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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.
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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.]