Breaking Stereotypes by Akila DeSilva

We’ve all been guilty of stereotyping at some point of our lives. ‘Stereotyping’ is having a prejudice of sorts against or about something or someone. It can be formed by an external influence or a personal experience. We look for a precedent and once we find something relatable, we are quick to box our own example into that narrative.

Stereotyping is not inherently good or bad. Rather it is driven by our human nature to look for a reference so that we may be better able to breakdown our own scenario and make more sense out of it. Stereotyping happens by reinforcement cycles. That cycle could be positive or negative reinforcement. Yet stereotyping, like most other things has led to unsavoury perceptions at times. Our own opinions are formulated by elders’ opinions as children, peers as we progress and in time by ourselves. Needless to say, in this day and age popular culture forms the biggest influencer of the populations’ minds, due to it’s all pervading nature.

In a manner wryly humorous towards themselves and backhandedly complimentary to the others, among the Sinhalese existed a cliché opinion that “Tamils are good at saving, Muslims at earning and Sinhalese at spending”. This writer neither disputes nor endorses that stereotype. Yet it must be realized that such a widespread stereotype was not a metamorphosis but borne out of several contributory factors. If it so, so be it. It does not seem to be particularly harmful as far as stereotypes go. However our responsibility lies in not letting it affect our objectivity in our dealings. It must be emphasized that stereotypes generally arise out of some concrete basis. It’s interpretation however may leave a lot to be desired.

In 1992, for the first time ever, the United States allowed professional basketball players plying their trade in the NBA franchises, to form the mens’ Olympic team (hitherto the US national teams had been comprised of college players). That assembly of players had a seismic impact on all sports in the world thereafter. From the outset they were nicknamed as the ‘dream team’, a label they lived upto and exceeded beyond all expectations. That team’s dominance was, and to this day is legendary. Perhaps the best example of their unshakeable self-assurance was the pre-game media excerpt by power forward Charles Barkley on the eve of the match against Angola, where he proclaimed “I don’t know anything about Angola, but Angola’s in trouble”. It was typical of the man and indicative of their collective mood. Every member of that ensemble was inducted into the Basketball “Hall of Fame” in 2010. It featured Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, David Robinson, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Christian Laettner, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mulling. Out of the twelve players, the four white men were Bird, Stockton, Mulling and Laettner. The rest were of the black ethnicity. They globalized their sport to an extent unseen before. Yet, it did give rise to a stereotype, at least in some quarters, that Black men were simply better at Basketball than white men. A look at the NBA’s all time leading scoring chart wont do anything to squash that stereotype however. The top five leading men are all black men. Yet to give in to that stereotype is detrimental to other races. That was precisely why part of Yao Ming’s marketing appeal was that the 7 foot 5 inch Center of the Houston Rockets(2002-2011) was a Chinese.

Sometimes we do not fully grasp the ubiquitous nature of stereotyping. It ranges from race, ethinicity, resident city, country, gender, education, economy and a host of other topics. It can be very upfront or subtle. For example Asians are stereotyped as hardworking, academically inclined, dorky, unathletic and romantically unappealing in popular culture, best evidenced by the character of Raj Koothrapalli, in the Big Bang Theory. The way to break a stereotype is to buck the trend, in the manner of Bruce Lee(1940-1973) who once famously said that “I wanted the Yankees to know that the Chinese weren’t just some hardworking yellow people”. Lee transcended the stereotypes he faced and was a larger than life figure, who’s legacy endures half a century after his death. He is a cultural icon who continues to be discovered by each new generation.

At times, the place of residence is a topic for stereotyping as well. In our literacy culture there is always an underlining subtle theme of a rural born person who comes to the big city and either finds success or fails and comes to a realization that “the village really was the best place after all”. In a global context we associate the Brazilians with an age old stereotype of being born in a crowded favela and conquering the world through their samba style. It is a stereotype set all the way back in the days of Pele and Garrincha, continued in the days of Rivaldo and Romario and now through the likes of Antony Dos Santos. So much so, that we sometimes forget that the antithesis to that thesis has always existed. Pele’s day featured Gilmar, Romario was a yin to Bebeto’s yang. Socrates, the captain of the fabled 1982 was a medical Doctor born to a comfortable family. Kaka was the son of an engineer and educationist. Like the Green Goblin played by Willem Dafoe in The Spiderman says, humans look for a hero, a source of inspiration. We draw comfort in the fact of someone overcoming adversity and making it big as it allows us to dream and lends us hope. In the commercial age we live in, it makes for huge marketing appeal and is extolled and resold. It is upto us to maintain an open mind and look beyond. Not necessarily to reject the stereotype but rather to be fully informed. Brazil is so stereotyped with football, that many people don’t even know that it was the birthplace of the affluent Formula1 Driver Aerton Senna. He broke global stereotypes about his country and showed the world how shallow they can be at times.

Breaking a stereotype is an act that requires a momentous shift in some shape or form. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Eminem are few such persons who broke stereotypes associated with their trades and became all the more celebrated for it. Jordan, widely considered the greatest basketball player ever, broke stereotypes with his bespoke(at times questionable) suits. Before his era, players held media interactions attired in sports gear. Jordan bucked the trend when he ordered Rino Burdi, a Chicago tailor for customized bespoke suits and attended pre and post game media briefings in them. Slowly the other players adapted that approach. By the time he retired, Jordan’s suit effect had broken the earlier norm to such an extent that when players like Allen Iverson wore hoodies instead of suits to the media conferences he was hounded out. Tiger Woods broke stereotypes with Golf which was a sport predominantly acknowledged as a sedentary gentlemanly pursuit(largely for whites). He, as a self identified ‘afroasian’ made Golf ‘cool’ and was the first to adopt a punishing fitness regime in preparation for the sport. Eminem, birth name Marshal Mathers, broke stereotypes as a Caucasian artist with ‘Rap’ music. He took a genre primarily associated with the ‘hood’ and became a trendsetter when he cultivated the image of an angry, discontented, suburban white boy with lots of bling on his person. These people broke stereotypes as they went against the existing stereotype and replaced it with something more impactful. In much the same way the Korean pop music(K-pop) groups broke stereotypes as they embraced a comparatively “soft masculinity”. They set an alternative stereotype instead of the hypermasculinity which some find wearisome.

Breaking stereotypes is not easy and not always necessary either. The goal is to do away with the harmful stereotypes only. For example in Sri Lanka there yet persists a stereotype that the domestic work in running a household and child rearing is exclusively a woman’s role. Yet this outdated stereotype has largely disappeared in the more progressive parts of the world. We need to educate men to be more considerate and more cooperative towards women without being doormats. Men need to learn the line between treating women right and being a simp who gets walked on. The goal should perhaps be equity rather than equality. If your closest circle consider you procrastinating then the remedy is to get off the mark and start. In common terms its “one day or day one”. Time taken to breaking stereotypes are often counted in decades. Therefore the initial step is to analyze carefully, identify correctly, apply conscientiously then trust the process and await results patiently. To use a cliché in conclusion, all good things take time !!