Stereotypes

Prejudice, are merely against for anyone for any reasons as they were defined(Rand, Sowell, & Epstein, 2007). Prejudice, a feeling based not a belief based, is referred to as unconstructive judgment or opinion figured out lacking familiarity and knowledge on facts. It is only a feeling based on assumptions without considering any prior facts about the group being prejudge. Prejudice is often based on stereotype. One great cause of prejudice is the differences on skills, talents, beliefs and experience even though sometimes these differences benefit us.

For an instance, on social classes, we feel wealthy classes are said to be superior to any other classes in society. Stereotype is referred to conventional opinion as any mental image of social group regardless of individual differences. At some point, stereotype can also be seen in positive outlook, for an instance the stereotype for Asian Americans being good in the field of Mathematics. Stereotype is sometimes the foundation of prejudice. Discrimination being known to as prejudice in action, it referred to as the unlikely treatment for other people in terms of race, culture or religion.

An example is the discrimination on African Americans due to their color, treating them unequally from the White Americans(Educators, 2006). Prejudice, stereotype and discriminations have some negative impacts on the society as they may are said to be harmful behaviors. It may lead to limitations of opportunities for people who said to be of lesser standard than others (Phone, 2007). The limitations may be of many cases like in popularity, achieving no equal rights to gain popularity. In employment and promotion, only those think and believe to be capable of the job were brought in to employment and get promoted.

In having rights and power, like the black who does not have equal privileges as white ones. The Scenerio Prejudice, stereotype and discrimination on the scenario or case of Elizabeth who is a second-grade school teacher is exemplified. There exists discrimination when he only praises Walt than Ricky, just because Ricky comes from a lower class society and on the other hand Walt from middle class, Elizabeth provides not equal treatment as should praise both of them when answers correctly and should giving a helping hand for both of the students whenever they commit mistake which was merely opposite to the scenario.

The action done by Elizabeth is the harmful behavior of discrimination. She shows no favorable response for Ricky being in the lower class. Stereotypically speaking, the scenario shows stereotype behavior because Elizabeth believes that Walt has greater knowledge the Ricky. Elizabeth may be in doubt of Ricky’s intelligence that is why she does have not significant time praising him and helping him and not giving equal chances for both students to show what they have got..

And also the prejudice behavior relates with stereotype, while Elizabeth believes not for Ricky’s capabilities, she does a pre judgment that maybe Ricky will took hard time to cope up even though it is only his opinion. And that opinion may lead to hasty generalization or wrong generalization. The scenario or case being tackled is only one of those situations that involve prejudice, stereotype and discrimination. The case may affect both students, Walt and Ricky, but in opposite and much different manner. For Walt, it may be a positive effect on him for instance that he may live a world with praises which can help him develop self esteem.

On the other hand, Ricky might suffer fear of interacting with other people of different class with him. He may become a victim of limitations from opportunities as one of the main result of prejudice, stereotype and discrimination. He might also lose his privilege and freedom to learn and also his right as a child to new more about his world and surroundings. Implicit Association Test In connection with prejudice, stereotype and discrimination, I took the Implicit Association Test. This test shows whether I had hidden biases towards different people. In the IAT, I took the Weapons (‘Weapons – Harmless Objects’ IAT) .

An IAT which require the ability to recognize White and Black faces and associate them with images of weapons or harmless objects. The result of my test was your data suggest a slight association of Black Americans with Weapons compared to White Americans (corp. , 2007). The result dictates that I slightly relate harmful objects with Black Americans which I think not necessary true to myself. Maybe the pressure of doing the test with time limit also affects the result because of my eagerness to finish the test. I don’t consider Black Americans as harmful people and so I assume that the research tool was not accurate.

The Implicit Association test is I can say a not reliable or accurate tool to be used. Many things could affect the result, it can be affected by being right handed or left handed either. The key we are able to press most likely just conform to our most used hand or finger. Another one was the pressure on time, where it is also stated there that we just need to press the right key in a short time. Even though as I have said not accurate tool to used, It is only matters for the reason the it is an interesting and enjoying tool for us to know about our hidden biases on different races, culture or religion.

Reference:

corp., I. (2007). You have completed the Race – Weapons IAT. [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 29, 2007 from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Study?tid=-1.

Educators. (2006). Dealing with Stereotyping, Prejudice, Discrimination, and Scapegoating [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 29, 2007 from http://www.esrnational.org/antidiscriminationlesson.htm.

Phone, K. H. (2007). Violence/Abuse [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 29, 2007 from http://kidshelp.sympatico.ca/en/informed/sub_prejudices.asp?sec=3&sb=2.

Rand, A., Sowell, T., & Epstein, R. (2007). Ethnic Prejudice, Stereotypes, Discrimination, and the Free Market [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 29, 2007 from http://www.friesian.com/discrim.htm.

What you see is not always what you get In a society highly influenced by the media, stereotypes are used sometimes in a comedic way. In Harold and Kumar go to White Castle one of the main themes the movie is poking fun at is how stereotypes affect the lives of the two main characters one being of Korean decent and the other Indian. The movie opens introducing the first character Harold. The audience sees that he is an Asian male working in a cubicle for a banking company.

The scene turns to Harold’s co-workers who are both white in an office that is nicer and bigger to that of Harold, discussing how they are going to have fun and party for the weekend when one of them has much work to do, so one of them suggests having someone else do it. The scene gives the impression that the two white co-workers are the main characters of the movie as the introductory scene shows primarily the two co-workers and have the most dialogue in the brief intro; however, later the audience will notice that they are not seen again until the end of the movie.What this scene is shown to do is to make humor out of a normalized stereotype of the Asian American group. As this scene will be analyzed, the normalized stereotypes of Asians in society is highly recognizable in American culture and media, as it negatively privileges the Asian group while obscuring Americans insecurity of their own part in society. In today’s world most people are born with an identity already established for them. Generalized perceptions or a stereotype of a single group has instigated prejudice.With cultural representations already determined by the outside world, many strive to break such representations in order to form their own identity and not what was given to them.

It has increasingly more difficult for one to break such representation due to factors in society normalizing these representations with the use of the media. The media has become a powerful tool in promoting such representation of groups. Stereotypes surround the whole world we live in and are unavoidable.No matter what we do, depending on our personality, attire, or even our hairstyle everyone fits into some sort of stereotype even by a little. The definition of a stereotype is a standardized conception or idea of a group of people (Hurst). Even though most stereotypes aren’t true there is a reason why they exist and continue to thrive. Stereotypes have flourished continually as the world has become more and more globalized.

Especially in the United States one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world.As stereotypes exist they have consequently affected the way that a particular individual or group lives in society. One particular representation that will be analyzed is the stereotypes of Asians in popular media, the movie Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and along with my own personal experiences being in the group within Asian Stereotypes will be used to assess the topic. Back at the beginning of this paper an introductory scene was described of the film Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Even though the scene is only about a few minutes many representations can be noted.The scene implements key normalized stereotypes seen in the public eye. The particular stereotype of Asian group has been connected to the term “Model Minority” which applies positive traits as a stereotype.

The traits include qualities such as being hardworking, intelligent, studious, productive, and also inoffensive people. Also known to increase their social status through merit. The biggest opposition to the view is that it exaggerates the success of Asians. This false empowerment given by the stereotype covers up true problems that are faced by the Asian community.The belief that Asians are harder workers and thus leading to higher earning jobs has led to a more difficult level of climbing the work ladder into higher wage jobs, otherwise known as the glass ceiling phenomena: The definition “The Glass Ceiling” refers to an invisible barrier that limits the level to which a woman or another member of a demographic minority can advance within the hierarchy in an organization. It often is a barrier that confronts Ethnic Americans in addition to women when trying to reach upper management levels in many companies (Hester, 2007)Corresponding to the glass ceiling phenomena, the model minority stereotype has been believed to been the cause that Asians must acquire more education and work more hours than their white counterparts to earn the same amount of money. We will go back to the same scene mentioned at the beginning and continue.

The scene described before shows Harold the Korean descendent character working tenaciously in his cubicle filling out forms and papers and he is then approached by the two co-workers mentioned earlier that were contemplating how they are going to party over the weekend when they have work to do.Afterwards it shows the two co-workers giving Harold a pile of their papers and folders then persuading Harold to do the work for them with Harold then unenthusiastically accepting the task. Afterwards the scene shows the two co-workers in this short dialogue Co-worker 1: “Wow! That was amazing; I can’t believe how easy that was” Co-worker 2: “Dude, how do you think I get all my shit done? Those Asian guys just love crunching numbers. You probably just made his weekend. (Both leave laughing)Then the camera pans over to Harold as he shouts “Fuck! ” The co-workers connect the traits of the stereotype to what they just did and sarcastically believe they did Harold a favor. What can be shown here in relation to the model minority stereotype is that Harold now has to do more work than is required of him for his white counterparts. However doing this extra work will not earn him more money or any merit while his white counterpart will be doing less work and receiving the same credit as Harold is.

The dialogue shows that the co-workers jokingly believe they are doing Harold a favor due to his traits which allows him to do such tasks; however, the ending of the scene shows Harold shouting “Fuck! ” which can be seen as epitomizing reaction of Asians frustrations towards how this stereotype has affected them. The scene shows rebellion towards the label of the model minority. This shows that even though the model minority label credits Asians with strong qualities in the end negatively affects them.What does the scene show about the white co-workers? The scene shows the co-workers of Harold irresponsibly passing off their work for someone else to do. This characteristic shows laziness in the white co-workers. This part of the scene was a way to laugh at both Harold and also the two white co-workers. Why was this funny? The thing is that it’s sometimes true that these kinds of situations occur that is where the audience connects the humor in the situation.

The scene reveals an abnormal of how Americans are usually viewed.Americans have been known to be hard workers through fighting for freedom through the revolution to rising to one of the most powerful countries of the 20th century. Time goes on being on top, strong qualities can be seen to be fading away. The polarity is seen as Harold the Korean is hard working while the white co-workers are not. In the scene the white co-workers are laughing away semi-sadistically as they leave the building after taking advantage of their Asian co-worker. The significance of this is that the laughing disguises the white co-workers insecurity of their own work ethic is not as strong.Using the model minority stereotype has in a way been used to exploit as shown in the scene with the white co-workers using the stereotype to use Harold as a work horse.

Even though the two white co-workers can’t represent Americans it can represent a whole different stereotype to be uncovered America has had a history in dealing with Asians in the past. Around the 19th century a term known as the “Yellow Peril” developed as a fear to the increasing number of Asians would immigrate to the United States and would fill the country with foreign culture, speech, and even take away jobs from Americans.The fear that the hard working Asians would take away American’s position in the working world, a satire to the response of that fear is shown in the scene as it shows Harold has been used as a crutch to hold up the co-workers in power. In Amitava Kumar’s Language, a violent example is seen when Kumar describes the murder of Vincent Chin who was murdered by two white autoworkers in Detroit. During so he was called a “Jap” and told “It’s because of you motherfuckers that we’re out of work. ”(p. 05, Critical Encounters With Text).

Chin was murdered due to his ethnic identity which in some correlation was believed to put those auto workers out of work. Chin was murdered because in the view of the autoworkers was that he was somehow associated with the ethnic group that had replaced them. It could be that the people who replaced them were more efficient, harder working, or demanded lower wages. Whatever it was, they did not confront the face they themselves had anything to do with the fact they were out of work.Which is something that has become a problem in society is that people blame each other and do not choose to confront how they could have caused a certain event. The model minority stereotype has also affected my life personally being of Korean decent. Being part of the model minority stereotypes has caused to build expectations since we are expected to live up to our peers which fall into that category.

In elementary school, I remember asking my teachers for help and noticed some reluctance in doing so. Then I saw my teachers helping other students seeming more inclined to help.This situation made it seem to me that I had to work a little harder than my peers in school. In high school, some teachers took personal offence if it seemed as I underperformed on an assignment believing I wasn’t trying or was being lazy. Even though if I tried hard and didn’t do well it was disappointing to see teachers lose faith due to a misinterpretation. All of these things were built upon the general assumptions brought on by the model minority stereotype, has made it so it was abnormal to not follow the trend of such a view.Assumptions are natural impulses that most cannot avoid to do.

As human beings no matter what we see, there is some sort of impression that most of us come towards even without knowing the person. Some of these assumptions are guided from varying reasons including friends, family, face, hair, ethnicity, attire, gender, and the media. We analyzed how a particular scene in the film Harold and Kumar go to White Castle exemplifies a generalized assumption. Also a brief personal account on how the stereotype has affected me.Stereotypes create unfairness as it classifies groups based on assumptions. Awareness of the consequences of stereotypes will help the problems associated with it. Stereotypes will continue to die down as long as the world is becoming more and more globalized.

So therefore groups and cultures in America will become more connected with each other as time goes on causing familiarity, bringing down assumptions on a group and with this the concept, true equal opportunity will continue to become stronger.Works Cited Jon Hurwitz, Danny Leiner, Hayden Schlossberg . Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. (2001) • Amitava Kumar. “Language,” by, reprinted from Passport Photos by permission of University of California Press. (2000) • Hurst, Charles E. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences.

6. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc, 2007 • Ruth Hester, published May 21, 2007 http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/248276/the_glass_ceiling_and_its_effect_on. html? cat=3 • Amy Kashiwabara, 1996

edu/MRC/Amydoc.html”>http://www. lib. berkeley. edu/MRC/Amydoc. html

Introduction

The judgments we make about people, events or places are based on our own direct impressions. But for most of the knowledge, we rely on media. The media actually re-present the world to us. However, the media only shows us some aspects of the world, ignoring the rest. So basically, the media chooses what is to be shown and what is to be discarded (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). . In this essay, I will explain what stereotypes are and primarily give an example of a famous men’s magazine called ‘nuts’ and explain how these stereotypes are created by print and the digital media and what are their impacts on people.

Stereotypes can be defined as an exaggerated belief about an individual or a group based on their appearance, behavior or beliefs. Though our world seems to be improving in many other ways, it seems almost impossible to emancipate it from stereotypes. Today, the media is so powerful that it can make or break an image of a person and also can change the views of the audience.

‘Gender refers to the cultural nature of the differences between the natural biological sexes of male and female’ (Long, P & Wall, T (2009)). Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human beings. The media mostly portrays men as strong, masculine, tough, hard and independent while women are shown as fragile, soft, clean and mostly ‘sexy’. Whatever the role, television, film and popular magazines are full of images of women and girls who are typically white, desperately thin, and tailored to be the perfect woman. The representation of women on the print and the visual media mostly tend to be stereotypical, in terms of societal expectations (mediaknowall.com).

These days, most of the fashion magazines are full of white girls with large breasts and small waist. Beauty ideas are commonly represented in such magazines. The appearance of the women in these ad’s focus on every little feature of a woman which includes the darkness/lightness of the skin, the eye colour, the appearance of the hair, how her nose is shaped, if she has luscious lips and various other physical traits, so basically it tells us a woman should look perfect (edubook.com). One will see a white female with pouting red lips and the very petite body that resembles a thirteen-year-old girl. The extremely artificial women and the heavily photo-shopped pictures in these ad’s create a norm and make those women who look differently, feel insecure of who they are and make them feel as if they are less of a woman, for example they tend to over represent the Caucasian, blonde with bright eyes, white complexion and a petite body. This is an unattainable beauty for most women, which has caused many to develop issues such as eating disorders, depression and the very much talked about these days, anorexia.

Ferguson (1983) conducted a study of young women’s magazines and found that they promote a traditional idea of femininity. They promoted the idea that girls should aspire to be beautiful in order to get a husband (Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009)). It is true that some women might want it but in most the cases they learn it from their mothers or the media. For instance, girls should wear pink and boys should wear blue, this is another stereotype, which is in our heads since we were children.

Most of the people think that these magazines promote self- improvement, but in reality, it has caused self-destruction of women. When a popular news-show host Greta Van Susteren moved from CNN to Fox, she not only had a makeover but she went under the knife and changed her face to appear younger and more “beautiful”. When her new show, ‘On the Record’ got on air, her hair was changed and she sat behind a table so that the viewers could see her short skirt and legs (media-awareness.ca).

A good example of this representation is a magazine claiming to be UK’s no1 lad magazine, The ‘Nuts’ magazine. It presents women in a stereotypical manner. This may be because the magazine editors believe that sex sells. In addition men’s lifestyle magazines have also accepted the fact that sexually objectified women sell more magazines, which I believe is somewhat true these days. In order to attract male target audience, Nuts promotes pornography as it is very pornographic in its content, as such it has increased the use of female stereotypes ” as sex objects” that is. Every Nuts magazine cover has a pretty woman with beautiful assets, possibly with her arms stretched out, posing on the front page. With ‘NUTS’ written in Red, which denotes or classifies passion or heat (Branston& Stafford 2010) and also denotes love, lust and sex. The women are also shown posing in a sexually manner. This to portray them as sexual objects and inferior to men and make them stand out on front covers, they are dehumanized as only parts of their bodily features are mostly shown to the audience, and enforcing the idea of that women are to be looked at and have no physical or emotional feelings. The way women are depicted in Nuts magazine are stereotyped as sex objects, fulfilling the buyer’s dream, women depicted with good looks and no brains as all the women in the magazine has one thing in common, they are all very beautiful.

In the television industry, men are shown as dominant while women are shown as passive. The television industry can easily tell a woman that there is something wrong with her. Her hair isn’t straight/curly enough, her skin isn’t white enough or even maybe her teeth aren’t white enough (quchronicle.com). Millions of women across the world are working as doctors, lawyers, teachers and journalists. It’s not their job to be perfect; no matter what the media might try to make them believe. A popular American sitcom ‘bewitched’, even though the main character Samantha was a woman but she was shown as a dependant, typical suburban housewife.

Various advertisements, not just those in women’s magazines, have created numerous unfair stereotypes towards women. Take for instance women in beer advertisements. Although beer advertisements are not typically in women’s magazines, they depict how women should be represented in society. In these ads, women are often seen as just an attractive background prop, which clearly show us that is only to attract men to the product.

Mostly, the magazines represent only one type of woman who is only seen to be a decorative individual. In these magazines, women are hardly represented as successful, working, independent individuals, which is the reality these days. They’re shown as unsuccessful good for nothing individuals who depend on their husbands for everything. The pressure that the mass media has put on women and femininity has caused numerous individuals to go through drastic measures to change how they look, since they have made only one type of woman seem normal. These representations have become a window to gender relations in our society, which has reinforced the depiction of women that society has had for years. Women’s magazines in no way should make only the tall, thin, and young feel beautiful and should begin representing women in a more realistic view.

To conclude, the mass media is at complete fault of the representation that many individuals have of women. They have been seen as over-sexed individuals who are made to do housework and raise children. There are very few magazine ads that represent women in the workplace or as independent individuals. These stereotypes are even though somewhere changing but it’s almost impossible to completely demolish all the stereotypes related to women.

Bibliography:

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Andrew Pilkington and Alan Yeo (2009). Sociology in focus for AQA A2 Level. 2nd ed. Britain: Causeway Press.p99-112.

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