Articles on Stereotypes:

1 ) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810122210.htm

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.

"Past studies have shown that people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped," says Associate Professor of Psychology Michael Inzlicht, who led the study, published in this month's edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. "What we wanted to do was look at what happens afterwards. Are there lingering effects of prejudice? Does being stereotyped have an impact beyond the moment when stereotyping happens?"
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

July 28, 2010 RSS Feed Print

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Negative stereotypes not only jeopardize how members of stigmatized groups might perform on tests and in other skill-based acts, such as driving and golf putting, but they also can inhibit actual learning, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers.
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.
---

3 ) http://fos.iloveindia.com/stereotypes-examples.html

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

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 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

4) http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html

Home › Social Psychology › Attitudes › Prejudice and Discrimination › Stereotypes

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

Researchers have found that stereotypes exist of different races, cultures or ethnic groups. Although the terms race, culture and ethnic groups have different meanings, we shall take them to mean roughly the same thing at the moment.
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

Posted by: Jack.Burr Posted date: June 27, 2012 In: Blogs | comment : 10

This past spring, feminist journalist and Feminist Frequency blog author, Anita Sarkeesian, initiated a Kickstarter campaign to increase awareness of negative female stereotypes, or “tropes,” in video games. Sarkeesian has had a reputation as an ouspoken feminist media critic for a few years now, and we all know how such journalists have their work

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.

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Comments (10)

Sam.Bulzgis

June 27, 2012 at 7:34 pm

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

June 28, 2012 at 4:22 am

The physics engine in your console gets a workout every time a female fighter is chosen.

Jack.Burr

July 2, 2012 at 4:31 pm

Hahahahaha

Jack.Burr

July 2, 2012 at 4:32 pm

I second the facepalm comment, totally!

Sammy Naidu

July 5, 2012 at 4:38 am

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

July 28, 2012 at 2:43 pm

Thanks very much Sammy, please share!!

J.G. te Molder

August 1, 2012 at 6:51 am

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

August 1, 2012 at 11:07 am

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

August 13, 2012 at 9:30 pm

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.

6 ) http://www.projectcoe.com/2011/04/04/native-americans-in-video-games-racism-stereotypes-and-progress/

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?

“How many kids will play this game and then carry what they’ve experienced into their interactions with real, live Apaches and other Native Americans?” the Association for American Indian Development asked video game publishing giant Activision in a public letter accusing the company’s 2006 PC and console title GUN of containing “some very disturbing racist and genocidal elements toward Native Americans”. The AAID went on to launch an online petition demanding that Activision “remove all derogatory, harmful, and inaccurate depictions of American Indians” from the game and reissue a more culturally sensitive version, threatening to campaign to have the game pulled from store shelves internationally. Although Activision thereafter issued an apology to anyone who may have been offended by the game, they justified the content of their product by pointing out that such depictions had already been “conveyed not only through video games but through films, television programming, books, and other media”. The AAID’s subsequent attempts to have the game recalled were barely acknowledged.
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.

Over the course of the story, Colton encounters many racist characters, including the sheriff Patrick Denton. However, these characters don’t exclusively hate Indians but are intolerant of all different races, creeds, and religions, not only spewing racist comments about Native Americans, but also about the Chinese, Irish, and Mexicans (they are essentially bigots). The story is never really framed from the racist-towards-Indians angle that the AAID claims, even considering the misconceptions about Native American culture that occasionally surface. Thus the issue is debatable. Regardless of the stance one takes on GUN‘s treatment of Indians, the controversy surrounding the game makes one wonder about the portrayal of Native Americans in other video games. After all, the AAID’s reaction to GUN was not the first time the issue of racism towards Natives has stirred up controversy in the industry.

Introducing one of the most offensive games ever created.

Twenty four years before GUN raised the eyebrows of Native American activists, a game called Custer’s Revenge was released for the Atari 2600. Whereas GUN‘s racist undertones are debatable, Custer’s Revenge is blatantly racist, extremely vulgar, and highly offensive, especially to Native American women. Made by now-defunct video game developer Mystique, which developed a number of pornographic video games throughout the 1980′s, the game is widely regarded as one of the most racist games ever developed. Mystique’s games were programmed in the United States, so one would think the creators would be imbued with a sense of cultural sensitivity for the people of that region, but this was certainly not the case with Custer’s Revenge. The game has players taking on the persona of a character named “Custer”, who is quite clearly inspired by George Armstrong Custer, a United States Army cavalry commander who fought in the Indian Wars, directly taking part in the slaughter of thousands of Native Americans before ultimately bringing about his own death and the defeat of his forces when he led them against numerically superior Indian forces at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Based on the game’s title, one would assume that he will somehow exact a post-humous revenge on the Indians for killing him and his men. And how exactly will Custer carry out his vengeance? By repeatedly raping an Indian women, of course. Oh, and by the way, “Revenge” is actually the name of the woman he rapes. His revenge thus takes the form of a brutal objectification of Native American women.

General Custer: naked, erect, and ready to offend thousands of people for years to come.

Yes, in the role of Custer, a man who took part in the killing of thousands of Native Americans in real-life history, players must weave through volleys of arrows in order to rape a naked, large-breasted Indian woman tied to a cactus. Of course, you would never know that she’s Native American were it not for the stereotypical feather in her hair and a teepee billowing smoke in the background. It’s interesting how these symbols can so easily establish the context for an otherwise generic — if disturbing — premise, isn’t it? Racist, misogynistic elements aside, the game itself is simple: dodge, rape, repeat. And the game gets more challenging each time you rape the Indian woman, and you will need to rape her many times indeed to get a good high score. That’s the experience in its entirety, and the game’s box exclaims that “she’s not about to take it lying down, by George!”, clarifying the intentions of the developers. The game’s designer, Joe Miller, claims that the purpose of his game was to get people “smiling” and “laughing”. Needless to say, many people were not as amused as Miller was when the game hit store shelves in 1982. Custer’s Revenge was met with considerable criticism from the enthusiast press and targeted by Native Americans, women’s rights activists, and various other groups for its racist and misogynistic content. American feminist Andrea Dworkin said that the game “generated many gang rapes of Native American women”, lawsuits abounded, and the game was eventually pulled off of the market. But only after selling around 80,000 copies, meaning that 80,000 people either laughed while they raped a naked, bound Indian woman against a spiky cactus, or cringed. Or something in between.

Racism and Misogyny in Action (uncensored).

Of course, the sexual objectification of Native American women in popular culture is not something that started with Custer’s Revenge. The image of the exotic “Indian Princess” is widespread, although usually not in such a graphic and violent manner. In the Disney films of Pocahontas and Peter Pan, in television, in literature from the early nineteenth century — this image is not something new or isolated. There is a book by M. Elise Marubbio titled Killing the Indian Maiden that looks in depth at these images as they appear in film, explaining how and why the “white male-dominated” film industry constructs Indian women as “subservient, simplistic, self-destructive” and desirable “Others”. The video games business is also a white male-dominated industry, and thus many of the ideas in Marubbio’s book can be applied to it as well. It’s worth checking out if you want to learn more about the driving forces behind these characterizations.
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.

One of the first encounters I had with “Indians” in video games as a child was took place via the Turok series. The first entry in the series, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, was released in 1997 and was one of the first blockbuster video games to feature a Native American as the central protagonist. The main character was a warrior named Tal’Set, who was charged with stopping the evil Campaigner from using a powerful, ancient weapon to control the universe. In the series mythos, each generation the title of “Turok” is passed down to the tribe’s eldest male, who must then guard the barrier between Earth and the Lost Land; the same barrier that the Campaigner wishes to break. The Lost Land is a primitive otherworld of sorts that is inhabited by dinosaurs, animals, and is entirely segregated from the struggles of modernizing humanity. It seems so typical that Native Americans would have this connection to another mystical, spiritual world, doesn’t it? This native mysticism is bolstered in Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, which introduces an “Energy Totem” and magical talismans that grant special powers to the new Turok, Joshua Fireseed. Simply put, Turok embraces the same stereotypes that have clung to the Indian culture constructed in popular media for the past several hundred years. A mystical connection to the spiritual world, superb tracking and sneaking abilities, bows and arrows, tomahawks, feathers — the staples of “Indianhood” are in full bloom. An important part of the series involves facing off against dinosaurs in the Lost Land, and who better to overcome nature’s greatest beasts than those whom we perceive as nature’s greatest hunters? The Turok series, while colouring Native Americans as cool and powerful, reinforces stereotypes that paint Indian culture as something ancient and segregated from the rest of the world. The games never delve into the cultural background of the characters beyond their bows and arrows, hunting, and the usual mill of superficial features. Tal’Set, Joshua, and the other Turoks are “Native” simply because of the stereotypical qualities that we accept as the basis for being such.

Various Turok game covers. Check out those savage beasts and savage hunters.

Although it was great to see Native American characters at the helm in a series of million-seller video games for the first time, Turok never gave its protagonists personalities that extended very far beyond the conventional, run-of-the mill Indian stereotypes that have persisted for centuries. Recently, however, a game titled Prey was released that attempts to explore its Indian characters at a deeper level. Like Turok, Prey casts a Native American as the protagonist. However, Cherokee tribe member Tommy Tawodi is very different from Tal’Set and Joshua Fireseed. Unlike those characters, Tommy ditches decorative feathers and war paint, puts on a shirt, and dresses in contemporary fashion. Prey makes it clear that Tommy and the other Cherokee are characters of the modern world — not members of an exotic, extinct culture of the past. Tommy is interesting compared to most Indian characters in popular entertainment in that he wants to break away from the traditions of the Cherokee, dislikes life on the reservation, and is spiteful of those around him who are caught up in cultural customs and humdrum. The game begins in a rundown bar on the tribe’s reserve. As Tommy walks out of the bathroom and players see lines of gambling machines, one can’t help but connect the setting to contemporary Indian stereotypes, but Tommy’s dialogue soon establishes the setting as something intended to raise questions about Native American identity. After a short period of time on the reserve, Tommy and the other Cherokee are abducted by aliens and brought to a mysterious ship.

Experience Prey’s story up to and including the abduction.

The plot sounds a bit ridiculous, but the atmosphere and storytelling are solid. As one might anticipate, Tommy’s “mystical Indian heritage” comes into play aboard the ship, as Tommy is able to use his previously unrealized spiritual powers to destroy foes with a magically enhanced bow and arrows, sense impending threats, see paths that others cannot, and so forth. These abilities reek of conventional “native mysticism”, but Tommy must ultimately accept the value of his people’s unique connection to their ancient beliefs and spirituality. Tommy’s spiritual abilities, while typical of the “mystical Indian” image, are clearly intended as a way of allowing for innovative gameplay and not merely as a superficial inclusion, so the realm of senseless stereotyping is generally evaded in this regard. The game’s story is closely tied to Tommy’s perception of himself as a Cherokee, ending with Tommy in a state of bliss about his Cherokee heritage. The personal journey during which Tommy gains confidence in his identity as a Native American is both unique and charming considering the typical flat portrayal of Indian characters in popular culture. Tommy’s voice actor, Michael Greyeyes, laments that Hollywood “typically relegates different indigenous cultures into either a single pan-Indian construct” (eg. radical protestor, anglicized casino businessmen) or “most commonly, as a historical figure — typically from a Plains culture”, and states that he was excited to voice Tommy because he breaks away from these stereotypes. Greyeyes excitement was well-founded, as Tommy is neither a typical Indian stock character nor an outdated “noble savage”. Prey takes a step away from typical Indian stereotypes by offering a complex character who is not the typical Indian of popular culture. The game draws heavily on Cherokee myths and falls back on a few cliches, but ultimately offers a refreshing attempt at telling a story about Indians for a mainstream audience. One can only hope that this trend will continue, and that Native American protagonists continue to break from traditional character roles and time-hardened stereotypes.

Tommy Tawodi: A new kind of Native American hero.

Based on your own experiences with supposed “Indian” culture in interactive entertainment, what do you think about the portrayal of Native Americans in video games? Are recent games, such as 2010′s Red Dead Redemption, making progress in depicting Indians that aren’t trapped by traditional character archetypes? Persistent stereotypes, presented through film, literature, video games, and other media, can damage society’s perceptions of visible ethnic groups, and there are numerous misconceptions about Native Americans that are held up by the stereotypes existing in video games. Are we headed in the right direction?

7 ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Arabs_and_Muslims_in_the_United_States

Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States

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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:

Simon singles out A Son of the Sahara (1924) as "the strongest subconscious attack on the Arab culture of all the Arab movies of the 1920s."^[4]
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".

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:

In Reel Bad Arabs (ISBN 1-84437-019-4), Shaheen writes that "television's image of the Arab is omnipresent [and] is becoming a part of American folklore." He also writes that Arabs have "consistently appeared in American popular culture as billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers."^[8]
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

Main article: Airport racial profiling in the United States

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]

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

Sunday, August 19, 2012

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Native Americans in Video Games: Racism, Stereotypes, & The Digitized Indian

Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States

Contents

Billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers

Profiling of Muslims and Arabs in the United States in the aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks

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Bibliographies & Videographies

References

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