The Finish Line

Running this blog has been quite the experience. It has taught me everything from how to effectively gather information to how to convey it in a well laid out format. I have enjoyed taking the assignments given in class and watching them develop into post I am proud of on my blog. This blog project has taught me to think outside of the box and has given me a greater understanding of different story telling mediums.

Liked

• How easy it was to embed content from different sources.
• How you could customize your blog with various widgets.
• How you easily edit posts if you found new content you wanted to add.

Disliked

• It was hard for me to become consistent with my blog post, which is something I am going to work on.
• Trying to embed the Flickr Slideshow
• That the media tools on WordPress are not described well.

When I began my blog on stereotypes, I wasn’t sure which direction it was going in. With each new post I learned something about the world and myself. I learned that stereotypes are very real and that they probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. That we are the problem not the world, it is because of each of us that stereotypes exist. Whether you personify them or you judge someone because of them, you are part of the problem. I also realized that children are the answer, if we adults would stop for a brief moment, we would see that small children interact with no preconceived notions about each other. The world could learn a lesson from them. I have throughly enjoyed this project and think everyone should try their hand at running a blog.

Top Ten Reasons to Blog

Judgement Free

As an intern for the Parks and Rec Department, I have been given a unique opportunity to interact with the community on a regular bases. The most rewarding of these experiences was at this years Spring Carnival. Approximately 3,000 kids participated in the various activities the carnival had to offer. It was my job to record and edit a video which featured the kids telling everyone what their favorite things about the carnival were. This video I have titled Judgement Free is a revised version of some of the footage from the carnival. It highlights (at least I hope it does) the intrinsic nature children have to just enjoy each others company no matter what differs between the children.

A Storify on Stereotypes in Advertising

View the story “Stereotypes in Advertising ” on Storify

This article delves into the sexually driven, racially stereotypical, and gender discriminatory world of advertising. I do believe that the ad men and women are adding to the negative perceptions society has towards one another. However, the ad people only put together campaigns that they believe will appeal to the masses and sell. While many people see the ad agencies as the bad guys, perhaps we should all take a step back and look into what messages we as a society are sending them to receive such results.

Breaking the Stereotype

We as a society have become accustom to dressing ourselves in a way that expresses who we are as individuals. However, a lot of the time the perceptions people make from our attire can be inaccurate. A picture does not always portray a person for who they really are. If you are looking at a picture of someone and gathering an opinion from it one must remember to take into consideration the circumstances that surround said picture. An individual might be dressed a certain way for an event or merely just wanted to change it up for the day. As I let these thoughts resound in my head I began to come up with the idea from my slideshow post. Through the use of crowd-sourcing and the help of my Facebook friends, I started receiving various pictures from my friends.

I asked them to send me a stereotypical picture of them and began to create captions for each one highlighting how each of them broke the stereotype their picture reenforced. The request for help garnered a greater response then I had dared hoped for. As I sifted and sorted through the pictures trying to think of the best ways to word my captions, it all fell into place. We have all fallen victim to being stereotyped and have all been found guilty of stereotyping. Every person who sent me a picture had a story to tell, no matter what the stereotype was the story was same. It was that other people had missed who the individuals in these pictures were because they didn’t take the time to move past the stereotypes they had formed. Hopefully, in this moment a little truth about these individuals will resonate with whoever watches this Breaking the Stereotype slideshow.

Create your own slideshow here.

Rethinking Toys

Have you ever wondered how it is that adults have so many preconceived notions and stereotypes towards each other when they all started out playing in the same sand box? The children playing in that sand box were not aware of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. They were just three years olds playing together to create sandcastle kingdoms. If we all start off as blank slates, then where did we learn to categorize and stereotype people? In my opinion, it starts in the toy aisles of every major retail store in America. In these aisles filled with millions of dollars of children’s toys, we begin to see the divide of boys and girls through their gender specific toys.

Once the split between boys and girl begins these sexes remain distant from each other until puberty brings them back together, except now it is not to play with plastic tool set and easy bake ovens. Now it is to interact with each other romantically.

We now have a set of stereotypes begin.

Boys:

• Only like the color blue
• Don’t do dance class
• Are loud and rambunctious
• Play with toy trucks and dirt
• Think girls have koodies

Girls:

• Love the color pink
• Want to be princesses
• Are timid and shy
• Like to play with dolls and color
• Think boys are icky

This set grouping of characteristics immediately starts distancing children from each other and begins to form the idea of “certain things are for certain people.”

Gender and Disney

MyScene

Description:
Its the little black book you’ve always wanted for the local bars.
Never worry about being not being appropriately dressed when you go out.
Just slide over to your MyScene app and find out the exact scene of any bar in town.
Followed by contact info and gps capabilities.

Stereotypes in Music

Each genre of music has a certain demographic, but what started as a target audience is now a full fledged culture with stereotypes included.

Here is the break down of the most widely known genres according to urban dictionary.com

• Emo: COOL EMO KID: doesnt care what ppl think, likes a good band whether they are on mtv or not. ANNOYING EMO KID: those kids who regularly max out daddy’s credit card at hot topic and tell everyone how depressed they are.
• Indie: A teen who stays out of the usual popular trends and looks at finding and making their own trends.
• Goth: A goth is a person that believes in individuality they dress in the clothes that they like the look of and listen to the music that makes them happy.
• Metal: Wear band tshirts and jeans, because that’s all that’s necessary.
• Rap: Urban dictionary is not a fan, no info could be found.
• Electronica: They are those “kids” that want nothing more out of life than to go to every live jam/electronic show/festival possible.
• Country:Real music that you can actually understand, performed by artists who can actually sing and play instruments.
• Mainstream: Those who are normally hooked to whatever society says is popular, or cool.

What does your favorite album say about you?

There are many different genres of music and each of those genres has sub groups and so on. Even though it is all divided, music is one of the few things in life that can bring a large group together as one.

Character portrayals of stereotypes

Growing up in the digital age, nineties babies have grown up learning quite a few life lessons from their favorite t.v. shows. One of those lessons being how different types of people act and their social roles within society.

For example, the show Heroes brings together a “randomly” assorted group of super humans, which happen to depict many of todays stereotypes.

Everyone from the incredibly smart Asian, the ex-con African-American, to the Indian doctor, blonde cheerleader, to the frail white women, and strong, powerful white men.

Other shows have tried to reverse the racial stereotypes in a variety of ways. For Example, That’s so Raven, Zoey 101, Walking Dead, and Lost Girl.

In the early 2000’s we saw an attempted break from the common stereotypes with That’s So Raven breaking the stereotypical walls by having the “token” character being white. As well as in Zoey 101’s character, Michael, best friend of the lead male character, who breaks the stereotype that African-Americans are not affluent by attending a boarding school.
Ten years later we see the same attempt to reformat the viewers sense of character stereotypes with The Walking Dead’s African-American character saving the male leads life. Also, in Lost Girl, the African-American character is an intelligent, super-human police officer.

How to explain t.v. stereotypes to kids.

A Package of Perceptions

People are packages containing a variety of things; some of these things are consciously chosen and other things are those in which people have no control over.

Definitions acquired from Dictionary.com.
Inherent: existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute.
Chosen: selected from several; preferred

Inherent: Skin color, height, weight (due to health reasons), and natural hair color.
Chosen: Tattoos, Piercings, Altered hair color, Style, and Language.

For example: Mobsters today, more widely know as ganstas, have always used a certain look to identify themselves. A uniform which used to be a suit and hat is now a color or a symbol of sorts. They use(d) their style of attire rather then their race to represent who they are/were.

• In our society today, there is a blurring of a very crucial line, the line between inherent and chosen qualities that make up a persons being.
• A tall, African American, red-head is not necessarily a soul-less, rapping, basketball player, unless they have a rap album, play in the NBA, and abuse women.
• The difference which I wish everyone would see is that it’s human nature to judge someone by the choices they make but not by the qualities with which they were born.
• If you dislike the way you are perceived based on your style, change it. Click the link below for a few simple tricks.

How to change your look in 11 easy steps.

 

Are we stereotyping ourselves?

It is a language in which many say is wrong to speak, but we all know the dialect.

• Rebel flag = Country
• Bob Marley = Stoner
• Rainbows = Gay
• Sperrys & short pastel shorts = Frat
• Over sized pants = Hood
• Dreads = Hippy
• Leggings & over sized shirts = sorority
• And so on

Why people perceive us the way they do.

When many people are asked if they believe stereotyping someone is wrong, most will say without hesitation yes. My question then is why do we stereotype ourselves? We stereotype ourselves in a variety of ways, from how we dress to the circles of friends we acquire. Yet everyone seems to be against this labeling process; why? If I go into a grocery store and a can is labeled pickles, I am going to assume that the jar contains pickles. The same goes for how people dress to define themselves. If someone is wearing a Born This Way T-shirt, I am going to assume that they themselves are a part of the LGBTQ community, an ally, or a Lady Gaga fan. Doing so is in fact stereotyping them, but is assuming details about a person wrong if they show me an exterior that would led one to believe those things?