...In a country that spends about $55-billion on cosmetics, it is no surprise that 82% of women apply makeup to increase their self-confidence (Cash, 1989, p.351). This depressing statistic means that only 18% of women do not need to apply makeup to increase their self-confidence. In today’s American society, we are constantly bombarded by images of flawless, perfect figured girls in the media. The media is allowed to set the beauty standard, and its presence can become harmful towards women, and society as a whole. The media reinforces its message through a number of outlets such as: advertisements, social media, and magazines, ultimately making its influence inescapable. Although it may be too late to change the media’s grip on our generation,...
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...“Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space” Stereotypes affect different individuals regardless race, religion, sex, and creed. In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” Brent Staples demonstrates how a stereotype on race and sex can intervene with one another. Each point, whether a narrative or remark, can have positive and negative outcomes on the audience Staples is trying to enlighten. His thesis, the ability to alter public space through racial stereotypes, affected him as well as many other persons of his stature and skin color. It not only influenced lives of people like Staples, but infringed onto the “victims” of Staples and others like him. Staples explains his thesis throughout the essay through narratives of incidents in his life. He explains one encounter with a young white women, “on a deserted street, in an impoverished section of Chicago” (556). She glances back at him and disappears off into the dark. In paragraph two, Staples understands her thoughts of him being a mugger, a rapist, or even a murderer; but “her flight” made him feel “like an accomplice tyranny” (556). It also made him feel like he was “indistinguishable from the muggers,” and laid on him and “unnerving gulf between nighttime pedestrians—particularly women” and himself (556). This confrontation not only shows how a stereotype affected the thoughts of a female walking at night, but how it negatively touched a black male...
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...A stereotype isn't a sign of ignorance but stereotyping is. Stereotyping is ignorance because it shows that you automatically assume that one person is the same as everyone else. In this short essay, Cofer describes her personal experiences of being a Latin woman, and the struggles she has had to face with ethnic stereotyping. As we know, appearance plays a huge role in the way that individuals are perceived especially when dealing with different races. In this particular story, an educated Latina woman was often perceived as something she was completely different from. In various instances, the author was underestimated because of her Latin beauty and exotic features. Cofer describes how in one instance a man on the bus reenact “Maria” scene from “Westside Story “in front of her. And even though she was aggravated, she tried to keep her cool despite everyone around her was laughing and applauding. Cofer emphasizes her objection of Latin women being compared to foods such as “Hot Tamale”, or being described as “sizzling” as opposed to using other words to describe the beauty of Latin women. Besides explaining how she was often looked upon as an object rather than a woman, Cofer talks about how she would get confused with the waiting staff. Just because of the stereotype of most Hispanic women being part of waiting staff or cleaning services. Cofer describes an incident that occurred at a restaurant where she was one of the readers during open reader night. A woman thought...
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...Met a Girl Named Maria” is about the racist stereotypes that she has encountered in her life. Cofer is known for the publishing of three collections of poetry, four essay collections, four novels, and short story collections. Cofer is currently “Regents’ and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia” (230). In this essay Cofer often experiences being stereotyped based off her beauty and ethnic background. Cofer is a beautiful Hispanic woman “who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool” (231), as she stated in the beginning of the essay. Cofer begins the essay by relating an experience where a drunk man started singing "Maria”, from "Westside Story” (231) to her, while she is on a bus trip to London from Oxford. Cofer tries to keep her cool even though everyone around her finds it entertaining. Cofer states “I managed my version of an English smile: no show of teeth, no extreme contortions of facial muscles. . .” (231). At this moment, Cofer is aggravated by the actions of the drunk man but tries to keep her composure. Cofer feels that just because she is beautiful that does not...
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...How Stereotypes Affect Us In this video Claude Steele tells about his research on stereotype threat and the way it affects us. Each of us has social identities such as gender, age, race, sexuality etc. Stereotype threat is an experience of being in situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one of your identities is relevant. African American can be seen as a violent person in a neighborhood with predominantly white people or white student can be perceived as a racist in class that is predominantly nonwhite, that are some of examples of stereotype threat. Dealing with things, because of particular identity in particular place that what makes the identity real. We often have fear to be judged in terms of negative stereotype. That can make us sad and confused, but also it can affect our behavior and performance! One of experiments was related to stereotype that women are not as good in math as men. Both women and men were taking math exam sitting in one room. Women showed worse results than men. That happened, because women were worried about this stereotype (often unconsciously), so they have to put double efforts to perform under this pressure. But when before test participants were told that in this particular test everyone (men and women) do equally all the time, women get same good results as men! Same situation was with IQ test for white and black participants. Black got lower results when were told that this is a test to measure intelligence...
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...Everyone has experienced a stereotype directed towards them once in their life whether it be based on race, gender, status, physical ability or appearance. People who use stereotypes fail to realize the impact it could have on the receiver of the statements. In most cases, stereotypes are not accurate and marginalize people, making them feel distanced from society. The essays “Disability” by Nancy Mairs and “Fatso” by Cheryl Peck both deal with women who have been pushed to edges of normal society due to their stereotypical identities. “Disability” is about a woman who has trouble walking and uses a wheelchair, due to being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The author is disappointed by how she is seen as physically dependent on people and...
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...Gender stereotypes and discrimination in the workplace Introduction Organisations need to participation of diversity gender in workplace, which is very necessary, whereas, still have gender stereotypes and gender discrimination in the workplace. Stereotype refers to individual or specific types of people who have stationary characteristic when people think. As Michael P. (2001) said, stereotypes like a bias when people always accustomed to the mechanical classification to a specific person as a typical representative of class of persons and even the evaluation of certain types of people as a personal evaluation. Basically, stereotyping can turn into discrimination if people misunderstand a bias and undertaking upon it in a negative manner. This essay will concern the gender issue involving stereotyping in workplace when a person was supposed set of common characters and behaviours of particular gender. In addition, having gender discrimination tendency when stereotype turn into a negative manner in workplace and gender discrimination becoming a big problem in workplace, this essay will considered managers and employees how to face this problem and how to solve it. In the following lines gender stereotypes and discrimination in workplace will be involved with the help of literature. Main Body * Gender stereotypes 1. Definition for Gender Stereotypes The gender issue involving stereotyping in the workplace is when a person applies an assumed set of common traits...
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...Baseille Richardson 11/16/11 ` Gender defender Many stereotypes have developed over the years for males. The stereotypes help mold the image of how society views an ideal man. However, some stereotypes are outdated and in some cases, far from the truth, leading to inaccurate assumptions of how a male is suppose to act or think. Women also have old common stereotypes, but they are less prominent since it’s becoming common knowledge that those stereotypes don’t fit the majority anymore in today’s day and age. These male stereotypes only single out and amplify societal pressure on men. Not only pressure from other women but on fellow males. Male stereotypes portray males in the wrong light and can hinder the social development and acceptance for one who does not fit into the ideal view of a man. In Judy Brady’s, “I Want a Wife” Brady takes a satirical approach to showcasing how men think when evaluating a wife. She plays the role of a typical male and lists all the attributes this male would love to have for a wife. He wants his wife to cook, clean and take care of the kids. He also wants the wife to listen to him when he wants her to, but doesn’t want to feel obligated to listen to her when she needs to(361 Brady). However, this essay is a dated essay written around 1970, so these views are very old and should be seen as absurd in the present day. Surprisingly, some women still feel this is an accurate portrayal of men’s thoughts on a female partner. One female...
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...the racism and stereotypes of all colors. It spreads the fictions of whiteness around the world. Therefore, these movies: Tarzan, The Ape Man; Leave it to Beaver; Bringing Down the House and White chicks will bring a closer view about the difference between “white” and “un-white” character be described. Also, the introduction and chapter one of “Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media” has provide a broad, critical overview of film primarily from and about the “Third World”. In chapter one “From Eurocentrism to Polycentrism”, they reviewed standard criticism of view in literary in cinematic work. This essay is aims defined the stereotypical images and roles of African Americans in films. First of all, the movie “Tarzan, The Ape Man” is the fairly easy target for people interested in the perpetuation of anti-black stereotypes. Tarzan is presented as a naked savage who doesn’t learn to wear clothes. It’s racist when in the movie, when Tarzan warning Jane and her father that Tarzan, the owner of the jungles has killed beasts and many black men. He pelts animals with thrown objects to torment them. He kills animals for pleasure. To Tarzan all blacks are lower. Besides, in the movie, the Africans of the Mbongan tribe are cannibalism, superstitious, contemptible and debased. Here it come the love of Tarzan, Jane a “white” woman is defined as beautiful, and apparently resourceful and intelligent. However, Esmeralda is presented as a black nanny stereotype. Her character...
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...Society and Our Stereotypical Views Everything we do and say could have an everlasting effect on the people around us. Stereotypes are one of the easiest ways to make someone feel uncomfortable and out of place. The essays “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “Celebrating Nerdiness” by Tom Rogers both show us how the stereotypes we label each other with can affect the people around us. Stereotypes can be very hurtful and misleading. In the essay written by Brent Staples, the author shows us how difficult it is to be a black man in New York City at night. The preconceived notions associated with black men lead people, predominately women, to mistake the main character for a thief, a rapist, and even a murderer. Similarly, the essay written by Tom Rogers sheds light on the conventionalized ideas associated with nerds, or smart kids in school. Rogers explains his enthusiasm to answer questions in class, and his son's ability to name all of the elements...
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...The Consequences of Stereotypes A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). People stereotypes based on the environment they were raised in and the situations they have been put in. Another disadvantage is after prejudging someone you will make generalizations about more people in or out of their community. The consequences to stereotyping can be missing out on opportunities and relationships that could benefit you later in life. The positive side to stereotyping is that it will allow you to act rapidly in certain situations that might be harmful to one life. Stereotypes are assumptions based on different races and backgrounds, however. Gender stereotypes also exist. For example, it is stereotypical for men to say that women can’t drive, like wise it is stereotypical for women to say men don’t show their emotions. Most Stereotypes are false, due to the lack of inside knowledge. If one is not a part of that community than they will assume certain characteristics about that race. Sexual orientation stereotypes are also common. These stereotypes occur when you have negative views on gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals. People who have these negative views are usually known to be homophobic. A common stereotype about gay people is that they are all hostile. Even if the...
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...Amanda Popular Culture Pop. Culture Essay #1 Addressing the Issue: Men’s Men and Women’s Women The vast majority of people, with the exception of transvestites and other people with physical deformities, can be put into one of two categories; man or woman. Generally, the views and expectations one has for their own gender and the views and expectations one has for the opposite gender can be described as gendered stereotypes. Although stereotypes are not always close to the truth, in some cases they can hold some weight to an argument when they present the generalized representation of a certain group or groups. In this essay I will show how gendered stereotypes are used by advertising companies to appeal to each gender. Here in the U.S., you need not go far to bear witness the very apparent signs of genderfication and gendered stereotypes, tools used by advertisers that play important roles in our consumer-styled society. One only needs to go as far as their living room couch and turn on the television to be bombarded with shows and advertisements containing gendered images of the expectations our society has for its men and women by men and women. Author Steve Craig puts these gendered ideals into four distinct categories; Men’s men, Men’s women, Women’s men, and Women’s women (Craig). For this essay I will analyze four video advertisements, and, using Craig’s criteria, I will try to see under which of his categories each advertisement would fall and why. The...
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...Macaulay and Rachel Rafelman thru their essays are trying to eradicate the stereotype, they are both almost speaking about the subject in their essays and the tone in the essays are almost the same, funny and at the same time keeping a serious tone underneath, sexism seems also to be a common point for these two author it seems to be the center of pretty much everything they’re talking about. Stereotype in the both essay as been pointed out and the authors seems to take people to that point where they are convicted enough to stop doing that thing which is stereotype not only that but they uses different other article to point to point that and say what think about it, for example, Ronald Macaulay; in his essay “Sex difference” uses novel and different other article to point the stereotype but not only that he also argues about it just as Rachel Rafelman in her essay “Party Line” uses interviews that she makes or other colleague Article to pointed that out and talk about it or argue about it, both author stick with the same idea that lead us to conclude that they are both talking about the same subject but just in two different environment, for example Rafelman in her essay she is at A Gala and Macaulay is just using Article, novel, journal to talk about the subject . In these essays the authors tone is what we can describe as having two side, funny and serious at the same time the reason why I am saying this is because in the essay the author are using it to keep use entertain...
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...Writing and Literary Critique of Asian/Pacific American Literature Throughout the history of the United States media, there are common stereotypes of females in films that are presented in the short story by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More. I believe that the roles of Asian Americans are limited in films, such as gender and sexuality, by stereotyping females. Asian Americans are being portrayed as negative images through various media, from books, films, plays, and even television. “The audience would realize that media views Asians and Asian Americans as others that include exoticized women, asexual men, a yellow peril threat to the United States” (Ono & Pham, 2009). Throughout this essay, I am referencing the article by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More, and Moon, a poem by Marilyn Chin, where they both talk about sexuality and gender. “Asian women, have often been depicted as almost completely sexual” (Fong, 177). In the short story as well as the poem, they can manipulate the messages of gender and sexuality of Asian American females that are being represented in both stories. Throughout Fong’s short story, there is a lot of controversy whether or not Asian American females are being portrayed with negative images, for example as sex objects. I also researched instances on the counter actions taken by Asian American females that protest the negative images, such as the dragon lady. I believe that Asian American females are being portrayed with such negative images, such as...
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...still hold some preconceptions about people, things or ideas, something that doesn’t change. We become victims of stereotypes, both by projecting them onto others and by being stereotyped by others. Whether we believe them or not, we have got certain images in our minds that we firmly hold on to and unconsciously refuse to let go. Stereotypical image is a composite made of different sources and forms. Therefore, a strong distinction needs to be made between an image and a picture, the former hasn’t got a material form, it is intangible. Accordingly, a stereotypical image would be made of physical pictures, drawings, paintings, but also a mental or acoustic image, so it essentially becomes a combination of different types of images. If we were to call upon an image of ‘a housewife’ or ‘an alcoholic’ it would elicit certain images and pictures in our minds, that we have acquired throughout our lives. Stereotypes are developed through various apparatuses of newspapers, movies etc. We live with them whether we believe them or not, they construct a significant part of popular culture. Etymologically stereotype was a certain kind of plate or a mould, which was being used to reproduce a newspaper or a magazine. Over a period of time it acquired a meaning of a fixed image and this is essentially what an idea of a stereotype is today. In today’s society the word stereotype is almost always a term of abuse. However, when Walter Lippmann formulated the term, he did not want it to be a pejorative...
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