#aplang16stereotype

Then I started thinking “How did they decipher me as Asian?” For all they know I could be of Hispanic descent. My last name is Javier and my skin is around the same color of a person who is Hispanic. My eyes don’t totally give away that I’m Asian because I don’t have the monolid eyes as the mainland Asians generally do. So what gave away that I was Asian? I don’t fit the Chinese, I mean Asian, stereotypes... I never told the guesser I was Asian they would generally just ask “Are you Chinese?” and I would say “Nope.”

Before the in class conversation, I felt as though stereotypes were evident but did not affect me personally. Growing up as a 3rd generation Indian American, I adapted a more Americanized persona. This often confused the white people around me, asking if I’m Brazilian, Puerto Rican, African and many more, but they never guessed Indian. I’ve received the comment that I am quite “white” for an Indian several times before. But I will never understand this comment and what it actually means. I can’t help but feel offended, just because I’m more americanized than other Indians does not make me “white”. I will never be white. I will never want to be white. After the in class conversation, I came to the realization that there is no single stereotype that fits everyone in the category. The media today doesn't seem to understand this reality, often displaying indians as being the unpopular, nerd who makes a fool of themselves. A stereotype that is often deemed untrue. For me personally, I’m judged by both sides of the spectrum, F.O.B.’s and white americans. I’ll never fit under a specific stereotype because there’s no stereotype out there made for people like me. Which makes sense because there’s not a single person in this world who completely matches the stereotype they are labeled with. Just because I don’t compete for the highest gpa, have a thick accent, or constantly smell like curry does not mean I’m disconnected with my own ethnicity. It means that I have had a different upbringing than the F.O.B. stereotype placed on Indians. Stereotypes are a false prejudice belief fueled by everyday media and carried out by everyday people.

I always thought that stereotypes were always a negative assumption about someone based on their race, religion, or gender. I never actually thought about the fact that some stereotypes are good and that sometimes people want to live up to their stereotypes. When talking with my group (aka Riya and Erika), I realized that everyone no matter what has some sort of stereotype. It could be from a sport you play, a class you take, or even the clothes you wear, but most importantly a stereotype could arise from your age. Our generation, specifically, is stereotyped as a whole bunch of teenagers who are too obsessed with social media to know anything about the world. I know that I, personally, don't fit that stereotype so it really Irritates me to no end. What I really took away from this discussion is that everything and everyone is stereotyped in some way, but each stereotype holds some truth.

I don’t know why we stereotype. I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know how hurtful they can be because I’ve never really experienced it like other people have. I do know that they need to stop. But I don’t know how to do that either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Overall, we found that people who belong to a majority group don’t really feel the effects of a stereotype as much as people who belong to a minority group, despite the fact that these groups coexist and come into contact quite frequently considering the diversity of this school/nation. In this case, my choosing to talk about my outward appearance reflected the fact that my appearance (specifically my brown skin) is considered a minority here in a predominantly white country. I came to realize that stereotypes are really in the eye of the beholder; to me, stereotypes concerning my appearance were automatically deemed more prominent simply because my appearance being a minority has made me more susceptible to those stereotypes. But both Gabi and Daniel, belonging to the majority-white group, struggled much more than I did to come up with stereotypes that defined them in that way. They both instead chose to discuss other aspects of themselves that were considered minorities, such as Gabi’s sexuality as a lesbian and Daniel’s Jewish religion. These were two aspects that I hadn’t personally considered about myself, as I belong to the majority-heterosexual and non-Jewish groups. 

Now after this talk about stereotyping, I feel like it hasn’t change my thinking a whole lot except for the fact that I’ll probably be have a bit more convo about this topic for the next few days because AP LANG. I’m still going to joke around with my friends here and there. I know that I will see posts about people making fun of each other social media. But one thing that I have concluded is the fact that stereotypes will continue to exist and nothing really can break it. 

This is honestly driving me crazy. I'm incredibly flustered because stereotypes can be so frustrating. I'm frustrated because I really don't focus on stereotypes very much. I'm frustrated because although I rarely actually focus on whatever stereotypes or labels are associated with me, I realize I have been close to people who have stereotypes that are less escapable than mine. I've watched my adopted cousin of mixed race who didn't actually know her ethnicity until recently be told who she was and what it meant for her. I've stood by as someone made a racist comment about Mexicans being good for nothing but manual labor as my cousin of Central American decent stood 15 feet away. In 6th hour today we asked the question of why stereotypes exist and we couldn't find a conclusive cause or answer. I had asked the question because I thought maybe it was based on what was portrayed because people find comfort with what they know and when what they "know" or what is presented is always so stingy characteristics for different groups than that's why. But then that begged more questions of why are we portraying those things and I realized stereotypes existed even when media was historically limited. I know to some extent it must come down to a power struggle but I just don't know. This frustrates me because how can a problem be solved without knowing the cause. I like questions to be answered and this one, because of its complexity and nuance, doesn't have one definitive cause. And I realize that not all stereotypes are always "negative" per day but I don't think anyone likes people making preconceived judgements or expectations about them based on the simple colors they see. It seems that the only approach right now is individualized overall, and I suppose all decisions are individualize so even if a more definitive cause was found there's no way to really fully stop stereotypes for this reason. Sorry this is just a second blog because I kept thinking about it after class today.