Articles on Stereotypes:
Science News
... from universities, journals, and other research organizations
Stereotyping Has a Lasting Negative Impact, New Research
Finds
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2010) — Aggression.
Over-eating. Inability to focus. Difficulty making rational decisions. New
research out of the University of Toronto Scarborough shows prejudice has a
lasting negative impact on those who experience it.In order to determine whether negative stereotyping in a particular situation had lasting effects, Inzlicht's team performed a series of tests. First, they placed participants in situations where they had to perform a task in the face of negative stereotyping. After the participants were removed from the prejudicial situation, researchers measured their ability to control their aggression, eat appropriate amounts, make rational decisions, and stay focused.
Their results show that prejudice and stereotyping have lingering adverse impacts.
"Even after a person leaves a situation where they faced negative stereotypes, the effects of coping with that situation remain," says Inzlicht. "People are more likely to be aggressive after they've faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self control. They have trouble making good, rational decisions. And they are more likely to over-indulge on unhealthy foods."
In one portion of the study, researchers had a group of women write a math test. They told the women this test would determine whether or not they were capable and smart in math, subtly injecting stereotypes about women and math skills "into the air," says Inzlicht. A separate group of women wrote the same test, except this group was given support and coping strategies to deal with the stress they'd face when writing the test.
After completing the math test, the two groups performed another series of tasks designed to gauge their aggression levels, their ability to focus and to exercise self control.
"In these follow-up tests, the women who felt discriminated against ate more than their peers in the control group. They showed more hostility than the control group. And they performed more poorly on tests that measured their cognitive skills," says Inzlicht.
The pattern remained the same, regardless of the test groups. People who felt they were discriminated against -- whether based on gender, age, race or religion -- all experienced significant impacts even after they were removed from the situation, says Inzlicht.
"These lingering effects hurt people in a very real way, leaving them at a disadvantage," says Inzlicht. "Even many steps removed from a prejudicial situation, people are carrying around this baggage that negatively impacts their lives."
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2 ) http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/07/28/negative-stereotypes-shown-to-affect-learning-not-just-performance
Negative Stereotypes Shown to Affect Learning, Not Just
Performance
New research shows negative stereotypes not only jeopardize
test performance but also inhibit learning
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While the effect of negative performance stereotypes on test-taking and in other domains is well documented, the study by social psychologist Robert J. Rydell and his colleagues in IU's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is the first to show that the effects might also be seen further upstream than once thought, when the skills are learned, not just performed.
"The effect on learning could be cumulative," says Rydell, whose research focuses on stereotype threat involving women and mathematics. "If women do not learn relatively simple skills early on, this could spell trouble for them later on when they need to combine a number of more simple skills in new, complicated ways to solve difficult problems. For example, if a young girl does not learn a relatively simple principle of algebra or how to divide fractions because she is experiencing threat, this may hurt her when she has to use those skills to complete problems on geometry, trigonometry, or calculus tests."
This reduced learning may ultimately hamper efforts to help women enter into careers in science and mathematics, where they are currently underrepresented.
The study, "Stereotype threat prevents perceptual learning," was published on Monday (July 26), in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. Co-authors are Richard M. Shiffrin, Kathryn L. Boucher, Katie Van Loo and Michael T. Rydell, all from IU.
The study was designed to examine "attention and perceptual learning in a visual search," not mathematical learning specifically, because the tasks used in the experiments allowed researchers to easily differentiate between learning effects and performance effects. Through a series of experiments involving Chinese characters and color judgment tasks, the researchers were able to show that actual learning had not occurred in the group of women who had been reminded of the negative stereotypes involving women's math and visual processing ability. Instead of finding it difficult to express learning, which is a typical effect of stereotype threat, they had not learned the same skill that women in the control group, who had not been exposed to the negative stereotypes, had learned.
The women in the stereotype threat group appeared to try too hard to overcome the negative stereotype, ultimately searching for the characters in the experiment in a focused yet unproductive manner rather than letting the figures just "pop out," as they normally would have after some training.
"The results seem to fit with the view that the women under threat try harder to carry out the task, thereby persisting in effortful serial search throughout training, and failing to find and learn an alternative strategy that makes search easier and less effortful," the authors wrote.
"Women who are good at the skill they are performing are more likely to show stereotype threat because they have more invested in disproving the stereotype and are more distracted by the stereotype," Rydell said.
Rydell said he and his colleagues have conducted additional research specifically on mathematical learning and the results are forthcoming. They think the effect of stereotype threat on learning warrants more study by scientists and more attention by educators.
"(The present study) points to the importance of creating environments that reduce the impact of stereotype threat during mathematical skill acquisition by women," the authors concluded in their PNAS article. "If creating such an environment is not done, the learning deficits that result could well be cumulative, causing problems that continually worsen as development proceeds."
The study was supported by the National Science Foundation. The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is within IU's College of Arts and Sciences.
---
Figures
of Speech : Stereotypes Examples
Stereotypes Examples
Whenever we don't have a good
understanding of a subject, say, of people or countries, then we tend to make
assumptions about them. Stereotype is nothing but those assumptions that have
become common knowledge. Whenever you make judgments about people without
knowing them, you are stereotyping them. Stereotyping makes people generalize
things. More often, they are all false assumptions. Though there are both
positive and negative stereotypes, a majority of them are offensive. People
generally stereotype out of bias against a particular group of people or
religion. Stereotyping becomes a way of conveying their dislike. Of course,
stereotyping stems from a commonly held view of a particular group or race.
This view may arise from an incident or false assumption, and then maybe used
to color the entire community with the same brush. There are various types of
stereotypes. However, the most common ones are racial stereotypes and gender
stereotypes. Race, nationality, gender and sexual orientation are the main factors
of stereotyping. Stereotyping must be avoided at all costs, as it leads to
treating groups as a single entity. Given below are examples of stereotypes
that people commonly use.
Examples Of Stereotypes
Negative Stereotypes
Examples Of Stereotypes
Negative Stereotypes
- All blond women
are dumb.
- All red heads
are sluts.
- Christians are
homophobic. They are blinded by God and will recruit you if you go near
them.
- All politicians
are philanders and think only of personal gain and benefit.
- If I wear Goth
clothing I'm a part of a rock band, depressed, or do drugs.
- Girls are only
concerned about physical appearance.
- Guys are messy
and unclean.
- Men who spend
too much time on the computer or read are geeks.
- Men who are not
into sports are termed as gay.
- All librarians
are women who are old, wear glasses, tie a high bun, and have a perpetual
frown on their face.
- Girls are not
good at sports.
- All teenagers
are rebels.
- All children
don't enjoy healthy food.
- Only anorexic
women can become models.
- Women who smoke
and drink do not have morals.
- Men who like
pink are effeminate.
Positive Stereotypes
- All Blacks are
great basketball players.
- All Asians are
geniuses.
- All Indians are
deeply spiritual.
- All Latinos
dance well.
- All Whites are
successful.
- Asians have high
IQs. They are smarter than most in Math and Science. These people are more
likely to succeed in school.
- African
Americans can dance.
- All Canadians
are exceptionally polite.
- French are
romantic.
- All Asians know
kung fu.
- All African
American men are well endowed.
- Italians are
good lovers.
Racial Stereotypes
- All Muslims are
terrorists.
- All white people
don't have rhythm.
- All Blacks are
lazy.
- All Asians are
sneaky.
- All Hispanics
don't speak English very well or not at all.
- All Jewish
people are greedy, selfish money hungry people.
- Caucasians can't
dance.
- Russians are
violent.
- All Americans
are cowboys.
- All Italians are
stylish and sophisticated. They are usually painters, sculptors or fashion
designers.
- Germans are
Nazis or fascists.
- All Asians are
Chinese.
- All Asians speak
Pidgin English.
- All Native
Americans love to gamble.
- All Middle
easterners hate America.
- All Italians are
good cooks.
- The people of
Netherlands are all promiscuous and drug addicts.
- All Italians are
mobsters or have links to the mob.
- All white people
are all racist.
- Chinese will eat
anything.
- All Asians are
Communists.
- All Australians
are bullies, racists, drinkers and constantly uses swear words. They are
also portrayed as lazy and stupid morons.
- People from the
Indian subcontinent are generally portrayed as shopkeepers and motel
owners.
- All Egyptian
women are belly dancers.
- The Japanese are
engineering geniuses.
- All South
Koreans are gaming nerds.
- Irish are
alcoholics.
- All Hispanics
are all illegal aliens.
- All Indians and
Chinese are cheap and live a frugal life.
- All Latinos are
on welfare.
- In the US all
South Koreans are stereotyped as dry cleaners and all Mexicans as
gardeners.
Gender Stereotypes
Women
Women
- Women always
smell good.
- Women take
forever to do anything.
- Women are more
brilliant than men.
- Women are always
moody.
- Women try to
work out problems while men take immediate action.
- All women like
the color pink.
- All women like
dolls.
- Women become
cheerleaders.
- Women take 2
hours to shower.
- Women hog the
bathroom.
- Women love
mirrors.
- Women like
make-up.
- Women are fussy
about their hair.
- Women work in
department stores.
- Women like
fashion magazines.
- Women are
discrete about intimacy.
- Women do not
drive well.
- Women never take
chances.
- Women always
talk too much on the phone.
- Women actually
use only 5% of what's in their purse. Everything else is junk.
- Only women can
be nurses.
Men
- Only men can be
doctors.
- Men are stronger
and more aggressive.
- Men are better
at sports.
- Men hate
reading.
- Men always have
an "I don't care" attitude.
- Men don't get
grossed out by scrapes and bruises.
- Men are tough.
- Men are
thickheaded.
- Men like cars.
- Men become jocks
in high school.
- Men take 2
seconds to shower.
- Men like hats.
- Men could care
less if they become bald.
- Men wear
whatever is clean.
- Men usually work
in messy places.
- Men like car or
porn magazines.
- Men brag about
intimacy.
- Men take too
many chances.
- Men always lose
all arguments against girls.
Every race, culture, country, religion
and a community has a stereotype. It is a way of oversimplifying groups of
people. It is one of the easiest ways of establishing identity. By conforming
to a fixed or conventional image, the identity can be recognized and
understood. And, herein lies the problem. It's hard to be objective if one
doesn't reject stereotypes. So, it is better not to use any stereotype and pass
judgments only when you are familiar with others
Stereotypes
by Saul McLeod
published
2008 Definition: A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996).
For example, a “hells angel” biker dresses in leather.
One advantage of a stereotype is that it enables us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before.
One disadvantage is that it makes us ignore differences between individuals; therefore we think things about people that might not be true (i.e. make generalizations).
The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing (i.e. thinking) we have to do when we meet a new person.
By stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social categorization, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes (i.e. “them” and “us” mentality) which leads to in-groups and out-groups.
Most stereotypes probably tend to convey a negative impression. Positive examples would include judges (the phrase “sober as a judge” would suggest this is a stereotype with a very respectable set of characteristics), overweight people (who are often seen as “jolly”) and television newsreaders (usually seen as highly dependable, respectable and impartial). Negative stereotypes seem far more common, however.
Racial Stereotypes
The most famous study of racial stereotyping was published by Katz and Braly in 1933 when they reported the results of a questionnaire completed by students at Princeton University in the USA.
They found that students held clear, negative stereotypes – few students expressed any difficulty in responding to the questionnaire.
Most students at that time would have been white Americans and the pictures of other ethnic groups included Jews as shrewd and mercenary, Japanese as shrewd and sly, Negroes as lazy and happy-go-lucky and Americans as industrious and intelligent.
Not surprisingly, racial stereotypes always seem to favor the race of the holder and belittle other races. It is probably true to say that every ethnic group has racial stereotypes of other groups; some psychologists argue that it is a “natural” aspect of human behavior, which can be seen to benefit each group because it helps in the long-run to identify with one’s own ethnic group and so find protection and promote the safety and success of the group. There is no evidence for this view, however, and many writers argue that it is merely a way of justifying racist attitudes and behaviors.
Katz and Braly (1933) – Racial Stereotyping
Aim: To investigate stereotypical attitudes
of Americans towards different races.Method: Questionnaire method was used to investigate stereotypes. American university students were given a list of nationalities and ethic groups (e.g. Irish, Germans etc.), and a list of 84 personality traits. They were asked to pick out five or six traits which they thought were typical of each group.
Results: There was considerable agreement in the traits selected. White Americans, for example, were seen as industrious, progressive and ambitious. African Americans were seen as lazy, ignorant and musical. Participants were quite ready to rate ethnic groups with whom they had no personal contact.
Conclusion: Ethnic stereotypes are widespread, and shared by members of a particular social group.
Katz and Braly repeated their research in 1951 and 1967. The results can be seen in the table below.
Research Evaluation
The Katz and Braly studies were done in the 1930’s and it can be argued that
cultures have changed since then and we are much less likely to hold these
stereotypes. Later studies conducted in 1951 and 1967 found changes in
the stereotypes and the extent to which they are held. In general,
stereotypes in the later study tended to be more positive but the belief that
particular ethnic groups held particular characteristics still existed.Also, it should be noted that this study has relied entirely on verbal reports and is therefore extremely low in ecological validity. Just because participants in a study will trot out stereotypes when asked does not mean to say that people go around acting on them. People do not necessarily behave as though the stereotypes are true.
The limited information that the experiments are given is also likely to create demand characteristics (i.e. participants figure out what the experiment is about and change their behavior, for example give the results the psychologist wants).
Finally, there is the problem of social desirability with questionnaire research – people may lie.
Further
Information
Katz, D., & Braly, K. (1933). Racial stereotypes of one hundred college
students. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28,
280-290. Prejudice and Discrimination
Examples of Discrimination
The Psychology of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination: An Overview
How to
cite this article:
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Stereotypes. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html
5 ) http://www.rantgaming.com/2012/06/27/anita-sarkeesian-female-stereotypes-in-video-games-and-you/
Anita Sarkeesian, Female Stereotypes in Video Games, and You
Anita
Sarkeesian. Not bad, huh fellas?
cut out for them in this society. Feminism must at
least be in the top five most controversial subjects of today,
so really none of us should have been too surprised when her campaign was met
with both outright support and hugely disturbed (and, of course, almost
completely anonymous) backlash.On her blog website, Feminist Frequency, Sarkeesian condemns depictions of women and their relatively extraneous relevance in most film and television (and occasionally comic books), and sometimes criticizes commercial marketing techniques targeted at young girls. Again, Ms. Sarkeesian is undoubtedly very busy in her particular line of work, and now shows no shyness in tackling video games, a form of media almost totally dominated by young men. Her previous hard-hitting journalistic web-based video series called Tropes vs Women was a big success, and her Kickstarter campaign to fund a new series called Tropes vs Women in Video Games is only gaining more attention, even if all of it isn’t quite so favorable. Despite the incessantly abusive comments she’s received via YouTube, the donations pledged for her new project amounted to almost $160,000, more than 20 times her initial goal. Wow, talk about girl power. Applause, fellas?
Now, when it comes to the entertainment industry at large, we all know it isn’t difficult to come across movies or TV shows meant for women, and it seems to be getting more and more integrated. The romantic comedy series How I Met Your Mother features a variety of male characters and is really sympathetic toward a female audience. But everybody knows that most video gamers want to manifest the role of the macho guy with awesome guns who saves the sexy, helpless woman.
…or do they??
Don’t
forget to write, Lara!!
Ms. Sarkeesian herself seems to be a genuine game fan, and she
definitely wants a change. In the time of video game characters such as Metroid
protagonist, Samus Aran, depictions
of women in video games have in fact come a long way since the
damsel-in-distress imagery of the helpless Princess Peach, but Sarkeesian is
playing hard ball. In Women in Refrigerators, a video blog post from her
previous Tropes vs Women series, she accuses Hollywood of making poor attempts
at liberating women by simply recasting them in “tough male roles.” Most
of us guys probably never thought about it, but she makes a good
point. Even I have to admit I get tired of the same old routine — the
“chicks with guns” thing ran out of steam pretty early for me, and I don’t feel
the slightest bit emasculated to state how tired I am of unbelievably proportioned
women in animated media.
What
about Chloe? You got a problem with Chloe? Huh, Anita??
The challenge here, I believe, concerns aestheticism according to the target
demographic for video game sales. What would a video game with a totally
empowered female character look like, and would most people in the current
gaming generation find it any fun at all? Maybe not, but
as you just learned, the gaming audience is changing. I’m using my
imagination here, but the idea of a detective game with a protagnoist
resembling Veronica Mars isn’t totally bubbleheaded. A strong woman trying to
get by in Liberty City sounds… interesting, at least. We’re not just talking
about a game that sympathizes with women, I mean a game that really appeals
to them. It’s like the ESRB’s “Adults Only” rating in videogames: it doesn’t
have much of an audience at this point, but signs are indicating that some day
soon, it definitely will.As an artistic medium, video games fascinate the hell out of me. I loved Super Metroid, Manhunt, Portal 2 and Uncharted 3. (Many of those titles, by the way, feature a somewhat diverse array of female characters…iiiinteresting.) It’s heartbreaking to have to watch my parents roll their eyes as I try to describe the majesty of it all, but gaming audiences have already begun to branch out into all sorts of different types, and I think Sarkeesian is living proof. Personally, I can’t wait to see it and play my part, and in the meantime, all those horribly objectified, scantily clad video game heroines might be able to visit Sam’s Gaming Cupboard for some ideas on how to stay looking modest.
About The Author
Jack.Burr
Number of Entries : 6
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Comments (10)
Sam.Bulzgis
Good post, I’m quite on the fence about all this
“objectification” personally. As a female gamer, I like being able to relate to
the characters I play. But then again, I also love playing as Jill Valentine in
the RE5 mercenaries mini-game, in which she’s wearing a…erm…revealing leather
bodysuit. I don’t mind most games, but there are games that make me facepalm
about the female character bodies, like the DOA series.
Patrick.Rothanburg
The physics engine in your console gets a workout
every time a female fighter is chosen. 
Jack.Burr
Hahahahaha
Jack.Burr
I second the facepalm comment, totally!
Sammy Naidu
I simply want to mention I am just all new to
weblog and absolutely liked your web site. Very likely I’m planning to bookmark
your blog . You absolutely have perfect article content. Thanks a bunch for
sharing with us your blog site.
Jack.Burr
Thanks very much Sammy, please share!!
J.G. te Molder
Women are objectified, huh? Yeah, like the men are
pudgy, and ugly, and aren’t reduced to glorified fighting and fucking machines.
Say, you want objectification?
Come back to me when 100% of all faceless goons you
brutally slaughter in video games without a single care in the world for her
family and kids, and most likely conscripted in armies without her having a say
in it, are women!
Patrick.Rothanburg
To be fair, I’m pretty sure most of the mobs in
the MMO’s I play are female… though I’m not sure I can tell when it comes to
ogres.
Abbas
I think there’s a difference between appealing to
the sex drive of the male audience and between squeezing the sex factor. I
don’t have much right to criticize Battlestar Galactica’s sex scenes (since
they’re somewhat realistic), but the look of female characters in the Soul
Calibur series insults me. I am a male, and (like most) I like a hot girl, but
the way some matters are done are simply unreasonable,
intellectually-insulting, and aesthetically-flawed.
Native Americans in Video Games: Racism, Stereotypes, &
The Digitized Indian
Tomahawks, bows and arrows, feathered headdresses, a connection to the spiritual world — these are just a few of the stereotypical elements associated with the “Indians” of popular culture. Generally, these features, among others, are mixed together and poured into a cliche “Native American” mould that characterizes them as either an outdated civilization of savages or romanticizes them as mystical, nature-loving warriors and shamans. This mould has only strengthened over time, and has taken form in a variety of entertainment mediums, starting with literature, then film, then television, and most recently, video games. A few notable Native American characters that have appeared in video games include Mortal Kombat‘s Nightwolf, a tribal warrior donning feathers and face paint, who wields a bow and arrows, a tomahawk, and can also transform into a wolf to defeat his adversaries, Street Fighter‘s equally stereotypical Thunder Hawk, and Banjo Tooie‘s magical shaman Humba Wumba, who lives in a “wigwam” and becomes oddly sexualized in the following game. We tend to glance over these highly stereotypical portrayals as fun and harmless, but can these simplified, misleading images of Native Americans have a negative impact on consumers? Many of these stereotypes, whether they have some sort of basis in history or not, are certainly not relevant to the contemporary Native American. In fact, the common perception of these people as antiquated and exotic could possibly hinder their ability to synthesize with mainstream society, as it greatly affects society’s understanding of them as well as their own sense of identity. That said, it’s interesting to consider the Native American’s place in video games over the past thirty years as they are certainly under-represented, occasionally portrayed in a negative light, and almost always plagued by long-established stereotypes that separate them from the dominant majority, just as they are in film and literature. So, here is a look at some of the most memorable characters and controversies that have punctuated the existence of the “Indian” in video games, accompanied by a discourse on how these trends can affect attempts at contemporary acculturation and hurt the image of Native American people.
Can you spot the
similarities?
As evident in Activision’s defense of GUN, many negative stereotypes about Native American culture are so ingrained in mainstream media that the near-genocide of an entire culture is rarely treated with the same sensitivity with which we regard similarly tragic occurrences like the Holocaust, or African American slavery. The AAID argues that video games like GUN undermine the severity of the atrocities committed against First Nations tribes by the European settlers and marginalize this violence in a way that negatively affects the image of contemporary Native Americans. Millions of people play video games, and entertainment can leave long-lasting impressions on consumers, making it important to be able to criticize misconceptions and separate fantasy from reality. The impact of media on our mentality towards people and events certainly cannot be underestimated, so it is understandable that an organization such as the AAID should be concerned about what kind of images audiences are exposed to, but were their claims about GUN‘s potentially damaging effects warranted?
To the AAID’s credit, GUN certainly does exploit numerous Native American stereotypes, reinforces several misleading aspects of imagined Indian culture such as “Indian scalping” (which seems to exist only for the sake of increasing the game’s level of violence), and creates misconceptions about Indian traditions involving the killing of sacred white animals. The game also demands that players slaughter large numbers of Apache Indians in order to progress through one particular mission in the game. However, the material is not as slanted as the AAID suggests. In addition to killing Apache warriors, the main character Colton White also kills white men and white women, and actually befriends various Indians in the game, even helping the Apache and Blackfoot tribes defend themselves against unjust and corrupt whites. In fact, he eventually discovers that he himself is of Native American heritage, and switches sides to take down a malignant railroad tycoon named Magruder. So, while GUN certainly does reinforce a number of misleading Indian stereotypes, it is easy to see why the AAID’s plea was ignored. Ruthless violence against Indians is advocated throughout the game, but brutality is also encouraged towards many whites, hispanics, and so forth. Additionally, much of the violence towards Indians is contextualized as part of the attempt to protect migrant Chinese rail-workers from Apache raids as they work on a new train line. The story itself is one of redemption and revenge, and the story is never so simple as “wiping out the Apache” as the AAID would lead us to believe. Essentially, Colton’s adopted father Ned brought ruin upon the Apache tribe when he introduced them to a party of Confederates, including the aforementioned Magruder. As might be expected, the tribe was massacred by the settlers when they came in the way of “progress”. Seeking repentance for his mistake, Ned thereafter dedicated himself to a mission of revenge upon the Confederates. When he dies in Mission 3 of the story, the torch is passed to Colton.
Violence against Apache
warriors in GUN.
Introducing one of the
most offensive games ever created.
General
Custer: naked, erect, and ready to offend thousands of people for years to
come.
Racism and Misogyny in
Action (uncensored).
The sexualization of Native American women in video games did not stop with Custer’s Revenge, although it never again reached the same absurd level of offensiveness. The sexualization has continued into the new millennium, visible in Mature-rated games like Bonetown, Darkwatch, and even the all-ages game, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Characters like Darkwatch‘s Tala (also known as “Stalking Wolf”) are definitely a step up from the woman victimized in Custer’s Revenge, but are largely still the objects of white men’s lust. For example, by using her sex appeal, Tala seduces the story’s main character, Civil War veteran Jericho Cross, having sex with him in order to further her own needs. Tala is not only a temptress, but also a shaman with mysterious powers, adding typical “native mysticism” to her sexualization and laundry list of other stereotypical ‘Indian’ traits. Indeed, there is something about the mystical, exotic “Other” that holds deep appeal with audiences, and this appeal can be extrapolated beyond the boundaries of sexual objectification. That is to say that our attraction to the popular images of Native American culture is not limited to the eroticization of its females, but can be extended to our fascination with character archetypes such as the spiritual shaman, the noble savage, the skilled warrior, and so forth. With regard to these romanticized stereotypes that we find so enchanting, Michael A. Sheyashe, the author of Native Americans in Comics, writes that video games “target a young and impressionable audience and leave them with no idea who we are as Natives or what our viable culture is all about”. His statement rings true when we look at all the games out there that make their characters “Indian” by simply handing them bows and arrows, slapping war paint on their faces, putting feathers in their hair, or giving them mysterious spiritual powers, in addition to other superficial qualities that are not at all relevant to contemporary Native American culture. The naked woman of Custer’s Revenge is the sad extreme of these romanticized misconceptions, and the warriors dancing around fires in Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs to bolster their powers is an example the typical.
Tala, as featured in Playboy’s ‘Videogames’ Hottest Chicks’ Issue.
Various Turok game covers. Check out those savage beasts and savage hunters.
Experience Prey’s story
up to and including the abduction.
Tommy Tawodi: A new kind of Native American hero.
Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stereotypes of Arabs and
Muslims in the United States have been presented in various forms by the mass media
in the American culture. Stereotypical representations of Arabs are often
manifested in a society's media, literature, theater and other creative expressions. These representation, which have been
historically and predominantly negative, often have adverse repercussions for Arab
Americans and Muslims
in daily interactions and in current
events. In American textbooks, which theoretically should be less-creative
expressions, similar negative and inaccurate stereotypes are also found for
Arabs[1]
and Muslims.[2]Racist Arab Stereotypes
For centuries the Arab has played the role of villain, seducer, hustler and thief -- the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilization. In the late 20th Century new images emerged: the fanatical terrorist and the suicide bomber. Arabs have become the all-purpose villains or buffoons across all American media, including books, films, television, and computer games.
The Sheik
The Sheik has long flowing robes, a beard, sunglasses, pockets stuffed with petrodollars, and he drives a giant SUV.
The Bedouin
The Bedouin is a nomad who treks the desert sands on a camel and sleeps in a tent.
The Terrorist
The Terrorist is a mad dog who is happy to sacrifice his life to kill women and children, and because he'll get 79 virgins in heaven.
The Maiden
The Maiden is a beautiful princess who wears a veil, is waited on my numerous female attendants and is guarded by eunuchs.
The Burka
The Burka is a robe with only a mesh opening for the eyes. Arab women have to dress this way so they don't excite men who cannot control their sexual urges if they see a wrist or an ankle.
The Arab "Street"
Angry people who take to the streets shouting "Death to America" while shaking their fists and beating themselves with chains.
The Haggler
All sellers in the market are hagglers who ask outrageous prices for their goods, but they will cut their prices to the bone in the face of any resistance. In Appointment With Death (1988) Lauren Bacall says, Arabs "have a nose for bargaining."
The Bellydancer
Belly dancers dance provocatively and are sexually available.
This proliferation of negative ethnic stereotypes is damaging to society in many ways, but the stereotypes can be especially harmful to children who aren't also being exposed to positive ethnic images.
Arabface in Film and TV
Hollywood has consistently stereotyped Arabs since the earliest films, but filmmakers did not create the stereotypes, they inherited and embellished Europe's pre-existing Arab caricatures. Thomas Edison made a short film in 1897 in which "Arab" women in harem outfits dance to seduce a male audience. The short clip was called Fatima Dances and was the first film to use the belly dancer stereotype. French filmmaker Georges Méliès produced several films in the early 1900s that made use of existing Arab stereotypes; dancing harem maidens, fat potentates, bearded camel-jockeys, and palace eunuchs.
American media has evolved to depict a more balanced view of most cultures, but Arab stereotypes remain one-dimensional. Hollywood has always relied on stereotypical depictions of "bad guys" and after the fall of the Soviet Union, Arabs became the bad guys of choice in American action films. It's not surprising that so many people think of Arabs only as terrorists and murderers because of how the media usually presents them. Some in the Arab American community call this the three B syndrome: Arabs in TV and movies are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires.
Planet of The Arabs is a montage of Hollywood's relentless vilification and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims. Inspired by the book "Reel Bad Arabs" by Dr. Jack Shaheen
Negative portraits of Arabs are found in numerous popular films, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Back to the Future (1985), and True Lies (1994). While producers, executives and others in entertainment industry deny perpetuating stereotypes, negative attitudes towards Arabs are self-evident in the depictions. Until the media makes greater use of positive aspects of Arab culture and peoples within normal everyday contexts negative stereotypes will continue to be the dominant images.
A good example of cartoons depicting Arabs in a negative manner is the Disney animated feature film, Aladdin (1993). In its attempts to make the film more appealing to the Western world, Disney Americanized the names and appearances of the lead characters. The film‘s light-skinned lead characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, have Anglicized features and Anglo-American accents while most of the other characters are dark-skinned, swarthy and villainous, with Arabic accents and grotesque facial features.
Disney is by no means the only offender. Arab stereotypes are a staple of Saturday morning TV cartoons that depict Arab women as belly dancers and harem girls, and Arab men as marauding tribesmen, violent terrorists, and oil sheiks.
Scores of comedies have presented Arabs as buffoons. Many popular stars have mocked Arabs: Laurel and Hardy in Beau Hunks (1931); Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in Road to Morocco (1942); the Marx Brothers in A Night in Casablanca (1946); Abbott and Costello in Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950); the Bowery Boys in Bowery to Baghdad (1955); Phil Silvers in Follow that Camel (1967) Marty Feldman in The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977); Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty in Ishtar (1987).
Arabs trying to abduct, rape, and or kill fair skinned Western maidens has been another very popular theme that dates to the earliest days of filmmaking. In Captured by Bedouins (1912) marauding tribesmen kidnap a Western girl, try to seduce her, and then demand a ransom for her return. Their plans are thwarted when the girl's British officer fiancée sneaks into their camp and rescues her.
Several films with the same theme were popular in the 1980s; desert sheikhs abducting and threatening to rape Western maidens; Brook Shields in Sahara (1983), Goldie Hawn in Protocol (1984), Bo Derek in Bolero (1984), and Kim Basinger in Never Say Never Again (1986).
Israeli Film producers Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus bought the American film company Cannon Films in the 1980s and produced a string of 26 virulent anti-Arab films like Hell Squad (1985), Invasion USA (1985), The Delta Force (1986), Delta Force II (1986), and Killing Streets (1991). These films pioneered the stereotype of Arab terrorists in action films and most of the Arabs were played as broad caricatures by Israeli actors in "arabface."
In Executive Decision (1996) terrorists hijack a Boeing 747, en-route to Washington, DC. They beat and kill innocent people, including a flight attendant and a US Senator while demanding the release of a terrorist leader who was previously captured by US authorities. But after the leader is released it is revealed that the actual mission is to blow-up Washington DC and contaminate the entire Eastern Seaboard of the USA with a nerve gas that was hidden aboard the aircraft. When one terrorist objects to the new mission as something that Allah would not approve of, he is promptly killed by the terrorist leader.
In The Siege (1998) New York City is terrorized by a series of bombings carried out by a fifth column of Arab-American blue collar workers and students. They detonate a bomb in a Federal Building, a crowded theater, and a city bus. These actions cause the imposition of martial law and widespread violations of the civil rights of Arab-Americans. The abuses ignite a backlash of protests from the Arab-Americans that other terrorists seek to exploit by bombing their own people in the midst of a protest. The terrorists' plan to cause and exploit divisions among Americans is foiled, but in many ways the film itself serves the same ends by sowing fear and suspicion along racial lines.
In Rules of Engagement (2000) producers broke new ground in American cinema by attempting to justify the slaughter of children. The film slowly reveals details that bring viewers to the point where the machine-gunning of a crowd of Arab demonstrators outside of an American embassy seems reasonable because the American commanding officer believed some in the crowd were firing at his soldiers. When the smoke clears, 83 civilians lie dead and 100 have been wounded, including many women and children, but no weapons are ever found. After an international outcry, the commanding officer is charged with the murder of innocent civilians.
Innocent victim -- or terrorist? Rules of Engagement first elicits our sympathy for a young girl who has been crippled when American soldiers fired on Arab civilians. But a later flashback from the point of view of the Colonel who is on trial for ordering the troops to fire on the civilians shows the same girl along with other men, women and children firing weapons. Is the flashback an accurate representation of what actually happened or just the way the Colonel remembers it because he is on trial for murder? The film never answers that question, but the court vindicates the Colonel.
No evidence was found to support the Colonel's version and no other soldiers saw the weapons. Had the court considered the geography where the incident took place they might have reached a different verdict. The American soldiers were on the roof of a tall embassy building and shielded by low walls. They saw snipers firing at them from a roof across a courtyard. Civilians were demonstrating in the courtyard in front of the embassy. The Americans began taking casualties, and the Colonel believed the demonstrators were firing at his men, but was it reasonable to think that those casualties were due to shots coming from the crowd below instead of from the snipers on the rooftop across the courtyard? Even if the Americans were being fired upon from the courtyard area, no one in that location would have had a clear shot at them. But when the order to return fire was finally given, the soldiers fired on the crowd below instead of on the snipers who were directly across from them.
The rules of engagement for American soldiers say that if a civilian of any age points a weapon at them they are allowed to kill that person in self-defense. However the film raises some very important questions that were never even considered; what if a small number of people with guns fire from within a much larger crowd that is unarmed? Is it reasonable to mow down the entire crowd to kill a few gunmen? The film seems to be saying that it's OK as long as the innocent civilians are Arabs. How many innocent Arab civilians can be sacrificed for each "terrorist?" The film seems to be saying as many as necessary. Would the answers to those questions be different if the innocent civilians being used as human shields were Americans instead of Arabs?
Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed in the Middle East in the last decade and many of these deaths have been excused as unavoidable collateral damage by American political and military leaders. If American intelligence believes a wanted terrorist is hiding in a residential area, they have no problem with launching a missile strike that takes out a few civilians in order to get one bad guy. The American people -- if they hear about the deaths at all -- don't care how many Arab civilians become collateral damage in the "war on terror" and this attitude is the inevitable result of the long history of dehumanizing stereotypes of Arabs in American media.
Rudolph Valentino's roles in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926) set the stage for the exploration and negative portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood films. Both The Sheik and The Son of the Sheik represented Arab characters as thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes.
Other foreign movies of the 1920s share a common theme of power-hungry, brutal Arabs ultimately defeated by westerners:
- The Song of Love (1923)[3]
- A Cafe in Cairo (1924)
- The Desert Bride (1928)
The same themes prevailed into the 1970s and beyond:
- Black Sunday (1977), based on a successful 1975
novel by Thomas Harris, concerns an Arab terrorist plot to bomb a stadium
during the Super Bowl.
- The Black Stallion (1979) opens with Arabs mistreating a
horse aboard a ship, then attacking a boy with a knife and stealing his
life jacket.
- Back to the Future (1985) went so far as to name a specific country, referring to
antagonists in the film as "Libyan
nationalists".
Contents
|
Billionaires,
bombers, and belly dancers
A report titled "100 Years
of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim stereotyping" by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, director
of media relations for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, specifies what some in the Arab American
community call "the three B syndrome": "Arabs in TV and movies
are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires" in reference to Arab men
being portrayed as terrorist or as wealthy oilmen and Arab women being
portrayed as sex objects. Also the report mentioned that even cartoons have
been insulting to Arab and Muslims and how the people who live in the US and
interact with its community are the most affected by these stereotypes because
they will be treated differently at many points. The report also explains that these
stereotypes don't only cause psychological harm (culture, insult) but also
helps feed into actions that are physically harmful by dehumanizing a group
first before attacking it.[page needed] According to
Mazin B. Qumsiyeh:Thomas Edison made a short film in 1897 for his patented Kinetoscope in which "Arab" women with enticing clothes dance to seduce a male audience. The short clip was called Fatima Dances (Belly dancer stereotype). The trend has shifted over the years and was dominated by the "billionaires" for a short while especially during the oil crises in the seventies. However, in the last 30 some years, the predominant stereotype by far has been the "Arab bombers."[5]
In a piece in the Los Angeles Times published July 28, 1997, Laila Lalami offers a 12-step guide to making a successful Arab-bashing movie, including such items as "the villains must all have beards", "they must all wear keffiehs", "they must all have names like Ali, Abdul or Mustapha" and "have them threaten to blow something up."[6]
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, Arab-American actors have found themselves even more likely to be type-cast as a terrorist.[7]
Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University, documented these trends in his book The TV Arab (ISBN 0-87972-309-2), which identifies more than 21 major movies released over ten years which show the U.S. military killing Arabs with Arabs depicted as being terrorists or enemies of the United States. These include:
- Iron Eagle (1986)
- Death Before Dishonor (1987)
- Navy SEALs (1990)
- The Delta Force (film) (1991)
- Patriot Games (1992)
- Executive Decision (1996)
Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different god, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens.[9]
The movies which Shaheen identifies as the three worst in terms of negative portrayal of Arabs in modern films are:
- Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987); "Arab thugs... plan to
ignite Los Angeles... killing millions."
- True Lies (1994); "Arnold S. INC."
shoots dead Palestinians like clay pigeons. "
- Rules of Engagement (2000); "a film which
"justifies" US Marines killing Arab women and children."[9]
Profiling of
Muslims and Arabs in the United States in the aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks
In the aftermath of the September
11 attacks in which 15 of
the 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian origin and all were of Muslim faith,
Arabs and Muslims complained of increased scrutiny and racial profiling at
airports. In a poll conducted by the Boston Globe, 71 percent of Blacks and 57
percent of Whites believed that "Arabs and Arab-Americans should undergo
special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes."[10][11] Some Muslims and Arabs have complained of being
held without explanation and subjected to hours of questioning and arrest
without cause. Such cases have led to lawsuits being filed by the American
Civil Liberties Union.[12] Fox News radio host Mike Gallagher suggested that airports have a "Muslims
Only" line in the wake of the 9/11 attacks stating "It's time to have
a Muslims check-point line in America's airports and have Muslims be
scrutinized. You better believe it, it's time."[13] In Queens, New York, Muslims and Arabs have
complained that the NYPD is unfairly targeting Muslim communities in raids tied
to the alleged Zazi terror plot.[14]
See also
- Stereotypes of groups within the
United States
- Orientalism
- Orientalism, a 1978 book by Edward Said
- Anti-Arabism
- Islamophobia
- Flying while Muslim
- Ethnic stereotype
- Stereotype threat
- Racial profiling
Bibliographies
& Videographies
- Arabs in Film and Television: A
Bibliography via UC
Berkeley library
- Images of Arabs and the Middle
East videography
of films on video and DVD in the UC Berkeley Media Resources Center
References
- ^ American School Textbooks – How
They Portrayed the Middle East from 1898 to 1994 American
Educational History Journal, Volume 35, Number 1 and 2, 2008, edited by J.
Wesley Null
- ^ review of Interpreting Islam in
American Schools
- ^ Movie details and plot summary New
York Times - Movies
- ^ Scott J.
Simon. "Arabs in Hollywood: An
Undeserved Image". Emerson College. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ 100 Years of anti-Arab and
anti-Muslim stereotyping by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh
- ^ Why Hollywood Owes Me Money by Laila Lalami
- ^ Khalil,
Ashraf (4 October 2007). "But can you play a terrorist?". Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ The Portrayal of Arabs in American
Media
- ^ a b Patrick Harrington interviews,
Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs
- ^ "Terror Probe Changes Face of
Racial Profiling Debate". FOX News. 1 October
2001. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ "Official: 15 of 19 Sept. 11
hijackers were Saudi". USA Today. 6 February
2002. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ MacFarquhar,
Neil (1 June 2006). "Terror Fears Hamper U.S.
Muslims' Travel". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ "Fox News Airs Suggestion for
'Muslim-Only' Airport Line". The Huffington Post. 16 August 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ Henrick
Karoliszyn, Samuel Goldsmith (10 October 2009). "Muslim advocates charge NYPD
is racial profiling". Daily News (New York). Archived from the original on 12
October 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
Articles, links,
and programs on this topic
- Richardson, John E. (2004), (Mis)representing Islam: the
racism and rhetoric of British broadsheet newspapers, John Benjamins Publishing Company, ISBN 90-272-2699-7
- Presumed Guilty: American Muslim
and Arabs Presumed Guilty: American Muslims
and Arabs on Making Contact
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