Stereotyping

[Voboy]

White people exhibit many stereotypical behaviors. For example, they say things like "white people are immune from stereotyping."

/thread.

 

[Writer61]

I think most (if not all) of us use stereotypes based on age, ethnicity, and nationality when first interacting with someone. What matters is how quickly you move on from that simplistic position.

For literary purposes, they can be a fun thing to play with. For example, I have a plot idea for a young woman interviewing a much older woman about her life, which turns out to be rather more interesting than expected.

 

[Writer61]

Or put raisins in potato salad

Still reeling from finding mandarin orange segments in a salad circa 1979.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Still reeling from finding mandarin orange segments in a salad circa 1979.

My mom: Fifties music and clothes making a comeback is all very well, but take it from me, they'd better never bring back the aspic salad...

I actually like roasted chicken feet, but once I ordered from a Chinese menu which didn't have enough detail in English, and they were raw and in vinegar.

I can't eat vinegar. Just can't swallow it. Not that I'm enthusiastic about raw skin and gristle, but I'd have given it a go to avoid the laughing waitstaff.

 

[ellebrooks]

There are a million small details that could push the Chinese martial artist character beyond representation and into offensive stereotyping.

It's some kind of balancing act I don't tend to dance around with.

I do know this. It would suck to live in a world where everyone avoids pairing a characters ethnicity or gender into roles out of fear of stereotyping.

As long as we get equal representation. We can be geeks, math nerds, sexy dragon lady but also the detective, CEO, and entrepreneur. We don’t want to just be used for entertainment b

 

[Writer61]

I actually like roasted chicken feet, but once I ordered from a Chinese menu which didn't have enough detail in English, and they were raw and in vinegar.

I felt the effort exceeded the calorific benefit. Later that evening, I enjoyed durian.

Call me weird.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I felt the effort exceeded the calorific benefit. Later that evening, I enjoyed durian.

Call me weird.

If someone else is cooking them, they're tasty crunchy morsels with a built-in holder. I don't mind durian and other tropical fruits, but I'm not a big fan.

Back on subject, it's all about whether you can open your mind and switch track when a stereotype doesn't apply. And also being aware of when certain stereotypes have been used to mock or even threaten certain groups - which is going to be an ongoing process. I swear I learn about a new way American black people have been mocked or insulted every few months, not because I'm that ignorant, just there's so many of them...

 

[Comshaw]

I have done that. Utter waste of time.

Perhaps you'd rather try some head cheese? Souse? Brains and eggs? Chitterlings? Lots of other choices.

Comshaw

 

[Comshaw]

White people exhibit many stereotypical behaviors. For example, they say things like "white people are immune from stereotyping."

Yeah, I don't think "immune" was the right choice of words. I believe the statement should have been "White people are safe to stereotype."

It happens a lot these days. Why? 'Cause any other choice of stereotyping a group would have a swarm descend on the perp like blowflies on a corpse. Personally, as a mutt, I couldn't care less. Now if you start stereotyping mutts, I might get all butthurt about it...or maybe not.

Comshaw

 

[BeechLeaf]

True, but in fifteen minutes of sitcom, where you also have to squeeze in all the situation and comedy and everything else that's needed, you haven't got much room for exploring or developing anything. In a three or four page Lit story, do we get a bit more? Anything that isn't stated in that little space is probably assumed by default: for example, unless mentioned or nodded to otherwise, the people are straight and white and so on.

This is defaulting rather than stereotyping. Stereotyping is a bit stronger. It's like joking. We can joke about anything, but certain ethnic groups and so on have had a historically very hard time of it, so if you're going to joke about them, or stereotype them, you have to be quite sure you're not doing it in a lazy or cruel way.

edit: What I was replying to was just above me when I was replying; it seems to have been deleted. I think my comments stand alone okay.

 

[Britva415]

Stereotyping isn't the problem. Using stereotypes to project bias and to justify biased agendas is the problem.

Erasing stereotypes is problematic too.

 

[RetroFan]

Some aspects of different cultures are not so much stereotypes but quite true of how people from these countries naturally are. For example I wrote a first time story where an 18-year-old nerd loses his virginity to a really pretty German girl aged 24 when she moves to Australia to work on her PHD and rents a room from his family. I describe the girl from Munich - Annalise - as being quite a humorless and even stand-offish young lady, with no time for making small talk and placing much importance on punctuality and efficiency.

Some might think Annalise was simply written to be a German stereotype, however German people really do have little time for small talk even among family members and close friends and tend to be extremely punctual and value efficiency. And obviously there are going to be some differences between Australian and German cultures, you get humorless and stand-offish people from every country, and it was essential for the story for her to be like this. I would have written her like this even if she was an Australian from another state or territory who had moved to Melbourne, or from New Zealand.

Plus I obviously got no complaints - and one very complimentary private message - about dressing up Annalise in a dirndl for Oktoberfest!

 

[Britva415]

Put too much effort into sanitizing stereotypes, and you wind up with a minority character who's just inauthentic.

This isn't to say that stereotypes make characters authentic. Authenticity makes characters authentic. Sanitizing the stereotypes just because they're stereotypical can strip that away.

Remove the stereotype you abused, not all the ones which are honest. If you didn't abuse any, then good!

 

[TheLobster]

Some might think Annalise was simply written to be a German stereotype, however German people really do have little time for small talk even among family members and close friends and tend to be extremely punctual and value efficiency. (...)

Indeed. We often forget that by and large, stereotypes are true: that's why they are stereotypes. It makes them very efficient storytelling devices when followed, and very memorable and effective ones when (skillfully) departed from.

Stereotypes are great. We should do more of them

 

[AG31]

I've been thinking a little more about the posts here that cite white-based stereotypes (redneck,

/thread.

What does this mean?

 

[Voboy]

What does this mean?

Means that, in my opinion, Melissa said everything that needed to be said, so the thread can now close because it has served its purpose.

When you see it, it's basically one's highest form of agreement with a given post.

 

[PennyThompson]

I've been thinking a little more about the posts here that cite white-based stereotypes (redneck,

I am curious where the rest of this sentence was headed