Breaking Stereotypes by C.L.Chanthar

 Introduction

Stereotypes can be understood as judgemental criticism toward a group of people or a person who comes under any social circle. In social psychology, it is a generalised belief about a particular category of people. It can be subdivided under the consciousness one has as explicit stereotypes, that the person emerges aware of such stereotypical behaviour and unconsciousness as implicit stereotypes that the person emerges has such stereotypical behaviour by the way risen. We all are victims, witnesses and emergers of these stereotypes. I further divide this into two, which are "judgemental criticism" and "behavioural stereotypes". Judgemental criticism is throwing out some image of character towards a set of people who have not personally reflected on such an act (e.g. people from some religious background used to be identified by some people as terrorists, extremists, preachers and cheaters). The behavioural stereotype is expecting the act of a person stereotypically ( e.g. expecting female partners to walk one step behind a male partner in the name of safety. Even for that, males have to be behind to make their Woman more potent and socially capacitated). Stereotypical agendas can be seen between gender, religion, race, geographical location, etc. As humankind, we all come under particular gender before we take other stamps as religion and ethnicity. Analysing gender-biased stereotypes before plucking odds in different subjects is most appropriate.

Examples of judgemental criticism

The best way to illustrate judgemental criticism as a stereotype is to recollect phrases and dialogues we often encounter.

Those are,

1. Women are sellers, men are buyers

We all might have crossed with a general question as to why a woman is praised as beautiful in humankind while a male is attractive in the animal and bird kingdom. I found the answer to this question in the book " woman as sex vendors". In that book, the reason has been given as a woman has a general psychological duty to be beautiful to get a higher bid by a more valued man. It further states that women tend to devote more time and money to buying cosmetics such as Bengals and necklaces to show their value to the man who can buy them, and men also receive higher status by buying, in other words, marrying a woman. This statement is a clear example of judgemental criticism toward a set of people. It has to be remembered that the author of that book has insisted on the changeability of this view by the time women get empowered.

2. Single Woman - unfit to lead a life in a respectable way

Society generally doesn't allow, even in a dream, for a woman to lead her life on her own unlikely a man's freedom to lead his life on his own. Surveys found that single Woman more tends to be a victim of sexual assault. In a 2017 Suffolk University survey, 42 percent of women who had always been single said that a co-worker had made unwanted sexual advances, compared to 30 percent of married women.

3. The government job 

In our society, one has to get enrolled on some government job even to get married. The stereotypical expectation for a person to pursue a government job or doctor, engineer and lawyer is not appreciatable for the well-being of society. Once, Indian cricket player K.L. Rahul said his parents were happiest when he got a stable job on the Indian reserve bank than scoring centuries for the national cricket team. one shouldn't be criticised for the way of life they chose lawfully. And one shouldn't be addressed as good just because they occupied such a profession.

4. The way of dressing style is an official invitation 

Some people in society use to condemn a woman for her dressing style to justify the malpractice done by an wrongdoer. Happily, this topic has been celebrated by people as they take steps towards change recently, by the hashtag 'me too". 

5. The ones who grow a beard and consume alcohol are bad in personality 

Assumption of behaviour as to the get-up one posse should be broken. It should be noted that drinking alcohol and smoking may be unethical, not unlawful, unless in particular enumerated situations. Characterising one's behaviour for tattooing and getting socialising also has to be stopped.

6. Alma Mater - New Caste?

Having pride in the college one studied at is perfectly natural. But expecting and assuming one's character is a modern stereotype growing up in Sri Lanka.

Examples of behavioural stereotypes

1. Women should marry older age men

In our society, it's acceptable even if a 50-year-old man marring a 25-year-old lady but not vice versa, even if the Woman is only a single numeral over-aged. It's not only a stereotypical behaviour but also a mentality against gender equality. as we have already seen, we are acting in all three capacities as victims, witnesses and emergers of this stereotypical behaviour. We see scenarios as previous victims become accused or emergers in terms of stereotypical behaviour in the present. The best example is that a previously affected woman by dowry regulation support such context in the present. as to this, how a man can be accused of being dominative, which he enjoyed by many generations in the past. Here the question arises do women support gender equality only for being victims of gender inequality? Do they abuse like many men when they got authority?. in this moot point, we also have to understand that it's wrong to stamp some character towards a set of people because of the malpractice done by one person. In most instances, I used to hear the wording of accusing some whole ethnic community for the basis of the wrongdoing done by one person under such a community. as well as, some people used to criticise stereotypically whole women or men for the misconduct or mischief done by a particular person which is not fair. as the same normalising marrying couples without remarking on their age is vital to break stereotypes and to strengthen gender equality.

2. Women are buyers, and men are sellers

It's about the regular context that people from the Indian sub-continental region follow in the term "dowery". Most commonly, it is viewed as the status of both bride's and groom's side to uphold their position. Here this is a stereotypical behaviour that has to be eliminated.

3. Early marriage, Early pregnancy

There is a context in our society that marriage should occur before the mid-20 for a woman and before 30 for a man. If a woman fails to get married before that limit, she will be left out of the market, and she who married should have childbirth immediately in the effect of marriage. Social stigma is there to ask questions to a woman regarding their wedding and a man about their job and career. It is a clear stereotypical context that expects men to be in a profession and women to be in a married household. Being at work is essential to survey for a human being, but hoping one to take responsibility is not fair. But, some attributes we possess are natural, which will be discussed later on and can't be questioned. The reason for marriage should be the voluntary preference of both parties rather than to satisfy social concerns.

4. Fluent English - Intelligence

English is vital as an international language that determines one's career when needed. But judging someone's intelligence by their English is a stereotypical colonial mentality that must be noted.

Gender Equality and Stereotypes

Some practices or ethics we follow can't be questioned, for their inevitable importance originated from nature. It can either be identified as stereotypes or gender inequality. We might have heard about the acquisition made by boys for not participating in carrying weights against girls while pointing out gender equality; some criticise allocating separate seat sections for women in public transportation as it against the concept of gender equality, etc. But we often fail to understand that a man won't be touched the same way a woman experience by the misconduct of a man when she stands in public transit. It's essential to acknowledge the natural attributes of one gender regarding a particular subject. Here we have to understand men and women are two different characters in humankind, as illustrated by the book titled "Men are from mars and women are from venus." so, gender equality cannot be questioned on the tag of stereotype for the separate attributes and obligation one gender has and face.

Importance of soft power

In the 21st century importance of soft power immensely increased. In the book titled "confession of an economic hitman", which I believe is a must-read for each citizen of this country, the author of the book states about the change in geopolitical advances by modern empires has changed from hard power advances into economic advances via development schemes, likely soft power. Joseph Nye coined the term "soft power" in the late 1980s. So what is soft power? Soft power lies in the ability to attract and persuade. Whereas hard power—the ability to coerce—grows out of a country's military or economic might, soft power arises from the attractiveness of a country's culture, political ideals, and policies. have you ever wondered why we praise Americans all the time while hating Russia, it may be true or not. Still, the reason behind this unconscious belief is "Hollywood". Soft power, like cinema, can slowly affect human morality by judging somebody and accepting some practices as the norm. In stereotypes, soft power in drama and movies can considerably portray particular characteristics towards some people.

Soft power - bandwagon effect

The bandwagon effect is a psychological principle about the hardship mentality of human behaviour. It further elaborates that humans are designed to crave acceptance from others, so humans want to be part of what is practised by most. Here, soft power influences oneself by showing an image of the norm to a practice that may be against general ethics or promote stereotypical behaviour.

How to break stereotypes

When I saw the heading " breaking stereotypes", the first thing that came to mind was a recent video clip. In that clip, a husband and wife and a donkey were walking on a street; while they were walking, two people criticised them as fools for not using that donkey for their journey. Then, the husband asked the wife to be on the donkey. Again they were condemned as that man was under the hand of the wife. Then, the husband sat on the donkey while the wife walked along, and people slammed for the husband's chauvinism. Then both of them sat on the donkey; people again criticised them for animal cruelty. Here, through this story, we can ascertain ignorance's importance when leading our lives. In saying modern way, Making an effort to hear and answer people's criticism is like trying to open a WhatsApp group with all nearly 8 billion people worldwide and send an article about breaking stereotypes and expecting everyone to see and read that article. The assumption of one's character at the first instance of their remarks is natural human instinct to be aware, but what we can do is stop expressing our internal instincts regarding a particular person to others; in other words, being emergers. Ignorance and self-change are the two most important attributes one should follow to break existing stereotypes.

References

Stereotype. (2023, February 20). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype

Singlism: How Serious Is It, Really? | Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/201809/singlism-how-serious-is-it-really

Men are from mars, and Women are from Venus by John Gray.

Women as sex vendors by Mary Marcy and Roscoe Burdette Tobias.

Confession of an economic hitman by John Perkins