A stereotype is a picture you have in your head about people who belong to a certain race, religion, country or whatever. For example, “Asians work hard”, “Black women are loud-mouths”, “Rich people are stuck up” and so on.
Stereotypes are mostly applied to the sorts of people you barely know. Because if you knew them well enough you would know that the stereotypes are somewhere between useless and wrong.
White Americans, for example, know that not all whites are the same. There are all kinds. But they do not see that blacks and Asians are also like that, that they have all kinds too. Instead whites stereotype them and think they are all alike because of their race: blacks are like this, Asians are like that.
Because stereotypes are spread through education, television and so on, because they are almost the air you breathe, sometimes you even believe the stereotypes about your own kind. Like some black men believe that black women are hard to get along with.
Stereotypes work by confirmation bias, what I call the Texas Cowboy Hat Effect. If you do not live in Texas you might think plenty of people there wear cowboy hats. And if you go to Texas you will notice the one or two who do wear cowboy hats and forget about the hundreds and thousands who do not.
No matter what the stereotype is, there will always be people who fit it. There are loud-mouthed black women, there are stuck-up rich people, there are hard-working Asians. But these people get remembered because they fit the stereotype and the others are forgotten: the quiet black women, the drunken Asians, the down-to-earth rich people. And so on.
Some think that stereotypes are a well-meaning but imperfect attempt to understand others. Well, no. It is much worse than that, at least when it comes to race in America.
Every stereotype that I have looked into has an ugly little secret that it is hiding, even the ones that sound good and seem to have some truth to them.
The Aunt Jemima or Mammy stereotype about black women, for example. It is dying out now but it was the main way white Americans thought of black women in the early 1900s. It pictures black women as fat, dark-skinned, ugly, middle-aged, happy and white-people-loving. This stereotype started in the early 1800s at a time when black household slaves were in fact just the opposite of all this: thin, light-skinned, pretty, young, unhappy and white-people-hating. And raped repeatedly. The Mammy stereotype started out as a huge lie to hide what was going on.
Most stereotypes about race in America are the same way: they are not so much about blacks or Asians as an attempt to hide an uncomfortable truth about whites from themselves.
Stereotypes allow whites to feel good about themselves and remain blind to their own racism – even though the stereotypes are themselves racist!
See also:
- confirmation bias
- Race in America
- Stereotypes about black women
- Stereotypes about black men:
- Stereotypes about white women
- Stereotypes about Asians:
What about your stereotype of white people?
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I only have one so far. See under “See also”. This list is not complete. I will add others in the future.
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Aww KrisTina… the lord will see you through.
But I do have a question about the whitest girl name list.
Can I say CLAIRE HUXTABLE my black woman role model other than my own momma!
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‘Oceanic Negroes’
http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2010/June/06-22-13.htm
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‘White Americans, for example, know that not all whites are the same. There are all kinds. But they do not see that blacks and Asians are also like that, that they have all kinds too. Instead whites stereotype them and think they are all alike because of their race: blacks are like this, Asians are like that.’
You just stereotyped whites that is such a hypocritical statement! Not all whites think like that!
I’ve often experienced the opinion that in western countries where whites are not the minority it is assumed that they do not experience racism and are racist themselves. Equality is equality for everyone not just minorities.
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White Americans, for example, know that not all whites are the same. There are all kinds. But they do not see that blacks and Asians are also like that, that they have all kinds too. Instead whites stereotype them and think they are all alike because of their race: blacks are like this, Asians are like that.
But Abagond, your entire opus is based on the notion that “whites are like that”.
In fact, much of the “people of color” rhetoric that flies out of the mouths of people like Ank Mié on this site is based upon the presumption that whites, white supremacy and racism is ever essentially the same – so congruent that she, a Black anglo, can “intuitively” understand the experience of any “person of color” on the planet due to identical run-ins with white people.
Is this not a stereotype?
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“White Americans, for example, know that not all whites are the same. There are all kinds. But they do not see that blacks and Asians are also like that, that they have all kinds too. Instead whites stereotype them and think they are all alike because of their race: blacks are like this, Asians are like that.”
So you just stereotyped ‘white people’ by saying ‘white people’ don’t know better than to apply AND believe all negative stereotypes? Really?
Hypocrite much?
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It is quite clear that all the previous comments were written by white people. There are no harmful white stereotypes that hold them back because America is run by white people for white people. For instance, no employer is going to refuse to give you a job if you’re white because he believes white people are more likely to be drug addicts. Which is statistically true; whites abuse drugs at a rate much higher than any minority group. Approximately 90% of heroin addicts in America today are young white people in living in the suburbs. Meth use is a white-majority affair. Cocaine is a drug used primarily by affluent whites and drugs LSD and mushrooms are dominated by whites. Even crack cocaine use was dominated by whites in its peak in the 80’s and early 90’s. But there is no widely held stereotype that whites are more likely to be drug addicts because of this. The cultural tendency for white Americans do to more drugs does not hold them back. Even though blacks are less likely to use drugs, blacks make up the majority of people charged with drug offenses. White privilege much?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/28/316673753/todays-heroin-addict-is-young-white-and-suburban
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/racial-disparity-drug-use_n_3941346.html
Stereotypes of minorities effect us negatively in our daily lives. Black men are believed to be hyper violent and criminal by nature. This leads to aggressive racial profiling and Oscar Grant incidents. Studies have concluded that a black man with a clean record has the same chances of getting a job as a white man who is a convicted felon. Other studies have concluded black men with college degrees have less wealth than white men who are high school dropouts.
http://www.demos.org/blog/9/23/14/white-high-school-dropouts-have-more-wealth-black-and-hispanic-college-graduates
Asian men are stereotyped as effeminate and emasculated in the mainstream American media. This is why a poll conducted during Obama’s first run for president in 2008 concluded that most Americans were less comfortable seeing an Asian American president as opposed to a black one. The emasculated portrayal of Asian men has caused them to be seen as “undateable”. Even Asian women buy into the stereotype as Asian American women have the highest outmarriage rate of any group. Similarly, stereotypes of black women as being unattractive, bossy and aggressive have mad them “undateables” in American society. It is odd seeing both Asian American men and black women are statistically two of the most educated groups on average.
http://shine.forharriet.com/2014/03/black-women-are-most-educated-group-in.html#axzz3Rx06rkCI
Add to the fact that Asian men stereotypically make more money and black women stereotypically have curvier bodies. Yet, the negative stereotypes make both black women and Asian men seem “undateable” to men and women of all races, respectively.
Also, POC who are more stereotypical are portrayed as being more successful in the mainstream media and in the American collective consciousness. But this is harmful to the average person of color. Viacom and Radio One celebrate Jay-Z, an alleged former crack dealer from the Marcy projects in Brooklyn who used his bloody drug money and hustler tales to build a multimillion dollar dynasty. Because of this, every impressionable misguided black male from the projects to the suburbs wants to follow the Jay-Z from crack rocks to riches format which lands the average black male in Pelican Bay, not Paris. Celebrated black NBA and NFL players from the hood are worshipped and paid millions of dollars a year. The more stereotypically ignorant and ghetto these black NFL and NBA players are, the more popular and respected they are (i.e. Marshwan Lynch). Cohesively, Asian men who are nerdy excel in careers like Technology, Science and Math. That’s what they’re expected to do. Good luck if you’re an Asian gangsta rapper from the streets of Long Beach, San Francisco or Oakland trying to break into the mainstream sphere.
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@Lunatic Village
well, we do have MC Jin – the only guy who comes anywhere close to mainstream rap.
I suppose you can understand the significance of people like Jeremy Lin – passed over time and time again until his chance came – definitely need more to break those stereotypes. I don’t think it has been broken yet.
What do we need now? A black person winning the Nobel Prize for science or medicine?
Do you think Asian men and black women in the USA see each other as undateable?
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@ jefe
There are literally tons of underground Asian gangster rappers from California who have sizable to large followings; but you would never hear their songs played on Clear Channel and Radio One outlets (i.e. any mainstream FM radio station or MTV/BET Jams). For example, Ezale, a Cambodian American rapper from the Funktown neighborhood in extremely multicultural East Oakland, has gained a pretty large underground fanbase and many of his videos have well over a million views on Youtube. Bay Area ghetto culture is ironically often shockingly colorblind and inclusive being that cities like Oakland and Vallejo top the most diverse and integrated cities lists. Ezale is rumored to be signed to Bay Area legend E-40’s Sick-Wid-It Records.
But when it comes to depictions of Asian men in pop culture, non-Asian Americans are only really comfortable with the Long Duk Dong/nerd stereotypes. This is why Indonesian rapper Rich Chigga’s “Dat Stick” video went viral and has amassed millions of views in only a few months because the Indonesian teenager looks like a stereotypical nerd sporting a tight pink polo shirt and a fanny pack desperately trying to fit in to “cool” American culture like a new age William Hung. “Dat Stick” is entertaining to white people in generic American suburbia because a nerdy Asian boy is supposed to be the last person able to drop a sick trunk rattling Southside Chicago style Drill song/video.
There is a growing push for Asian men and black women to start dating each other. There are social media outlets and dating sites particularly founded for black women and Asian men to connect.
But I think the average black woman and Asian man are not attracted to one another. The love might not be always requited on either end. And if some are, they may feel like stereotypes divide them. They worry too much about what outsiders think about their union. I also think the average Asian man would sooner date a white woman and the average black woman would sooner date a white man. Above average attractive Asian men and black women seem to date within in their race. But black women and Asian men are similar in that even when they are very much above average in looks, career, personality and income, they are still more likely to be terminally single, treated with contempt and frequently disrespected because of ugly racial stereotypes that don’t even apply to them personally.
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