How can we challenge stereotypes?

Louise Apps and Alise Carstens

Stereotype?

• Stereotype: beliefs and expectations about members of certain groups that present an oversimplified opinion or prejudiced attitude.

• Discrimination: unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice

Stereotype Game • Match up the pictures with the ‘occupations’

a)

b)

c)

d)

• Occupation 1: Secret Agent

• Occupation 2: Criminal

• Occupation 3: Lab Technician

• Occupation 4: Volunteer

• What do you think?

• Answers:

• 1) a – On this particular mission she was blending in with an international squad of ‘mathletes’ with plans for world domination

• 2-b) She is in a car that she has just stolen on her way to the bakery to snatch a couple of éclairs.

• 3-d) This is him on his ‘day off’ calling the lab to ensure that the buffer solutions are being taken care of.

• 4-c) He volunteers at his local youth centre teaching youth art and showing off his tattoos so that they themselves may one day follow in his footsteps, or at least have a couple tattooed on their back.

Why should we challenge stereotypes?

• Heavily stereotyping a group of individuals in society may lead to people believing the stereotypes to be true. This may lead to discrimination of certain individuals.

• Stereotypes may also lead people to change their self image; it may even lead some to feel the need to fulfil the label they have been given.

• Constantly being stereotyped and branded something that the people are not may lead to agitation amongst them and may result in violence or crime.

More Consequences of Stereotyping

• Stereotyping can causes over estimation of differences between groups, making groups appear vastly different from what they actually are.

• This leads to: – underestimation of variations within the group– distortions of reality– stereotype used to justify hostility, discrimination, oppression– Political inaction – the stereotyped minority can be blamed for their

situation and problems.

The more we stereotype people nationally and internationally the less likely we are to

understand them.

• The statement implies that if we stereotype others we are less likely to understand them, so it stands to reason that if people make the effort to understand other people’s cultures and traditions then we can overcome stereotypes in society.

• We can perhaps gain a better understanding of people if we learn more about them

• Children from a young age could learn about and talk about different cultures and traditions in ‘enrichment’ classes at school to overcome stereotypes.

• Additionally to overcome stereotypes people have to overlook dramatic headlines from tabloids that are used to stir emotion and cause hysteria.

• Rethinking Disability Representation was a project set up in 2007 that ran throughout 9 museums and galleries in England and Scotland. The project aimed to challenge negative stereotypes of people with disabilities.

• Stereotypes were challenged by displaying objects, video clips and pictures that portray experiences of disabled people throughout history. These resources were often with the museums already, but had not been displayed.

• In addition to displays talks were also held on the issue.

• Another example of challenging stereotypes occurred in February 2008 at a Manchester school where various women who worked in industry gave talks to 300 year 7 girls. They reassured the girls that they too could take jobs that were deemed to be male jobs in industry.

• The talks challenged the stereotypes that only men were suited to work in industry.

• Studies never report a conscious awareness that their performance might be impacted by their mere awareness of negative stereotypes. Nevertheless, the results of these controlled experiments show that these effects do occur.

• Research also reveals that the individuals who are most susceptible to these effects are those who are likely to be the most motivated to do well and most interested in maintaining a positive image.