire on Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#5 Post by Jake »

chronoluminaire wrote:I'm from a generally fairly privileged group (white middle-class male, straight and cis-gendered and married, was able to go to a good university, etc), so I don't get many of these that stick in my mind. (I'm sure I do get many of them, I just don't notice.)
I'm from a mostly-similar kind of group (I've never heard the term 'cis-gendered', though... as opposed to 'trans-'?) but I certainly notice people stereotyping me. I just don't find that it bothers me at all most of the time, because honestly - anyone willing to jump to stupid conclusions about me based on things like my nationality or appearance is probably not the kind of person whose opinions are worth paying any attention to anyway. Generally, it just makes me think less of whoever was doing it - one thing which will put me off a person very quickly is the inability to draw their own conclusions from available evidence. But then, I don't really have a bad self-esteem, I'm fairly sure of myself in most regards, which I guess helps.

Religion is probably a good place to start - I'm agnostic, so a lot of theists (Christians, Muslims, etc.) will jump to the conclusion that it means I haven't made my mind up yet (which sometimes involves proselytising, which does irritate me), while on the other hand I get accused by atheists of being a "weak atheist", someone who doesn't want to commit to not believing in God. (Personally, I think it's fairly unlikely that a God as described in the Christian bible exists, but as a scientist I realise that it's completely impossible to prove or disprove and thus isn't worth considering, and as a person who passingly identifies with humanism it's not the kind of consideration that I feel should be important to me - I don't self-identify as someone who specifically doesn't believe that the world is flat, so I don't see why I should self-identify as someone who specifically doesn't believe that God exists. It's far more important to just be decent to other people.)

Americans (hah!) often assume that because I'm British, I must have bad teeth. Which I find amusing, since as I understand it the stereotype came about when a lot of Irish people (Ireland is not part of Britain) emigrated to the US because they were so poor they didn't have a life in Ireland. And because they were so poor, they had bad diets and malnutrition and bad teeth is a common result of this. But, you know, since all the poor Irish left for the US, the ones who remained mostly have decent enough teeth. ;-)
(The reverse stereotype is that British people are often a bit weirded out by the way Americans appear to obsess over their teeth, with the so-called 'perfect' plastic-white smile that looks disturbing to a lot of British eyes.)

I've had people assume before that because I'm a wargamer, I probably have poor hygiene. Don't be silly, that's roleplayers! :3

I've had people assume that because I'm a Computer Scientist, I have trouble communicating and can't write well. This was only really irritating when I finished an English Language A-level and then in my first year of university had to take an insultingly basic "Writing for Computer Scientists" course which took up hours of my time that I could have devoted to something more interesting.


(And as it goes, I think pretty much all the Christians I know in the UK are fairly liberal, politically-speaking. We have more of a stereotype of the happy-clappy cardigan-wearing feelgood Christians who vote for the Green party - or the Liberal Democrats if they're more mainstream...)
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#6 Post by prezzey »

I'm Jewish, that leads to some strange stereotypes. I think my favorite is when people ask me if I can build a Golem. (Answer: no, but I can give you the instructions! ;) :mrgreen: ) That's really amusing! But otherwise the responses are really mixed. In Hungary, even one of my university professors tried to convince me we practiced human sacrifice! *headdesk*
Americans (hah!) often assume that because I'm British, I must have bad teeth. Which I find amusing, since as I understand it the stereotype came about when a lot of Irish people (Ireland is not part of Britain) emigrated to the US because they were so poor they didn't have a life in Ireland.
In Hungary I always hear this stereotype because many Brits fly to Hungary to get dental care (they do), because it's much cheaper than in the UK and the quality is more or less the same if you know where to go. Along the same lines, the entire Western border of Hungary is basically Dental Care for Austrians Town... there, that's a stereotype for you, but it does have some basis in reality :D I'm from there and my dentist also has a huge number of Austrian clients.

Ahh, I want to write more but I ran out of time~~
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#7 Post by sayuri »

I live in southern Louisiana so I've got lots of stereotypes.

I am hardcore Republican. No, not really. The government in Louisiana is a lot of backroom dealings. I don't support it though ;P.

I'm an uneducated hick live everyone in Louisiana. Frankly, I'm smart. I am a member of the NHS (National Honor Society) and go to a school that has a strict standard for admitance. And even the people that aren't very educated make up for it in personality. Southern hospitality ISN'T a myth, 90% of the people here are very welcoming and fun.

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Re: Your Stereotypes

#8 Post by IonicMomo »

Interesting thread...

Well...because I was raised in Mexico, I must be drug dealer and an illegal immigrant. I'm a university student with a large merit-based scholarship, a legal immigrant and soon-to-be citizen, I pay my taxes and work in a chemistry lab. I do not inhale, inject, or smoke anything in said chemistry lab. I am not a member of any gangs. I don't speak "Mexican." I do, however, speak Spanish.

Because I'm of South Asian descent (Indian), I must a super science genius and want to be a doctor or a computer scientist. Actually, I'm a political science major that's terrible at math and physics, and I know nothing about programming. (Why am I making a game, then?...Good question.) However, I do have very good grades and a 2360 SAT. (Not to brag or anything.) :D

For the same reason, I must also watch lots of Bollywood movies, have a thick accent, and smell bad. No, no, and I hope not.

Because I'm strongly liberal (politically) and I support the healthcare bill, I must be a communist or a Chavista pinko. No. Just no.

Because I'm very active in women's rights groups on campus and campaign for equal treatment/equal rights/social equality/etc., I must be some kind of butch lesbian feminazi manhater. First of all, as far as I know, I'm not a lesbian...I don't have anything against lesbianism, I just happen not to be one. I definitely don't hate men; equal rights means exactly that: equal. No one sex is better than the other.

Because I'm Buddhist and vegetarian, I must be some kind of hippie freak. Not at all. I really do practice Buddhism (and not in some poseur-like way...at least I hope not). I was raised in the religion...so fair enough on that point. But I do read a lot of the philosophy, practice meditation, etc. also. I also tire of people trying to "convert" me. I'm nontheist, but I do have a strong set of beliefs.
Americans (hah!) often assume that because I'm British, I must have bad teeth. Which I find amusing, since as I understand it the stereotype came about when a lot of Irish people (Ireland is not part of Britain) emigrated to the US because they were so poor they didn't have a life in Ireland.
I think this belief has more to do with the fact that Americans believe that the British don't have public water fluoridation? Or something like that. I don't know whether its true or not. :P
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#9 Post by KomiTsuku »

I'm a libertarian, I must support anarchy. Sorry, folks, but I stop several paces before that. We need government, just not a whole helluva lot of it.

I'm from Iowa, I must have grown up on a farm. I spent most of my life in a city of 300,000 people. If you stick me on a farm, I may know what a few of the thingies on the wall do, but I will never have used them before.

I had a low GPA in high school and college, I must not know a thing. Nope. Never turned in a piece of homework, still got near perfects on every test I took. I just find the idea of wasting time reviewing something I know hands-down to be deplorable. Teachers don't generally support my idea that learning is more important than education.

I have a mustache and act like I know what I'm talking about, I MUST know what I'm talking about. You wouldn't believe how many people are fooled by this mustache. Not only does it make people think I'm older, but that I'm very experienced. While I may be a genius, there are a lot of moments I'm praying they don't look any closer at my arguments than the stache.

I'm in the Air Force, so I must fly on a plane. One of the few stereotypes about me that is 100% spot on. The rest of it that says I'm an oil-grubbing American bent on blowing everyone up is completely false. For a peace-lovin' guy like me, those sorts of stereotypes hurt my feelings.

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Re: Your Stereotypes

#10 Post by Jake »

KomiTsuku wrote: I have a mustache and act like I know what I'm talking about, I MUST know what I'm talking about.
Over here, it would more likely be "you have a moustache, therefore you're probably gay". It's not the strongest association, but it's the only one I can think of to do with moustaches. I don't know whether or not gay people are supposed to know what they're talking about more frequently than straight people...

(It's a bit odd; I seem to recall reading that the British affectation for the moustache originally started with the occupation of India, since the Indians viewed facial hair as a sign of masculinity, and thus for a century or so having a moustache was generally supposed to show you were the opposite of gay... I guess maybe Freddie Mercury flipped it around for us, since moustaches were still popular into the '70s. Or maybe people just don't like to think about the '70s.)
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#11 Post by chronoluminaire »

Heh, I just saw a show last night which was the Gilbert & Sullivan show The Sorcerer (1870s), but adapted to be set in the 1970s instead. It worked rather well. The main male character had an awesome moustache, and was quite masculine... but then, they also adapted the third-act twist so that he was temporarily in love with a male character, so... Yeah, moustaches have a somewhat mixed association over here ^^;;
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#12 Post by KomiTsuku »

Yeah, that one exists here too, along with several others that aren't family friendly or true in the slightest... BAH! Not only can my mustache serve as both a parachute and radon filter, it's saved the world several times from aliens. True story! :P

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Re: Your Stereotypes

#13 Post by ludeshka »

Some of my characters look "gothic", so it means I'm a cutter.

I once got an invitation to a community of cutters because they could see from my work that I "understood the beauty of the blade" (Their words, not mine. XD) I've always wondered what the heck did they do in their cutter community. Maybe I should have accepted the invitation for antropologic purposes XDDD

In Argentina, a "goth" is viewed as kind of a "satanist". I often get asked "You must like Marilyn Manson a lot, right?" which is kind of like asking "You are a devil worshipper, right?" XD (The general public here doesn't get much farther than Marilyn Manson and devil worshipping when it comes to people wearing black clothes)

The funny thing is people also ask me if I'm a fundamentalist christian. Take your pick! :D

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Re: Your Stereotypes

#14 Post by number473 »

I think because I'm pretty intelligent and my training lies in more scientific fields, people do not expect me to be any good at creative things or interested in them. As such I tend to get passed over for such things with the assumption that I wouldn't be interested in doing them, whereas they're actually simple for me to do. I've bluffed my way through at least one research assignment where I didn't really have much clue what was going on, using my writing ability. Well, it was also always assumed that I would go into a career in a technical or scientific field even though I would rather have become a writer.

Another thing is that it's always assumed that I know everything and can fix any problem that goes wrong with a computer. Just because I spend a lot of time using them and know how to use them well, is no reason that I can troubleshoot any problem that comes up.
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Re: Your Stereotypes

#15 Post by Meems »

I'm Scottish, therefore I eat haggis - never tried the stuff.

I'm an art student, therefore I must be into drink and drugs - I have never taken illegal drugs and only drink on occasion.

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