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Essay on Stereotypes

Students are often asked to write an essay on Stereotypes in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Stereotypes

What are stereotypes.

Stereotypes are fixed beliefs about a particular group of people. They are often negative and oversimplified. Stereotypes can be based on race, gender, religion, or nationality.

How Stereotypes are Formed

Stereotypes are often formed from personal experience. For example, if someone has a negative experience with a member of a particular group, they may start to believe that all members of that group are negative. Stereotypes can also be formed from the media. If people see negative images of a particular group on TV or in movies, they may start to believe that those images are true.

The Dangers of Stereotypes

Stereotypes can be dangerous because they can lead to discrimination. When people believe that a particular group of people is negative, they may be less likely to interact with them or give them opportunities. Stereotypes can also lead to violence. If people believe that a particular group of people is dangerous, they may be more likely to attack them.

Breaking Down Stereotypes

Stereotypes can be broken down by education and contact. When people learn about different cultures and meet people from different backgrounds, they start to realize that stereotypes are not true.

250 Words Essay on Stereotypes

What is Stereotype?

A stereotype is a fixed idea or belief about a particular group or person. It is often an oversimplified, inaccurate, and prejudiced generalization. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. They can be about a person’s age, gender, race, religion, occupation, or any other group affiliation.

How Stereotypes are Formed?

Stereotypes are often formed through socialization, the process of learning the values, beliefs, and behaviors of a particular culture or group. Children learn stereotypes from their parents, teachers, peers, and the media. They may also learn stereotypes by observing the behavior of others.

Impact of Stereotypes

Stereotypes can have a negative impact on individuals and groups. They can lead to discrimination, prejudice, and social inequality. Stereotypes can also affect the way people think about themselves and their place in society.

Challenging Stereotypes

Stereotypes can be challenged through education, awareness, and contact with diverse groups of people. It is important to teach children about the dangers of stereotypes and to help them develop critical thinking skills. It is also important to provide opportunities for people to interact with people from different backgrounds.

Stereotypes are harmful overgeneralizations that can lead to discrimination and prejudice. It is important to challenge stereotypes by learning about the dangers of prejudice and by promoting diversity and inclusion.

500 Words Essay on Stereotypes

What is a stereotype.

A stereotype is an idea about a person or a group of people that is not true for all the people in the group. It is like a label that we sometimes put on people based on their race, gender, age, religion, or other characteristics. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they are always harmful because they are not true.

How Do Stereotypes Form?

Stereotypes can form for many reasons. One reason is that we are all born with a tendency to categorize things. This helps us to make sense of the world around us by putting things into groups. However, sometimes we can over-categorize and start to think that everyone in a group is the same. This is where stereotypes come from.

Another reason stereotypes can form is through the media. The media often portrays people in certain ways, and these portrayals can reinforce stereotypes. For example, if we see a lot of images of women in the media who are thin and beautiful, we may start to think that all women should look that way.

Stereotypes can be very harmful. They can lead to discrimination and prejudice. When we stereotype people, we are judging them based on their group membership and not on their individual qualities. This can lead to unfair treatment and discrimination.

Stereotypes can also be harmful to the people who are stereotyped. They can make people feel like they don’t belong or that they are not good enough. This can lead to low self-esteem and depression.

How to Challenge Stereotypes

The best way to challenge stereotypes is to learn more about the people who are stereotyped. When we get to know people as individuals, we start to realize that they are not all the same. We also need to be aware of our own stereotypes and challenge them when they come up.

We can also challenge stereotypes by speaking out against them when we see or hear them. We can also support organizations that are working to break down stereotypes.

Stereotypes are harmful because they are not true and they can lead to discrimination and prejudice. We can challenge stereotypes by learning more about the people who are stereotyped and by speaking out against stereotypes when we see or hear them. We can also support organizations that are working to break down stereotypes.

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Editorial: The psychological process of stereotyping: Content, forming, internalizing, mechanisms, effects, and interventions

Baoshan zhang.

1 School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China

Fengqing Zhao

2 School of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

Fangfang Wen

3 School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China

Junhua Dang

4 Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Magdalena Zawisza

5 Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Stereotype is a pervasive and persistent human tendency that stems from a basic cognitive need to categorize, simplify, and process the complex world. This tendency is a precondition for social bias, prejudice, and discrimination. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the discrimination, exclusion, and even hostility caused by stereotypes have increasingly become an important social issue that concerns political and social stability. Therefore, the current issue focuses on a broad spectrum of research addressing four main themes: (1) the psychological processes involved in forming and internalizing social stereotypes, (2) the negative consequences of stereotypes, (3) the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying stereotypes, and (4) the interventions addressing the consequences of negative stereotypes in this era with changes and challenges. Specifically, the Research Topic consists of 13 papers by 54 scholars that target stereotypes among different social groups, including males and females, older people and young generation, minority races, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), people with mental health problems, juvenile transgressors, refugees, and Asian-Americans during COVID-19 outbreak. These studies are conducted in culturally diverse countries including Brazil, China, Germany, Hungary, and the USA, contributing to a more holistic picture of contemporary stereotypes.

1. The forming of social stereotypes

Negative stereotypes from the public may be influenced by our knowledge about and psychological distance to the target group, beliefs of group malleability, beliefs in the implicit change of traits, and moral values. For instance, Caldas et al. tested whether people's knowledge and proximity to the circumstances associated with juvenile transgression would influence their opinions about the proposal for reducing the age of criminal majority in Brazil. They investigated the passers-by in a public square and workers from the juvenile justice courts and found that people were more likely to hold negative stereotypes of juvenile delinquents if they were far from them. Paskuj and Orosz focused on the refugees as the most typically vulnerable group in turbulent international times, and they found that group malleability beliefs were negatively linked to dehumanization tendencies and threats perceived from migrants in Hungary. Protzko and Schooler examined a more general negative stereotype of youth also known as the “kids these days effect” (KTD effect). In two studies with American adults, belief in whether a trait changes over the lifespan was associated with such prejudices. In addition, Lai et al. focused on three cues linked to women's perceived high long-term mating value and reported that Chinese women displaying “sexually attractive” cues were perceived to have lower moral values. Moreover, they were stereotyped as having lower levels of humanness than women displaying “beautiful” facial cues or “virtuous” behavioral cues, which in turn led to lower mating opportunity.

Culture also plays an essential role in stereotype formation. Li M. et al. targeted stereotypes toward high-power individuals and revealed that people influenced by Confucianism held positive stereotypes of competence and warmth for senior high-power individuals. This finding is inconsistent with the traditional proposition that high-power individuals tend to be stereotyped as having high competence and low warmth. This might be because high-power individuals under Confucian culture are expected to have great social responsibility and concern for the wellbeing of others. Furthermore, new stereotypes emerged as a result of COVID-19 in the global context. COVID-19 is a threat to physical health, and mental health, and various reports have indicated that COVID-19 is closely related to stigma and discrimination. Two studies examined the stereotypes related to COVID-19. Zhao et al. found that the prevalence of COVID-19-related negative stereotypes was low in China. Besides, the more people know about COVID-19, the fewer negative stereotypes associated with COVID-19 they reported. Daley et al. on the other hand reported that Asian-Americans were facing increasing challenges from different ethnic groups on social issues related to COVID-19 in the United States, and the increasing tendency to blame China for the pandemic was associated with stereotyping Asian people as more foreign.

2. The consequences of negative stereotypes

People's negative stereotypes will influence their behavioral inclinations toward the target groups, and even the law-making at a general level. For instance, Wen et al. tested space-related stereotypes associated with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). They found that people who held negative stereotypes toward the spaces occupied by PLWHA were more resistant to visit such spaces, and people's threat perception and community evaluation mediated the effects of such space-related stereotypes on community-approaching willingness. In addition, Caldas et al. found that the more distant people were from juvenile transgressors, the more they held negative stereotypes toward juvenile transgressors and agreed with the law-making proposal for reducing the age of criminal conviction in Brazil.

Vulnerable groups may internalize the negative stereotypes and be influenced by them. Gärtner et al. tested the self-stereotyping of people with mental illness and found that negative stereotypes of their warmth and competence dimensions led them to develop negative emotions and thus exhibit higher levels of active or passive self-harm than mentally healthy people. In addition, Li J. et al. were interested in the gender self-stereotyping among college students and noted that gender self-stereotyping was positively correlated with relational and personal self-esteem and further correlated with higher life satisfaction only in the male sample. That is, gender self-stereotyping was associated with a higher level of self-esteem and life satisfaction among male students, while this effect did not hold for women.

3. The neurocognitive mechanisms of stereotypes

The neurocognitive mechanisms of stereotypes were explored by Wu and Zhao . They used RS-fMRI degree centrality (RSDC), a graph theory-based network analysis, to detect how negative stereotypes work in the brain. In a test of math-related stereotypes among female university students, they found that the RSDC of different brain regions was affected, reflecting that stereotypes are the result of the action of the brain network as a whole. For instance, a decrease in RSDC in the left hippocampus is a response to stereotype-related stress, and an increase in RSDC in the posterior parietal region (PPC) is a reflection of self-relevant processes induced by stereotypes.

4. The interventions addressing the consequences of negative stereotypes

Finally, two studies tested interventions against negative stereotypes via intergenerational contact and cognitive training. Long et al. found that simply intergenerational contact, or even just imagining it, reduced negative stereotypes of older people and increased perspective-taking toward older people among young adults. Chen et al. used the traditional IAT to compare the effect of multiple vs. single cognitive training on aging stereotypes in 12–13-year-olds. They found that multiple training tasks and additional intervention training sessions are recommended as they could significantly prolong the positive effects of the intervention.

Overall, these 13 papers discussed various aspects of stereotype formation, consequences, mechanisms, and interventions. We hope these papers will inspire future researchers in developing theories and conducting new interventions against negative effects of stereotypes. Since the current era of “black swan incidents” and related social challenges create perfect conditions for stereotypes to thrive and intensify, researchers should continue exploring the psychological mechanisms behind emerging social stigma and negative stereotypes. Especially, the development of neuroscience will provide further opportunities to study the brain mechanisms of stereotypes from a more microscopic perspective. This combined with macroscopic psychosocial mechanisms will provide new ways of addressing the severe dangers of negative stereotypes across contexts, countries and times and benefit targeted interventions and policy making.

Author contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

How Stereotypes Shape the Language People Use

Speech bubbles, illustration

A s the United States celebrates its the second year with Juneteenth as a federal holiday, many articles will be written about race relations. But I’d like to broach one topic that often falls under the radar: stereotypes.

From the first instant our eyes alight on a television or phone screen, we are inundated with a curated set of images that (supposedly) depict the world around us. These images often show people of color through a stereotypical lens, and these stereotypes bleed into our everyday lives—our workplaces, our social lives, our politics. As a social psychologist at Yale University, I am figuring out exactly how stereotypes hold us back, and what we can do about it.

When I was a young Black girl growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, I loved the movies. Each year, my brothers and I would gleefully wait in line to get the best seat in the theater for the latest Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or superhero film.

Even then, I was struck by the characters I saw. Few looked like me or my family. Those that did were one-dimensional, with limited speaking roles, often playing supporting roles to White characters. They were disproportionately poor and often criminal . They were rarely desired, easily disposed of, and never granted the nuanced and flawed inner worlds granted to White characters.

These stereotypes puzzled me. Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a majority-Black county—home to doctors, lawyers, politicians, and other Black professionals. The Black characters I saw on television didn’t reflect the rich, diverse, and joyful lives I saw around me. Why does the media put people of color into boxes? How do these stereotypes harm us as individuals and a society?

I became a social psychologist to answer these questions. Twenty years later, I now study stereotypes, determining how they maintain inequality and worm their way into day-to-day interactions. Across dozens of studies featuring thousands of participants, I find that stereotypes influence how we relate to others, leaking into conversations through the very words that people use.

In one test, I focused on White Americans. White people are subject to stereotypes, too. They’re labeled as more competent than Black people and Latina/os, and White people think that other racial groups see them as racist and entitled . I predicted that White Americans, particularly those who want to connect across racial divides— White liberals —try to reverse these stereotypes through the very words that they use.

I asked over two thousand White Americans to introduce themselves to a Black or White person online. As predicted, White liberals used fewer words related to competence (like “competitive” or “powerful”) when speaking to a Black person.

This “ competence downshift ” isn’t limited to a lab. I analyzed over 20 years of campaign speeches by White Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and found that White Democrats used fewer words related to competence when addressing mostly-minority audiences (e.g., NAACP ) versus mostly-White ones (e.g., American Federation of Teachers). White Republicans didn’t downshift competence, likely because they’re less interested in getting along with people of color. Sure enough, White Democrats were more likely to address audiences of color than Republicans.

For White liberals, this behavior may backfire. My colleagues and I are now testing whether White liberals who use less competent language are seen as patronizing by Black observers. If so, they may reduce, rather than improve, their chances of cross-racial connection by downshifting competence.

Do people of color also counter stereotypes using language? To find out, I analyzed 250,000 congressional remarks and one million tweets by Black and Latina/o politicians in Congress and Twitter. I focused on Black Americans and Latina/os because they tend to be stereotyped as lower in status and power than White Americans. I focused on those who are more conservative because they tend to have more positive attitudes toward White Americans and negative attitudes toward their own racial group.

I found that Black Americans and Latina/os who were more conservative used more competent language than their more liberal peers in these mostly-White settings. (There was no such effect among White politicians, or when I asked Black people to talk to other Black people.)

These data suggest that people have a profound desire to reverse negative stereotypes, and this desire shows up in everyday conversation. Stereotypes force us into rigid boxes, and we try to break free of them using the most primary tool available to us: our words.

Now an adult, I still love mainstream television and movies—and I am still largely disappointed by what I see. Most characters are White, the vast majority of spoken lines go to White characters, and many Black characters are rooted in stereotypes. (The latest season of Netflix’s hit Stranger Things provides a vivid example.) Awareness and research can help us understand what stereotypes are and how they are harmful, but until we enact large-scale, cultural changes that challenge these stereotypes, we will all continue to be shackled by them.

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Stereotyping and Prejudice Essay

Introduction, stereotyping and prejudice, works cited.

In its common simple usage, stereotyping refers to generalizing or making broad and typical assumptions concerning the behavioral characteristics of certain groups of people, basing it on an often wrong image held towards the individuals in that group. Prejudice on the other hand refers to the attitude formed in regard to a certain group of people based on the fact that they are affiliated to a certain group (Musa 2). Considering these two definitions, we can clearly state that stereotyping leads to prejudice and eventually discrimination. Stereotyping and prejudice tends to place us and others on opposing sides with the basis being our affiliation to different groups. The eventual result is making conclusions and treating individuals based on beliefs towards that particular group, and often leads to resistance to new information concerning the group. Stereotyping acts as a source of reference to interpret new information by relating it to the beliefs held towards a certain group (Musa 5).

Stereotyping and prejudice is as a result of negative generalizations we hold upon certain groups of individuals, but which through a number of ways can be countered to suppress the tendencies to make stereotyped and prejudiced conclusions.

Stereotyping and prejudice can stem from; downplaying others to raise our self esteem, it can result from direct competition for scarce resources (realistic conflict theory) or it can be caused by our tendency to categorize the world to ‘us’ and ‘them’. A broad source of stereotyping is the acquisition of the attitudes towards these groups as a result of social learning process. This is mostly applicable to the children as they grow up while acquiring information from parents, teachers and the social surroundings. The tendencies can however be reversed to form positive attitudes towards individuals and avoid generalization of behavior through a number of ways.

As a result stereotyping and prejudice, groups grow further and further apart thus discouraging interactions. It has been proposed that through increasing the frequency of contact between groups can help counter stereotyping and prejudice in a concept dubbed contact hypothesis. Here, groups which were segregated are encouraged to interact. According to Tamara, the hypothesis basis its theory on the fact that groups are generally similar in characteristics and status, and interaction helps realize the similarities thus the change in the perception. The interaction encourages corporation and interdependence hence creating a good atmosphere for getting to know the group members as individuals and not look at them as a general group. Once individuals familiarize, it is a precursor for reverting the negative stereotypes (12).

Another effective way to counter stereotyping and prejudice is through social learning. This is based on the understanding that the generalizations leading to stereotypes are actually learnt. Children mostly form these negative attitudes towards certain groups depending on the views of the significant others. The idea here is to filter the information fed to the children. Parents and teachers, who realize their stereotypes and prejudices, should aim at changing them and in the process causing the children to emulate non-prejudiced behavior.

As a way to reduce stereotypes and prejudice, members of different groups can work towards denouncing the categorization of groups as ‘us’ and ‘them’, and instead view themselves as belonging to a single social unit. This encourages positive viewing of group members who were previously disregarded. The increased corporation brought about by working as a single entity helps reduce bias between groups. This is supported by the common in-group identity model developed by Gaertner and Dovidio in 1993.

Stereotypes are formed by processing information by categorizing the attitudes towards others in relation to the groups they belong. This situation can be countered by analyzing an individual and categorizing him/her according to their unique characteristics. This is referred to as weakening stereotypes through cognitive interventions. Getting to know the members of the other group gives you the opportunity to realize their individual successful outcomes and therefore propelling formation of positive characteristics towards them. This also encourages one to think accurately about others.

Apart from these known ways of countering stereotypes and prejudice, we as individuals can take the initiative to challenge them in a number of ways. The first step involves reviewing situations when people made conclusions about us. We then take time to analyze their basis of their assumptions on the group you are affiliated to perhaps. Step two involves now revisiting those instances that we misjudged others basing it on assumptions that were stereotyped and were probably wrong. The third step is to find out what exactly could have caused us to apply the stereotyping criterion. Chances are that you will realize that in several occasions your stereotyping reasons were wrong. Here, challenge yourself in trying to avoid bias stereotyping in the future. The final step is adopting a logical, critical thinking and applying facts and reason when analyzing people instead of stereotyping. We should allow people to prove their worth first and try to define them individually. This provides us with accurate data and facts regarding people and therefore eliminates stereotyping (Gary 19).

In conclusion, stereotyping and prejudice are manifested in several ways in the society today. These include racism, gender discrimination, religious stereotyping, and tribal stereotyping, among others. In countries like the US, there have been ranging debates on the use of racial profiling when handling criminal cases. The target mostly is the black Americans who are assumed to possess certain criminal qualities. While countering stereotypes and prejudice would foster a good relationship between individuals of different groups, it has proven a hard thing to do and up to today we find ourselves victims of stereotypes or stereotyping ourselves.

Gary, Grobman M. Stereotypes and Prejudices. 1990. Web.

Musa, Anisa, N. Prejudice, Discrimination and Stereotype. 2009. Web.

Tamara J. Ferguson Perceiving Groups: Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination. 2004. Web.

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11.3: Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

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The terms stereotype, prejudice, discrimination, and racism are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation. Let us explore the differences between these concepts. Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic. They may be positive (usually about one’s own group, such as when women suggest they are less likely to complain about physical pain) but are often negative (usually toward other groups, such as when members of a dominant racial group suggest that a subordinate racial group is stupid or lazy). In either case, the stereotype is a generalization that doesn’t take individual differences into account.

Where do stereotypes come from? In fact new stereotypes are rarely created; rather, they are recycled from subordinate groups that have assimilated into society and are reused to describe newly subordinate groups. For example, many stereotypes that are currently used to characterize black people were used earlier in American history to characterize Irish and Eastern European immigrants.

Prejudice and Racism

Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience. A 1970 documentary called Eye of the Storm illustrates the way in which prejudice develops, by showing how defining one category of people as superior (children with blue eyes) results in prejudice against people who are not part of the favored category.

While prejudice is not necessarily specific to race, racism is a stronger type of prejudice used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is also a set of practices used by a racial majority to disadvantage a racial minority. The Ku Klux Klan is an example of a racist organization; its members' belief in white supremacy has encouraged over a century of hate crime and hate speech.

Institutional racism refers to the way in which racism is embedded in the fabric of society. For example, the disproportionate number of black men arrested, charged, and convicted of crimes may reflect racial profiling, a form of institutional racism.

Colorism is another kind of prejudice, in which someone believes one type of skin tone is superior or inferior to another within a racial group. Studies suggest that darker skinned African Americans experience more discrimination than lighter skinned African Americans (Herring, Keith, and Horton 2004; Klonoff and Landrine 2000). For example, if a white employer believes a black employee with a darker skin tone is less capable than a black employer with lighter skin tone, that is colorism. At least one study suggested the colorism affected racial socialization, with darker-skinned black male adolescents receiving more warnings about the danger of interacting with members of other racial groups than did lighter-skinned black male adolescents (Landor et al. 2013).

Discrimination

While prejudice refers to biased thinking, discrimination consists of actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on age, religion, health, and other indicators; race-based laws against discrimination strive to address this set of social problems.

Discrimination based on race or ethnicity can take many forms, from unfair housing practices to biased hiring systems. Overt discrimination has long been part of U.S. history. In the late nineteenth century, it was not uncommon for business owners to hang signs that read, "Help Wanted: No Irish Need Apply." And southern Jim Crow laws, with their "Whites Only" signs, exemplified overt discrimination that is not tolerated today.

However, we cannot erase discrimination from our culture just by enacting laws to abolish it. Even if a magic pill managed to eradicate racism from each individual's psyche, society itself would maintain it. Sociologist Émile Durkheim calls racism a social fact, meaning that it does not require the action of individuals to continue. The reasons for this are complex and relate to the educational, criminal, economic, and political systems that exist in our society.

For example, when a newspaper identifies by race individuals accused of a crime, it may enhance stereotypes of a certain minority. Another example of racist practices is racial steering, in which real estate agents direct prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race. Racist attitudes and beliefs are often more insidious and harder to pin down than specific racist practices.

Prejudice and discrimination can overlap and intersect in many ways. To illustrate, here are four examples of how prejudice and discrimination can occur. Unprejudiced nondiscriminators are open-minded, tolerant, and accepting individuals. Unprejudiced discriminators might be those who unthinkingly practice sexism in their workplace by not considering females for certain positions that have traditionally been held by men. Prejudiced nondiscriminators are those who hold racist beliefs but don't act on them, such as a racist store owner who serves minority customers. Prejudiced discriminators include those who actively make disparaging remarks about others or who perpetuate hate crimes.

Discrimination also manifests in different ways. The scenarios above are examples of individual discrimination, but other types exist. Institutional discrimination occurs when a societal system has developed with embedded disenfranchisement of a group, such as the U.S. military's historical nonacceptance of minority sexualities (the "don't ask, don't tell" policy reflected this norm).

Institutional discrimination can also include the promotion of a group's status, such in the case of white privilege, which is the benefits people receive simply by being part of the dominant group.

While most white people are willing to admit that nonwhite people live with a set of disadvantages due to the color of their skin, very few are willing to acknowledge the benefits they receive.

Racial Tensions in the United States

The death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO on August 9, 2014 illustrates racial tensions in the United States as well as the overlap between prejudice, discrimination, and institutional racism. On that day, Brown, a young unarmed black man, was killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson. During the incident, Wilson directed Brown and his friend to walk on the sidewalk instead of in the street. While eyewitness accounts vary, they agree that an altercation occurred between Wilson and Brown. Wilson’s version has him shooting Brown in self-defense after Brown assaulted him, while Dorian Johnson, a friend of Brown also present at the time, claimed that Brown first ran away, then turned with his hands in the air to surrender, after which Johnson shot him repeatedly (Nobles and Bosman 2014). Three autopsies independently confirmed that Brown was shot six times (Lowery and Fears 2014).

The shooting focused attention on a number of race-related tensions in the United States. First, members of the predominantly black community viewed Brown’s death as the result of a white police officer racially profiling a black man (Nobles and Bosman 2014). In the days after, it was revealed that only three members of the town’s fifty-three-member police force were black (Nobles and Bosman 2014). The national dialogue shifted during the next few weeks, with some commentators pointing to a nationwidesedimentation of racial inequality and identifying redlining in Ferguson as a cause of the unbalanced racial composition in the community, in local political establishments, and in the police force (Bouie 2014). Redlining is the practice of routinely refusing mortgages for households and businesses located in predominately minority communities, while sedimentation of racial inequality describes the intergenerational impact of both practical and legalized racism that limits the abilities of black people to accumulate wealth.

Ferguson’s racial imbalance may explain in part why, even though in 2010 only about 63 percent of its population was black, in 2013 blacks were detained in 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches, and 93 percent of arrests (Missouri Attorney General’s Office 2014). In addition, de facto segregation in Ferguson’s schools, a race-based wealth gap, urban sprawl, and a black unemployment rate three times that of the white unemployment rate worsened existing racial tensions in Ferguson while also reflecting nationwide racial inequalities (Bouie 2014).

Multiple Identities

A photo of golfer Tiger Woods holding his golf club up in the air on the golf course after hitting a golf ball

Golfer Tiger Woods has Chinese, Thai, African American, Native American, and Dutch heritage. Individuals with multiple ethnic backgrounds are becoming more common. (Photo courtesy of familymwr/flickr)

Prior to the twentieth century, racial intermarriage (referred to as miscegenation) was extremely rare, and in many places, illegal. In the later part of the twentieth century and in the twenty-first century, as Figure shows, attitudes have changed for the better. While the sexual subordination of slaves did result in children of mixed race, these children were usually considered black, and therefore, property. There was no concept of multiple racial identities with the possible exception of the Creole. Creole society developed in the port city of New Orleans, where a mixed-race culture grew from French and African inhabitants. Unlike in other parts of the country, “Creoles of color” had greater social, economic, and educational opportunities than most African Americans.

Increasingly during the modern era, the removal of miscegenation laws and a trend toward equal rights and legal protection against racism have steadily reduced the social stigma attached to racial exogamy (exogamy refers to marriage outside a person’s core social unit). It is now common for the children of racially mixed parents to acknowledge and celebrate their various ethnic identities. Golfer Tiger Woods, for instance, has Chinese, Thai, African American, Native American, and Dutch heritage; he jokingly refers to his ethnicity as “Cablinasian,” a term he coined to combine several of his ethnic backgrounds. While this is the trend, it is not yet evident in all aspects of our society. For example, the U.S. Census only recently added additional categories for people to identify themselves, such as non-white Hispanic. A growing number of people chose multiple races to describe themselves on the 2010 Census, paving the way for the 2020 Census to provide yet more choices.

THE CONFEDERATE FLAG VS. THE FIRST AMENDMENT

A photo of the Confederate flag hanging on a flagpole

To some, the Confederate flag is a symbol of pride in Southern history. To others, it is a grim reminder of a degrading period of the United States’ past. (Photo courtesy of Eyeliam/flickr)

In January 2006, two girls walked into Burleson High School in Texas carrying purses that displayed large images of Confederate flags. School administrators told the girls that they were in violation of the dress code, which prohibited apparel with inappropriate symbolism or clothing that discriminated based on race. To stay in school, they’d have to have someone pick up their purses or leave them in the office. The girls chose to go home for the day but then challenged the school’s decision, appealing first to the principal, then to the district superintendent, then to the U.S. District Court, and finally to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Why did the school ban the purses, and why did it stand behind that ban, even when being sued? Why did the girls, identified anonymously in court documents as A.M. and A.T., pursue such strong legal measures for their right to carry the purses? The issue, of course, is not the purses: it is the Confederate flag that adorns them. The parties in this case join a long line of people and institutions that have fought for their right to display it, saying such a display is covered by the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. In the end, the court sided with the district and noted that the Confederate flag carried symbolism significant enough to disrupt normal school activities.

While many young people in the United States like to believe that racism is mostly in the country’s past, this case illustrates how racism and discrimination are quite alive today. If the Confederate flag is synonymous with slavery, is there any place for its display in modern society? Those who fight for their right to display the flag say such a display should be covered by the First Amendment: the right to free speech. But others say the flag is equivalent to hate speech. Do you think that displaying the Confederate flag should considered free speech or hate speech?

Stereotypes are oversimplified ideas about groups of people. Prejudice refers to thoughts and feelings, while discrimination refers to actions. Racism refers to the belief that one race is inherently superior or inferior to other races.

Section Quiz

  • all of the above
  • Biased thoughts against an individual or group
  • Biased actions against an individual or group
  • Belief that a race different from yours is inferior
  • Another word for stereotyping
  • It needs to be eradicated by laws.
  • It is like a magic pill.
  • It does not need the actions of individuals to continue.
  • None of the above

Short Answer

  • How do redlining and racial steering contribute to institutionalized racism?
  • Give an example of stereotyping that you see in everyday life. Explain what would need to happen for this to be eliminated.

Further Research

How far should First Amendment rights extend? Read more about the subject at the First Amendment Center:openstaxcollege.org/l/first_amendment_center

Learn more about institutional racism at www.splcenter.org

Learn more about how prejudice develops by watching the short documentary “Eye of the Storm”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjSHOaugO-0

Bouie, Jamelle. (August 19, 2014). "Why the Fires in Ferguson Won't End Soon." Slate.com. N.p., Retrieved October 9, 2014 (www.slate.com/articles/news_a...mmunity.2.html)

Herring, C., V. M. Keith, and H.D. Horton. 2004. Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the “Color-Blind” Era (Ed.), Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Hudson, David L. 2009. “Students Lose Confederate-Flag Purse Case in 5th Circuit.” Retrieved December 7, 2011 (www.firstamendmentcenter.org/...in-5th-circuit).

Klonoff, E., and H. Landrine. 2000. “Is Skin Color a Marker for Racial Discrimination? Explaining the Skin Color-Hypertension Relationship.” Journal of Behavioral Medicine . 23: 329–338.

Landor, Antoinette M., Leslie Gordon Simons, Ronald L. Simons, Gene H. Brody, Chalandra M. Bryant, Frederick X. Gibbons, Ellen M. Granberg, and Janet N. Melby. 2013. "Exploring the impact of skin tone on family dynamics and race-related outcomes." Journal Of Family Psychology . 27 (5): 817-826.

Lowery, Wesley and Darryl Fears. (August 31, 2014). "Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson, the friend who witnessed his shooting". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 9 , 2014. (www.washingtonpost.com/politi...093_story.html)

McIntosh, Peggy. 1988. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies . Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College Center for Research on Women.

Missouri Attorney General’s Office. (n.d.) "Racial Profiling Report." N.p. Retrieved October 9, 2014 (ago.mo.gov/VehicleStops/2013/reports/161.pdf).

Nobles, Frances, and Julie Bosman. (August 17, 2014). "Autopsy Shows Michael Brown Was Struck at Least Six Times." The New York Times . Retrieved October 9, 2014 (www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/us...t-6-times.html)

Yerevanci. 2013. "Public Opinion of Interracial Marriage in the United States." Wikimedia Commons . Retrieved December 23, 2014 (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...ted_States.png).

Stereotyping Essay

stereotypes essay

Stereotyping : Stereotypes And Stereotyping

Stereotyping In Education Stereotyping is when you treat people unfairly just because they have characteristics of a certain group (Merriam Webster Dictionary). In education stereotyping is something you come in touch with every single day, it is so common we don’t even know it is happening. In everyday life Stereotypes are used, they are directed towards ethnicity, gender, and education. “In ethnicity, we have the ideas that each race is a certain way” (Aronson. The impact of stereotypes). Here

Stereotypes, Stereotyping, And Stereotyping

Stereotypes Most people have encountered stereotypical behavior, either by being stereotyped or by stereotyping a particular group of individuals themselves. This simplistic or overstated vague notion may occur consciously or unconsciously depending on a person’s perspective, his or her exposures to diverse cultures, as well as immediate social influences. Moreover, stereotyping has the potential to result in negative generalizations that may progenerate displaced anger towards scapegoats; however

as categorization. Categorization and stereotyping are both fundamental to human nature; helping make the world more predictable. Stereotyping is most often used by everyday people who don’t know a person, so they judge them by how they look, or by how they carry themselves. Everyone, at some point in their lives, has been stereotyped based on different aspects of their person, such as “acting like a man” or “manning up” because I am a male. Stereotyping can be both positive and negative, but typically

Stereotyping

Stereotyping In My essay I will discuss stereotyping and different types of stereotyping. I will discuss how in todays society people are stereotyped in different many ways. In today’s society, there are stereotypes for almost any groups that individuals belong to. At some point in any person’s life, they would have experienced stereotyping. For instance, it is often said that all African Americans are good at basketball, males are more aggressive than females, Lawyers are deceitful, and the list

humans are affected by negative stereotyping. Stereotyping can have lasting effects on a person. Some people feel like the odd person walking down the street do to stereotyping. Some of the negative effects of stereotyping are inability to focus, performing poorly, and falling into harsh stereotyping. Having the inability to focus may affects people at work, school, or at home. In the first passage they said that even after a person leaves a situation of stereotyping they are faced with coping with

Stereotyping And Stereotyping In America

Stereotyping wasn't a big problem when living in Texas. Living in Wisconsin was a whole different story. People find it offensive, and it could end up being racist. Always remember what is being said to others and how careful one has to be. Even if they know what people are saying just for fun and no harm is intended, people can take it to another measure. Nothing shouldn't be done period and we shouldn't allow it.  Moving from Texas to Wisconsin was a hard to do. The people were more diverse and

Stereotyping Stereotypes

The denotation of stereotyping itself is comprised of a derogatory attitude that people hold against or towards individual’s within a specific group. Stereotyping has always been a part of humanity’s nature to judge because of the societal perception that people constantly use to analyze and classify things. It is an everyday habit, that has highly influenced society’s character towards people that belong to different groups, more particularly, people’s “age, gender, race, religion, etc”(Chen

What Is Stereotyping?

immediately judge them without realizing it. Categorizing people without really knowing them is called stereotyping. This is a problem within our society that needs to change before it gets any worse. There are different kinds of stereotyping and some are worse than others. Stereotyping makes an impact on the people being stereotyped and the person stereotyping them. There are different types of stereotyping that have different effects on people. There are ethnic, gender, and disability stereotypes along

someone, for example, when we say all police officers are corrupt, all men who aren’t into sports are gay or all blonde women are dumb. Stereotyping is a result of incompetence on distorted information accepted as a fact without question. A stereotype is simply a widely-held belief that an individual is a member of a certain group based upon characteristics. Stereotyping can be positive, for example, all Blacks are good at sports, all Asians are good at math or French people are romantic. Stereotypes

In Time Stereotyping

Stereotyping can lead to bias, prejudice, and discrimination, sometimes causing exclusion of groups, or oppression, often which are minorities. They are given specific characteristics to fit into, which they often do not. Stereotyping happens all over the world, more specifically in America. They create a facade of a preeminent characteristic. They can have dire consequences, become emotionally damaging attacks, which often results in hurting many people mentally and even physically. This stereotyping

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Essay on Stereotypes

Stereotypes are the biggest problem in our society. They criticize people and puts label on them about how they must act accordingly to their religion, personality, gender, dressing sense, race and many others. People encounter stereotypes at least once in their life, it depends on a person’s perspective as sometimes people end up stereotyping other people unconsciously. Stereotyping is not always negative, sometime there is a positive perspective to it, for example, Black people are stereotyped in a positive perspective as they are super athletic with beautiful features and great body structures.

Stereotyping is so common these days that people do it without even knowing it, people always have ideas about how a particular race is in certain ways. Black people are stereotyped as great athletes, Pakistani people as terrorists and Hispanics as drug dealers, crazy or loud. We also see stereotyping in schools through gender, either that girls are good at reading and writing and boys are good at sports or boys do not end up as nurses but girls do. Students stick to these stereotyping, even if someone tries to be different he/she ends up getting bullied by their fellows.

The most common stereotype to this day is that women can never be as strong as men or can never be equal to them. These stereotypes affect every person immensely. People should never judge a person based on what they think that person should act like or be like rather they should encourage people or motivate them to be what they want to be, women can also be good at sports, they can also be stronger than men, and they can be good drivers too. Stereotyping can do some serious damage to a person’s self-esteem and that may affect their social lives, emotions, interaction with people and dreams.

People get so criticized for everything they do, that they do not want to meet new people, or want to go outside that they may get criticized for the way they walk, dress or talk. People even gets criticized for their music taste, this is what our society has become. People are afraid to show their true selves to the world now, worrying that they won’t be accepted for who they really are and tries to act as other people want them to be.

They should just leave these types of people behind and be what they want themselves to be. There once was a black boy who was criticized everyday for his color, this should have created some psychological pressure on a kid but he was so proud of his color and race that he never let them get to him, therefore, people should be proud of who they are, ignore what people think of them and be unique in their own way.

Instead of focusing on other people’s faults and mistakes, we should motivate them for being unique from other people. Remove the stereotypes from our lives and start to notice good things about every individual person.

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By Heidi Burgess

Originally published October 2003.  "Current Implications" added in June, 2017.

For shorter summaries of the key ideas, see our Things YOU Can Do To Help Post   Break Down Negative Stereotypes  and the Infographic  Infographic: Give People a Chance to Surprise You .

Current Implications

Stereotypes, particularly negative characterizations are extremely prevalent and problematic in U.S. politics and culture these days.  The left still sees the right as  corrupt, stupid, selfish, racist, sexist, homophobes.  The right likewise paints the left as corrupt, stupid, selfish, elitist, intolerant "takers" (as opposed to "makers.")  More...

What Stereotypes Are

Stereotypes (or "characterizations") are generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like. For example, one study of stereotypes revealed that Americans are generally considered to be friendly, generous, and tolerant, but also arrogant, impatient, and domineering. Asians, on the other hand, are expected to be shrewd and alert, but reserved. Clearly, not all Americans are friendly and generous; and not all Asians are reserved. But according to this study, others commonly perceive them this way.[1]

Why Stereotypes Matter

Stereotyping is especially prevalent -- and problematic -- in conflicts. Groups tend to define themselves according to who they are and who they are not . And "others," especially "enemies" or "opponents" are often viewed in very negative ways. The opponent is expected to be aggressive, self-serving, and deceitful, for example, while people in one's own group are seen in generally positive ways. Similarly, if problems occur, blame is often placed on "the enemy," while one's own contribution to the problem is ignored. For example, problems may be attributed to the opponent's lack of cooperativeness, not one's own; or the enemy's aggressiveness, not their fear of one's own aggressive stance. Even similarities between parties can be viewed differently: one's own competitiveness may be seen in a positive light as "tough, effective negotiating," while the opponent's competitive actions are seen as "hostile and deceptive."

Such stereotypes tend to be self-perpetuating. If one side assumes the other side is deceitful and aggressive, they will tend to respond deceitfully and aggressively themselves. The opponent will then develop a similar image of the first party and respond deceptively, thus confirming the initial stereotype. The stereotypes may even grow worse, as communication shuts down and escalation heightens emotions and tension.

The Positive Side of Stereotypes

Although stereotypes generally have negative implications, they aren't necessarily negative. Stereotypes are basically generalizations that are made about groups. Such generalizations are necessary: in order to be able to interact effectively, we must have some idea of what people are likely to be like, which behaviors will be considered acceptable, and which not.

For example, elsewhere in this system there is an essay about high-context and low-context cultures. People in low-context cultures are said to be more individualistic, their communication more overt, depending less on context and shared understandings. High-context cultures are more group-oriented. Their communication is more contextually based, depending more on shared understandings and inferences.

Such generalizations are, in essence, stereotypes. They allow us to put people into a category, according to the group they belong to, and make inferences about how they will behave based on that grouping. There will still be differences between individuals from one culture, and with the same individual in different situations. But the stereotype is reasonably accurate, so it is useful. Stereotypes are only a problem when they are inaccurate, especially when those inaccuracies are negative and hostile.

What Can Be Done to Deal with Negative Stereotypes:

The key to reversing negative stereotypes is to contradict them, in direct interactions between people, in the media, and through education.

Between Individuals . Once people get to know a person from "the other side," they often will determine that the other is not nearly as bad as they originally had assumed. (Though sometimes they might find out they are just as bad -- or even worse!)

More often, however, people really are much more reasonable than their stereotypes would suggest. In that case, getting to know people personally helps to break down negative images. This is especially true when people determine that they actually have things in common with people from the other side. Such things can range from enjoying the same music, hobbies, or sports, to having the same worries about children or aging parents.

Even when people learn that they share fear or sadness, they can begin to understand each other more. When they come to understand that the other is afraid of being hurt, or losing a loved one in war, just as they are, that brings people together. Such shared emotions make people seem human, while stereotypes typically " dehumanize " people. Likewise, shared emotions make empathy possible, which opens the door to new forms of interaction and trust building , at least among the individuals involved.

Depending on the context and other interactions, the image of the group as a whole may become more positive as well. (At other times, people rationalize that their one new acquaintance is "not like the others.") But even learning that one person can deviate from the stereotype is a start. The challenge then is to expand such transformative experiences beyond the individuals involved to larger groups, communities, and eventually whole societies.

Developing such mutual understanding is the goal of many intervention efforts in war-torn areas, and in places rocked by social unrest. Dialogue groups and problem-solving workshops are two common ways of doing this. So are joint projects such as war-reconstruction efforts, children's programs, recreational programs, medical programs -- any kind of program that brings individuals from opposing groups together in a cooperative venture. Although they have additional goals beyond the breaking of stereotypes, working together cooperatively can do much to break down negative images people hold of the "enemy."

In the Media. The media also plays an important role in both perpetuating and in breaking down stereotypes. If they characterize particular groups of people in certain ways, their viewers (or readers) are likely to do the same. So if a movie -- or the motion picture industry in general -- characterizes a group of people negatively, they are likely to be perpetuating negative stereotypes and making conflicts worse. If they emphasize the positive aspects of groups that contradict prevalent stereotypes, they can have a significant role in building mutual understanding.

In Education. Educational institutions and teaching materials also have the opportunity to affect stereotypes, and hence influence inter-group relations. Efforts to teach about different cultures, and the history of different racial or ethnic groups can help build inter-group understanding if it is done in an effective and sympathetic way.

However, the opposite is also true. If textbooks teach about the treachery and villainous actions of the enemy, this, obviously, will only perpetuate stereotypes from one generation to the next, entrenching the conflict for many years to come. This does not mean that history should be ignored. The holocaust, for example, did occur and must be acknowledged. But it can be acknowledged as a grave mistake that is now recognized as a mistake, rather than painted as "typical" or "acceptable" behavior.

What Individuals Can Do to Breakdown Negative Stereotypes

Changing stereotypes is largely the job of individuals. Each of us should examine the assumptions that we make about others and ask ourselves where those assumptions come from. Upon what information are they based? Are they based on personal experiences with others? In what context? Might "the other" be different in different situations? Are your assumptions based on things you have heard from others? Learned from the TV or movies? Learned in school? Is it possible that some of your negative images are wrong -- at least for some people?

In most cases, the answer to that last question is likely to be "yes." Even in the most escalated conflicts, not all of the "enemy" is as vicious and immutable as they are often assumed to be. Most groups have moderates and extremists , people who are willing to listen and work with the other side, and those who are not. Rather than assuming all of "the enemy" are evil and unwilling to hear your concerns, try to get to know people as individuals. Just as that will reduce the stereotypes you hold of others, it is also likely to reduce the stereotypes others hold of you.

What the Media Can Do

Steps the media can take to reduce stereotypes are dealt with elsewhere in this system, but fundamentally, it is important that the media paint as accurate a picture of both sides of a conflict as is possible. This generally means painting a complex picture. While extremists tend to make the most noise and hence the most news, the media can do much to lessen conflict by focusing attention on moderates and peacebuilders as well. Heartwarming stories of reconciliation can replace or at least stand side-by-side with heart-wrenching stories of violence and loss. Showing that there is hope -- helping people visualize a better life in a better world -- is a service the media can do better than any other institution, at least on a large scale.

What the Educational System Can Do

This, too, is dealt with elsewhere in this system, but the educational system (teachers, schools, textbooks) needs to also try to paint a fair and accurate picture of the conflict and the different people involved, being aware that different sides of a conflict will view ( frame ) what is happening very differently. Through stories, discussions, and exercises, teachers can help students (of all ages and levels) understand the complexity of the conflicts that surround them, and develop age- and situation-appropriate responses to the current conflicts in their homes, communities, and nations. To the extent that classrooms contain students from both sides of the conflict, teachers can help students learn to understand and appreciate each other better, while protecting the safety (physical and emotional) of those on both sides. If the classroom only contains one group, reaching such intergroup understandings is harder, but still worth the effort through books and articles, discussions, TV and movies, and when available, online exercises (such as those provided in the links below).

Stereotypes, particularly negative characterizations are extremely prevalent and problematic in U.S. politics and culture these days.  The left still sees the right as  corrupt, stupid, selfish, racist, sexist, homophobes.  The right likewise paints the left as corrupt, stupid, selfish, elitist, intolerant "takers" (as opposed to "makers.") These stereotypes make it practically impossible to befriend, relate to, or understand the other side enough to work with them or live in harmony with them. 

The same dynamics appears in almost all escalated conflicts, and if allowed to go to far, results in catastrophe.  Before and during the Rwandan genocide, Tutsi's were referred to as "cockroaches" "rats," and "enemies."  Jews, similarly, were seen as non-human or less than human "enemies" by the perpetrators of the Holocaust, so too were the Blacks who were captured in Africa and brought to the Americas as slaves seen as less than human.  (Even the U.S. Constitution validated such beliefs by counting slaves as 3/5 people!) 

One hopes that the U.S. has not and would not go to such extremes again  But we are currently seeing it happen with respect to Muslims who are, apparently, not deserving of the same rights as other people according to Trump and some of his followers.  We saw it with respect to Mexicans during Trump's campaign, where he accused them of being criminals and rapists.  Both groups now are under siege, Mexicans and other undocumented immigrants fearing deportation daily, and Muslims increasingly being attacked and even killed for their religious beliefs.  

It's time to turn this pathology around.  Both this article and the linked article on Enemy Images  have suggestions about ways such negative stereotypes can be combated.  It is incumbent upon everyone who wants a safe, secure America to enact such measures wherever possible.

--Heidi Burgess, June, 2017.

Back to Essay Top

[1] Breslin, J. William. 1991. "Breaking Away from Subtle Biases" in Negotiation Theory and Practice, eds. J. William Breslin and Jeffrey Rubin (Cambridge, Mass., U.S.: Program on Negotiation Books, 1991), 247-250.

Use the following to cite this article: Burgess, Heidi. "Stereotypes / Characterization Frames." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: October 2003 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/stereotypes >.

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190 Stereotypes Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on stereotypes, ✍️ stereotypes essay topics for college, 👍 good stereotypes research topics & essay examples, 🌶️ hot stereotypes ideas to write about, 🎓 most interesting stereotypes research titles, 💡 simple stereotypes essay ideas, 📌 easy stereotypes essay topics, ❓ research questions about stereotypes.

  • Gender Stereotypes in Western and Eastern Culture
  • Gender Stereotypes: Should Real Men Wear Pink?
  • Reducing Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination
  • Mass Media: Critical Thinking Skills, Images, and Stereotypes
  • Horse Riding Stereotype Among the Native Americans
  • Race and Gender Stereotypes in Literature
  • The Thai Culture: Stereotypes and Generalizations
  • How Gender Stereotypes Affect Society Gender stereotypes are harmful because they only teach men and women to act in certain ways; they confine people to a set of behaviors associated with their gender.
  • Gender Stereotypes in “Frozen” Animated Film The shift in gender stereotypes is presented in “Frozen.” The contrast between Elsa and Anna is a conflict between the past stereotypes and emerging perceptions.
  • Stereotypes in “Moonlight” Film by Barry Jenkins “Moonlight” chronicles the life of a queer black boy singled out for being too soft, but transforms himself to a menacingly muscular drug dealer with gold teeth grills.
  • Social Stereotypes: Unconscious Biases The paper researches unconscious bias, expands on its meaning, explores places and spaces where we see it and provides specific examples.
  • Stereotypes and Prejudices in Human Resource Industry Group influence is important in determining how individuals behave in a society or at workplace. In a group, individuals regard each other as one and share collective influence.
  • How Music Reinforces Stereotypes? The contemporary entertainment world is mostly covered by music from renown artists all over the world such as Michael Jackson, Ja Rule, etc.
  • Mass Media: Stereotypes Impact on People This paper discusses of stereotyped advertisements in different media, and explain the use of this term in it.
  • Ethnocentrism and Stereotypes in the Movie “Crash” The movie Crash is a brutally honest film that depicts the harsh realities in today’s society. It tells of a convoluted story that shows how intertwined the lives are of people from all walks of life.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Families: Parental Influence on an Adolescent’s Career Choice Gender stereotypes are still persistent in societies that often seem to be egalitarian. These stereotypes are transmitted to younger generations that copy their parents’ role models.
  • “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype” TED Talk by Canwen Xu This paper is a response to the Ted talk “I am not your Asian stereotype”, which describes the difficulties in the reconciliation of Chinese heritage with American identity.
  • Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination This work explores why stereotypes are difficult to change, describes Devine’s two-step model of cognitive processing, and defines prejudice and its difference from discrimination.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Academic and Family Settings Gender stereotypes refer to the assumption about gender features and roles that every woman or man is expected to possess or depict.
  • Gender Stereotypes and Misunderstanding Stereotypes predetermine a human life and a female life, in particular, explaining the approaches that can change the situation, and defining the power of stereotypes.
  • Role of Gender Stereotypes in Advertising The paper states that it is of great significance to understand the reasons behind the advertisers’ attachment to socially constructed gender differences.
  • The Problem of Gender Stereotypes Gender stereotyping seems to be an element of the traditional gender ideology that describes average differences between males and females.
  • Criminology and Victimology: Victim Stereotypes in Criminal Justice The paper shall look at this matter in relation to female perpetrated violence as well as male experiences of sexual violence and racial minority victims.
  • African-American Stereotypes in Film Is Rooted in How American Society Perceive African-Americans The issue of race is still a controversial topic inside the United States. This is true even after Americans elected the first black president in their history.
  • Sibling Birth Order Personality Stereotypes and Structure The purpose of this paper is to explore various perspectives surrounding sibling birth order personality stereotypes and structure.
  • Biology and Culture of Gender Color Stereotypes This paper attempts to answer this question and determine whether the indicated color genders are biologically based or culturally embedded.
  • Reinforcement of Sexist Stereotypes in Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” The novel “Pride and Prejudice” describes the love story of a young lady Elizabeth Bennett and an aristocrat Mr. Darcy, developing in the complex context of the English society.
  • Sociology: Stereotypes and Their Influence This paper analyzes stereotypes and their influence on perception and listening. Stereotypes get into all spheres of our life.
  • Mass Media Impact on Stereotype Creation Stereotypes can be useful in helping people make sense of the world by relying on stereotypes to determine how to react to certain events and people.
  • Reflection Paper: Stereotypes in Health Care Ageism, sexism, racism, other stereotypes, and social discrimination represent a severe challenge to the healthcare system.
  • Bald Genius Stereotype: Raymond Reddington From “The Blacklist” Raymond Reddington is a “bald genius” stereotype portrayed through the events that occur from the first episode of “The Blacklist ” to where it is currently.
  • African American Stereotype Threat The present paper reveals the reasons for and outcomes of the stereotype threat and emphasizes the prospective advantages of such a kind of influence.
  • The Link Between Pop Culture and Stereotypes The majority of movies in the military and action genre involved Russians as primary antagonists. Such films used the stereotypical version of Russians.
  • Stereotypes in Ortiz Cofer’s Essay Short essay “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” brings out the kind of stereotypes perpetuated by the media against the Hispanic women.
  • Cultural Differences and Stereotypes in “Coffee and Cigarettes” by Jim Jarmusch This paper aims to discuss cultural issues addressed in the movie “Coffee and Cigarettes” in terms of cultural identities, differences, stereotypes, traditions, conflicts, and misunderstandings.
  • Latinos in US Media: Stereotypes, Values, Culture Media determines the way of how people accept each other. This paper pays attention to Latinos and how they are represented in US media.
  • Dating Stereotypes and Relationships Development As opposed to earlier stereotype that men must dominate women in social interaction and ask them out, this paper argues that “women should ask men out.”
  • Gender Stereotypes’ Effects Career and Mental Health This paper discusses the stereotypes about women and shows how they limit the professional development of women and put them at risk of domestic violence and mental health issues.
  • “Single Stories” and “Stereotype Threat” Issue “Single stories” and “stereotype threat” are critical social issues that obstruct the freedom and identities of many people around the world.
  • South Tennessee Culture and Stereotypes Southern Tennessee culture is deep and has many milestones worth admiring; it is the unofficial musical capital of the world and the state of the most passionate football fans.
  • Futurama Series Speaks Against Gender Stereotypes Although Futurama may seem to be a sexist series, at first sight, a closer examination reveals several directions in which this work speaks against gender stereotypes.
  • The Problem of Stereotypes and Labelling in Interpersonal Communication The short film series “How You See Me” involves members of different social and racial groups that are most often labeled in society discussing how they perceive stereotypes.
  • Stereotypes of Gender Roles The paper details the scientific justification, impacts, development, prevention strategies, and how gender role stereotypes can be addressed.
  • Racial Representation and Stereotypes in Media The paper discusses the representation of races in media sources. Newspapers, social networks, movies, and TV series were analyzed.
  • How Stereotypes About Asian Americans Influence Their Lives Stereotypes have always existed around racial minority groups’ representatives in the United States, influencing their roles in society, self-perception, and access to resources.
  • Age Stereotypes and Ageism in Hospitals Despite the fact that medical advancements have made humans more long-lived, prejudice and discrimination still plague people’s prospects for longer lives.
  • Stereotype and Marginalized Groups A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization but the widely fixed idea of a person, group, or thing in a particular setting.
  • Stereotypes of Chinese Immigrants China is one of the nations with the highest number of immigrants into the American territory surpassing India, which also has a large community in the United States of America.
  • Gender Stereotype in Advertisement One of the common examples of stereotypes is an advertisement proposed by Scott, a promotion of washing powder called Tide in the 1950s.
  • Gender Stereotypes Have Changed by Eagly et al. Gender Stereotypes Have Changed by Eagly et al. investigates the changes in gender stereotypes over a long period and the historical and social processes that contributed to this.
  • Negative Racial Stereotypes of African American The death of African American George Floyd after being detained by the police provoked protests and riots not only across America but also beyond its borders.
  • Racial Stereotypes and Prejudice in Modern Society A skilled black person with a degree cannot get a job, while at the same time, some white man with less professional knowledge has higher chances to receive an offer.
  • Stereotype Threat and Arousal Effects on Women’s Math Performance The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of stereotype threat on women’s performance during a math test.
  • Asian Stereotypes and Misrepresentation Stereotypes are extremely common and refer to almost every group of individuals. Asians are also frequently marginalized through misrepresentation.
  • Learning Through Social Stereotypes Social stereotypes play a significant role in the life of a modern person. There are an infinite number of examples of the influence of stereotypes on a man.
  • “Beyond Stereotypes” by David Mazzucchelli This work focuses on the analysis of the article by David Mazzucchelli “Beyond Stereotypes”, which examines the literary work Asterios Polyp.
  • Stereotypes & Biases and Cultural Competence We can only become culturally competent if we discover all the community’s social, cultural, religious, economic, and political aspects and interpret the findings without bias.
  • Stereotypes in “The Myth of the Latin Woman” by Cofer “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Cofer discusses impact of stereotypes on how Latino women are perceived in English-speaking countries.
  • Gender Stereotypes and Their Role in Advertising Now it is difficult to imagine life without advertising. In modern society, there is still a principle of building advertising on gender stereotypes.
  • Effects of the War on Drugs on Latinos in the US and the Role of Stereotypes Analysis of the effects of the war on drugs in the US on the Latino community, including the link to mass incarceration and the role of stereotypes in the anti-drugs efforts.
  • Appearance and Nationality: Stereotypes and Myths An award-winning Puerto-Rican poet, essayist, and novelist Judith Ortiz Cofer raises the issue of the stereotypes associated with people’s appearances in her own example.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Advertisements Gender-stereotyped portrayals remain perverse in ads and other promotional activities in conventional print and broadcast media and digital and social networking platforms.
  • Stereotype as a Method for Categorizing Society The global arena’s factor of strength creates biased judgments about those places that do not have sufficient financial and historical potential compared to less developed regions.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Commercials Home appliances or makeup commercials are typically directed at women. Automobile advertising, on the contrary, tends to concentrate on the male audience.
  • Gender Norms, Roles, and Stereotypes: Act Analysis Gendered roles, norms, and stereotypes play a highly significant role in any community all over the world in any stage of its development.
  • The Problem of Inaccurate and Biased Stereotypes Stereotypes are often based on race, culture, and gender and may facilitate the promotion of preconceived perceptions about a group of people.
  • Gender Stereotypes in the Modern World The About Face project aims to oppose a culture that promotes the belief that women are weak, and have a particular set of duties and responsibilities that should be obeyed.
  • Social Sciences: African American Stereotypes Dating back to the colonial years of settlement, stereotypes have been part of America, especially after inheriting slavery.
  • Cross-Cultural Competence and Stereotypes Cross-cultural proficiency refers to “ways of assessment and behaving that allows members of one cultural, ethnic, or linguistic group to work efficiently with members of another”.
  • Representations of Chavs: Stereotypes and Prejudices Further, even where working-class students are well-educated, further barriers exist for entry into many professional careers.
  • Creating Stereotypes: Rhetoric and Stereotypes Stereotyped perceptions on many professions, but in a number, these perceptions are proved to be wrong in many cases.
  • Subject-Informal Logic: Rhetoric & Stereotypes The fundamental learning process indicates that stereotyped examples will always remain. Evaluating people based on stereotyping is unfair and a flawed method.
  • Rhetoric and Stereotypes in Society Stereotyping has been used as a tool in persuading others to embrace a certain cause. Different individuals will be viewed differently in society.
  • Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes in American Media and Literature This paper looks at racial and ethnic stereotypes in American media. Stereotypes may become the basis of discrimination.
  • Seeing Africa: The Destruction of Stereotypes This essay will use historical displays of Africa by Western countries to demonstrate the role of representation in knowledge.
  • Working with Adolescents: Stereotypes and Best Practices Some stereotypes about adolescents influence public opinion, which negatively affects the characteristics of relationships among people of different ages.
  • Social Psychology: Prejudice and Stereotypes This work defines prejudice, explains how do stereotypes and discrimination contribute to prejudice, and describes ways to reduce prejudice.
  • Gender Stereotypes of the US Women This work is a proposal study concerning experiences that influence US women’s attitudes towards their roles in society, gender stereotypes, distribution of power.
  • Gender Stereotypes: Data Presentation Strategy This report examines gender stereotypes from a quantitative perspective, including data presentation strategy and strategy of credibility, dependability, and transferability.
  • Data Analysis Proposal: Gender Stereotypes This paper presents a data analysis proposal of the study that focuses on developing females gender stereotypes using an empirical phenomenology approach.
  • Gender Stereotypes: Research Question This work is a research proposal on the topic of what factors affect the development of opinions in women concerning gender-related issues as seen by working females.
  • Males’ Stereotypes in Professional and Family Life The study in question dwells upon the way males’ stereotypes are manifested in such domains as professional life and family life.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Family and Academic Settings The persistence of gender stereotypes in the USA as well as the rest of the world is one of the most burning issues.
  • Gender Stereotypes and Employment’ Correlation The paper discusses will science faculty members reveal preferential evaluation of a male science student to work in the laboratory settings?
  • The Gender Stereotypes in the Workplace The gender stereotypes in the workplace were the focus of the discussion. Different studies exploring issues related to gender stereotypes in the working environment were analyzed.
  • Racial Stereotypes, Identity and Intersectionality One of the racial stereotypes deals with the appearance, so-called butt-stereotypes, described in the article by Erin J. Aubry “The Butts: Its Politics, Its Profanity.”
  • Gender Stereotypes in Family: Research Methods Family is one of the most important factors that affect the development of children’s perceptions concerning gender roles.
  • Arab Stereotypes in the Media Many countries are involved in the confrontation with terrorists, which causes the formation of certain stereotypes of a typical Arab portrayed in the popular and news media.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Families: Parents’ Gender Roles and Children’s Aspirations Psychologists have paid significant attention to gender stereotypes, and many important trends have been identified and evaluated. Researchers use various methodologies.
  • Gender Stereotypes Formation in Children This paper focuses on a study that explores the extent to which parents model gender roles to their children and dwells upon the development of gender stereotypes in children.
  • Gender Stereotypes Developed Within Families The researchers hypothesized that parents’ views on gender roles as well as their stereotypes would be adopted by their children.
  • Health and Illness in Community: Stereotypes Medical decision-making and the overall attitudes in healthcare settings are often impacted by stereotypes that create observable threats and risks to patients’ health.
  • Women’s Views on Long-Existing Gender Stereotypes Women are still seen as creatures fit for child-rearing and keeping households. Men still think that women cannot perform certain tasks and take up some responsibilities.
  • Women’s Stereotypes of Gender Roles Distribution The study will attempt to unveil the reasons for the persistence of females’ gender stereotypes concerning the distribution of gender roles in society.
  • Gender Stereotypes in Women’s Opinion Study This study focuses on the opinions of women and their perspectives on the prevalence of gender stereotypes. The qualitative research will best fit the purpose of the study.
  • Aging Stereotypes and Cultural Perspective This paper draws attention to the value of staying young as long as possible, stereotypes and stigmas associated with aging, and alternative views on elderly people.
  • Media Developing Stereotypes About Minorities This paper discusses the impact of social media on stereotypes towards minorities to clarify if it is possible to decrease the negative stereotyping or not.
  • Gender in the 21st Century: Fighting Dangerous Stereotypes Women happen to be the victims of gender stereotyping, men also suffer from the clichés concerning masculinity, which authors address in essays.
  • African Americans Stereotypes and Prejudices From the 16th century, African American people were facing racial discrimination. As they had a different color of skin, they were treated unfavorably and even violently.
  • Rhetoric and Stereotypes: Feminists, Tattooed Persons, Politicians, and Senior Citizens Stereotyping takes place in people’s lives at one point of their lives concerning people who they view as outsiders.
  • Lesson About Gender Stereotypes
  • Myths and Stereotypes About Gays and Lesbians
  • Stereotypes and English Language Learning
  • Replace the Old Stereotypes and Myths in Our Society
  • Racialized and Gendered Stereotypes Analysis
  • Male and Female Gender Stereotypes
  • Stereotypes About Russia: True or Not
  • Racial Stereotypes and the Breakdown of Them
  • Gender Stereotypes Among Children’s Toys
  • Socialization and Its Relationship to Gender Stereotypes
  • Gender Differences and Gender Stereotypes From a Psychological Perspect
  • Gender Stereotypes Within the 20th Century
  • Gender Differences and Stereotypes in the Beauty Contest
  • Social Stereotypes: Beneficial, Detrimental, or Neutral
  • Men Who Defy Gender Stereotypes
  • American Born Chinese and Stereotypes
  • Racial Stereotypes and Three Racial Paradigms
  • Stereotypes About Kentucky Residents
  • Racial Stereotypes and Racial Groups and Ethnicity
  • Gender Differences and Stereotypes in Financial Literacy: Off to an Early Start
  • Gender Stereotypes and Their Effect on Children
  • Stereotypes Americans Have Not Visited a Third World
  • Gender Stereotypes and Its Impact on Our Society
  • Gender Stereotypes Within the Classroom
  • Skinheads, Stereotypes, and Their Kind of Music
  • Gender Labeling and Gender Stereotypes
  • Raising Children Without Gender Stereotypes
  • Positive and Negative Stereotypes Among Community College
  • The Portrayal and Solidification of Stereotypes by the Media Throughout History
  • Stereotypes, Discrimination and the Gender Gap in Science
  • The Godfather and the Sopranos Italian American Stereotypes
  • The Negative Stereotypes About Bisexual Lifestyle
  • The Difference Between Prejudices and Stereotypes
  • Stereotypes and How They Relate to Group Dynamics
  • The Superhero Effect: Idealism and Stereotypes in Comic Books
  • Stereotyping Students: Improving Academic Performance Through Stereotypes
  • Will Affirmative Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes
  • The Women’s Rights Movement and Changing Gender Roles and Stereotypes
  • The Positive and Negative Effects of Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes in the Workplace
  • Understanding Cultural Diversity and Effects of Stereotypes According to the Role Theory
  • Revealing Stereotypes: Evidence From Immigrants in Schools
  • Stereotypes Affecting Haitian People in the Us
  • African Americans and the Issue of Stereotypes
  • Racial Stereotypes During the Roman Empire
  • How Stereotypes for Women Came to Be
  • Racial Stereotypes and How They Affect Everyday Life
  • Sexism and Gender Stereotypes in the Public Relation Industry
  • Stereotypes About Americans and the American Culture
  • The Most Common Misconceptions and Stereotypes About Gay and Lesbian People
  • The Criminal Black Stereotypes in Detail
  • The Stigma and Stereotypes of Mental Illness
  • The Factors Causing the Persistent Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
  • The Stereotypes Against Black Teenagers in America
  • The Myths and Stereotypes Surrounding African American Athletes
  • The Extent That Fairytales Reinforce Stereotypes
  • Television Commercials and How They Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes
  • Understanding Native Americans and the Role of Stereotypes in the Native People’s Domination
  • The Different Stereotypes That Exist in Clothing
  • Why People Should Abandon the Stereotypes About Menstruation
  • Why Are Stereotypes Dangerous and What Can Be Done to Reduce Them
  • How Modern Media Images Challenge Racial Stereotypes and Redefine Black Identity?
  • How Society Stereotypes Women?
  • How Did Photography Reflect the Values and Stereotypes That Underlay European Colonialism?
  • How Advertising Reinforces Gender Stereotypes?
  • How Jane Eyre and the Works of Robert Browning Subvert Gender Stereotypes?
  • How Ignorant Can Society Be Stereotypes?
  • Are Gender Stereotypes Perpetuated in Children’s Magazines?
  • How American Minorities Are Stereotypes in American Drama Series?
  • How Does the Proliferation of Gender Stereotypes Affect Modern Life?
  • Are Sexist Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Linked?
  • How do Stereotypes Affect Society?
  • How do Attitudes and Stereotypes develop?
  • How Contemporary Toys Enforce Gender Stereotypes in the UK?
  • How Racial Stereotypes Affect Society?
  • How Minorities and Women Are Misrepresented in the Media Through Stereotypes?
  • How Does Superhero Fiction Present Stereotypes?
  • How Are Class Stereotypes Maintained in the Press?
  • Why Are Stereotypes Dangerous and What Can Be Done to Reduce Them?
  • Does Mainstream Media Have a Duty to Challenge Gender Stereotypes?
  • Do Pride and Prejudice Reinforce or Erode Sexist Stereotypes of Women?
  • How Does Ridley Scott Create and Destroy Gender Stereotypes in Thelma and Louise?
  • How Gender Roles and Stereotypes Affect Children?
  • How Do Gender Stereotypes Affect Today’s Society?
  • How Hispanic Bilinguals’ Cultural Stereotypes Shape Advertising Persuasiveness?
  • How Have Gender Stereotypes Always Been a Part of Society?
  • Are Continuum Beliefs About Psychotic Symptoms Associated With Stereotypes About Schizophrenia?
  • How Gender Stereotypes Warp Our View of Depression?
  • How Magazines Create Gender Stereotypes?
  • How Can Stereotypes Contribute to Inequality?
  • How Does the Film “The Breakfast Club” (1985) Perpetuate Teen Stereotypes?

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 190 Stereotypes Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/stereotypes-essay-topics/

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StudyCorgi . "190 Stereotypes Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/stereotypes-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "190 Stereotypes Essay Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/stereotypes-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Stereotypes were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 28, 2023 .

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152 Stereotypes Essay Topics: Impressive Ideas List

152 Stereotypes Essay Topics

Many students struggle to choose stereotypes essay topics. That’s because teachers and professors expect them to write about unique titles. However, stereotype covers many aspects of human life because it’s oversimplified, fixed, and widely held idea or image of a person or thing.

Since humans are different, living without assumptions becomes difficult. While some expectations are harmless, others lead to discrimination. Overall, stereotyping plays an influential role in people’s interactions. Some individuals impose specific behaviors on others without sufficient evidence.

Therefore, choosing stereotype topics for essays requires a careful understanding of this concept. Also, you must learn to recognize stereotypes in society-wide thinking patterns and everyday life to know what the educator expects you to write about in your paper. This article explains what stereotype is while listing 150-plus topics for stereotype essays. It’s a helpful article because it provides knowledge and ideas to students struggling to pick stereotype topics for their papers.

What Is a Stereotype?

A stereotype is a fixed idea several people have about a group or a thing that is partly true or untrue. Social psychologists define stereotype as an over-generalized, fixed belief about a specific class or group of people. When people stereotype others, they infer that people have a wide range of abilities and characteristics that others assume every member of that particular group possesses.

Educators ask students to write about stereotypes because it’s a prolific issue in society. Apart from being a preconceived idea about a specific group, a stereotype is a degree of people’s expectations for individuals in that class. And these expectations are centered on a particular belief, attitude, and personality.

Stereotypes are often inaccurate, and they create misconceptions about a community. While they sometimes help people understand a group, its heritage, and culture, stereotypes are over-generalized. And this over-generalization can harm some individuals in a group because people aren’t entirely identical to those preconceived ideas.

How To Write Good Essay On Stereotypes

Has your college or university lecturer assigned you a stereotype essay? If so, you want to write a good essay and score the top grade in your class. These steps will help you write a winning essay about stereotypes.

Choose an interesting topic : Selecting a topic for a stereotype essay might seem easy for some learners. However, it requires a careful understanding of stereotypes and what the educator expects to read in your paper. Outline your essay : Use the essay prompt to outline your paper. Your outline should highlight where your thesis statement will go and the content to include in your stereotype essay introduction, body, and conclusion. Brainstorm for ideas : Once you have an outline, brainstorm for the issues to write about in your paper. That way, you will save the time you spend rewriting and reorganizing some parts of your paper. Read stereotype essay samples : If you have the time, read good samples of stereotype essays before writing. That way, you will know how the educator expects you to organize and present information. Research : Take your time researching and gathering information for your essay. Your research should gather relevant examples and evidence to support your arguments. Write the essay : Follow your outline to write the paper using the information you gathered in your research. Present your argument with supporting evidence for every point you make in the body section. Conclude your essay : Wrap up your piece, summarizing your main points with unique words. Don’t introduce anything new in the conclusion. Write the bibliography : Include a reference for all the information sources, including journal articles and books that you used to research your topic. Proofread your essay : Read through the paper, eliminating all typos, spelling, and factual errors.

Some stereotypes are highly controversial. Therefore, present information that won’t offend your readers if you opt to write about such topics. If you don’t want to face those doubts alone, english essay writers from our team will be glad to solve this problem for you.

The Best Stereotype Essay Topics

Once you’ve known how to write a stereotype essay, you may want the best topics for your paper. This list has the best ideas to consider for a stereotype essay.

  • A formal critique for the men bashing stereotype
  • How society has traditionally stereotyped female characters
  • Racism issues- Stereotypes and looks
  • The trap music and women- Is it succumbing to this stereotype or empowering females?
  • How video games depict stereotypes for boys
  • Alcohol in Canada and aboriginals stereotype
  • How movies reflect the Chinese stereotypes
  • How the media propagate white women stereotypes
  • Reviewing stereotypes- Arousal and treat
  • The female’s math performance stereotype- What are the effects?
  • How the media presents different stereotypes
  • Do the media promote stereotyping?
  • How activating gender stereotypes influence females
  • Stereotype threat- How does it affect a person’s education?
  • How television perpetuates gender stereotypes
  • The American citizens’ stereotypes
  • Is learning to stereotype others a lifelong process?
  • Describe the Canadian stereotypes
  • Stereotypes, lies, and sex- Is being prejudiced due to inequalities correct?
  • Is the mathematics achievement gap a reality or stereotype for African American students?
  • Stereotype image and rhetoric aspects
  • Stereotypes and culture- What’s the correlation?
  • Superheroes and gender stereotypes
  • Are gender stereotypes relevant in gender studies?
  • The stereotype and hoodies- Is it good or bad?
  • What is a stereotype threat?
  • Do modern toys perpetuate gender stereotypes?
  • Are stereotypes significant in communication?
  • What stereotypes do people have towards the Chinese?
  • Evaluating culture and gender stereotypes- What’s the relationship?
  • Using anthropology to evaluate stereotypes
  • Stereotypes of Muslims and Islam in the west

Pick any of these topics if you want to research and write about something your teacher will find interesting to read.

Hot Topic Ideas For An Essay On Stereotype

Maybe you’re looking for a hot topic to research and write about in your stereotype essay. In that case, consider these ideas.

  • Evaluating workplace gender stereotypes
  • Prejudices and stereotypes within the human resource sector
  • Racial stereotypes, intersectionality, and identity
  • Family gender stereotypes- Do they exist?
  • Gender stereotypes and race in literature
  • Sociology- The influence of stereotypes
  • Stereotypes and rhetoric
  • African-Americans prejudices and stereotypes
  • Fighting gender stereotypes- Which methods are the best?
  • Misunderstanding and gender stereotypes- What’s the difference?
  • Do the media develop stereotypes about minorities in society?
  • Cultural perspectives and aging stereotypes
  • Gender roles distribution and women stereotypes
  • How women perceive the long-existing gender stereotypes
  • How Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight film presents stereotypes
  • How gender stereotypes affect mental health and career
  • How families perpetuate gender stereotypes
  • Illness and health in the community- What’s the role of stereotypes?
  • How families develop gender stereotypes
  • How children develop gender stereotypes
  • Evaluating gender stereotypes in eastern and western cultures
  • How the media perpetuate Arab stereotypes
  • Relationship development and dating stereotypes

Choose and write about any of these ideas if looking for a hot topic. However, consult some information sources to write an informative essay.

Interesting Stereotype Paper Topics

Do you want to write an essay on an exciting stereotype topic? If so, consider the following exciting ideas.

  • Stereotype and objectivity in sexual media advertisements
  • How stereotype threat affects age differences in terms of memory performance
  • Americanization- The Indian stereotype creation
  • Investigating stereotype in Robert Luketic’s Dumb Blonde in Legally Blonde film
  • The Female Taming stereotype in time in The Taming of the Shew by Shakespeare
  • Women stereotype in a Patriarchal society
  • Using stereotype cues in the perceived mathematics level
  • Understanding the Macho-Man Myth’s gender stereotype
  • Hurston’s Sweat- How stereotypes influence women’s role
  • Gender stereotype imposition by modern society
  • How stereotype and race affect justice
  • Racist stereotype- What is its function in Blackface Minstrelsy?
  • Females are worse drivers than males- Is it a stereotype?
  • Can Stereotype threat affect women’s performance?
  • The schemer stereotype- Understanding its metamorphosis
  • Thinking like a monkey- Analysis of the Animal Social Dynamics in reducing stereotype threat
  • Marketing advertisers and sports media- A Hyper masculine stereotype
  • Stereotype, discrimination, prejudice and Out-group vs. in-group
  • Racial stereotyping- How Merriam define a stereotype
  • A high-achieving Asian-American stereotype

Choose and develop any of such ideas as your essay topic idea. However, take your time investigating various sources to write a winning paper.

Good Topics For Essays About Stereotyping

A good topic is easy to research and write about without compromising your grade. Consider these ideas for a good essay topic.

  • The average media stereotype and the aboriginal people’s problems
  • Macho-Men stereotype plaguing in modern men- A detailed analysis
  • Ending the stereotype- Aboriginals in urban areas have the highest happiness score
  • How does society perpetuate the teenage driver stereotype?
  • How does the violent African-American stereotype affect rap music?
  • Joseph Conrad’s African Characters in the Heart of Darkness- Analyzing stereotype
  • The adverse stereotype of the Jewbird’s Jewish race and the Last Mohican
  • The stranger stereotype and Alice Sebold
  • Pros and cons of fitting into a stereotype
  • Analyzing the masculinity stereotype in the early 1800s
  • Analysis of stereotype and conventional character roles in achieving the author’s purposes
  • Stereotype and perspective in detective novels
  • Criminality stereotype and its impact on poverty
  • Women’s depiction of Women Essay- Marketing, brand stereotype, and Gen
  • Erasing male stereotype and feminine autonomy in the Paycoc and Juno
  • The Chief Illiniwek history- A Racist stereotype and university of Illinois Mascot
  • Women’s role and society’s stereotypes
  • Body type or blood type genotype- Are they the basis of stereotypes?
  • Are television ads stereotyping men and women’s roles in society?
  • Stereotype Italian-American in the Cable Show, Sopranos, in the United States
  • How stereotype threat impacts women’s ability
  • American cheerleader- The stereotype, the icon, and the truth

Choose and work on any of these ideas to write an excellent essay about stereotypes. However, some of these ideas require extensive research and analysis before writing.

Social And Gender Stereotype Essay Topics

Do you want to write a paper about gender and stereotype? If so, consider these ideas for your stereotype essay.

  • Investigating the correlation between employment and gender stereotypes
  • Gender stereotypes in academic and family settings
  • Dominant male stereotypes
  • Reasons to research gender stereotypes
  • Gender stereotypes- Data analysis
  • Gender stereotypes and data presentation
  • The U.S. women and gender stereotypes
  • How the U.S. media presents Latinos gender stereotypes, culture, and values
  • Social psychology- Stereotypes and prejudice
  • Stereotype threat among African-Americans
  • Stereotypes and cultural differences in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes
  • Is stereotype discrimination and bias?
  • Adolescents workmates- Best practices and stereotypes
  • Seeing Africa- How to destroy stereotypes
  • What are the roots of African-American stereotypes?
  • Stereotypes and ethnocentrism in Crash, the movie
  • Ortiz Cofer’s Essay- Investigating stereotypes
  • Mass media- How stereotypes affect people
  • The racial and ethnic stereotypes in the American literature and media
  • Stereotypes and rhetoric in modern society
  • Subject-informal logic- Stereotypes and rhetoric
  • Can music reinforce stereotypes?
  • Cross-cultural stereotypes and competence

These ideas are suitable for an essay on gender and social stereotypes. However, research your topic extensively before writing.

Easy Stereotype Essay Ideas

Maybe you need an easy topic for your stereotype paper. If so, pick any of these ideas for your essay on stereotypes.

  • How cultural diversity affects stereotypes
  • Positive and negative impacts of ethnic and racial stereotypes
  • How the women’s rights movement changed stereotypes and gender roles
  • How gender stereotypes affect children
  • Stereotypes that Americans hold before visiting the third world
  • How gender stereotypes affect society
  • Classroom gender stereotypes
  • Gender stereotypes and gender labeling
  • Can children grow without gender stereotypes?
  • How stereotypes affect community colleges
  • Revealing stereotypes among immigrants in schools
  • How stereotypes affect Haitians in the U.S.
  • The Roman empire and racial stereotypes
  • How racial stereotype impacts everyday life
  • Gender and sexism stereotypes in the P.R. sector
  • Stereotypes about the American culture
  • Common stereotypes and misconceptions about lesbians and gays
  • Stereotypes and stigma of mental illness
  • What causes persistent ethnic and racial stereotypes?
  • Stereotypes that Black-American teenagers face
  • How television commercials perpetuate gender stereotypes
  • The role of native Americans’ stereotypes and Native people’s dominance
  • Are stereotypes dangerous- How can society reduce them?
  • Menstruation stereotypes- Why society should abandon them
  • Clothing and stereotypes
  • The negative stereotype that the community has towards a bisexual lifestyle
  • How stereotypes differ from prejudices
  • How stereotypes relate to groups’ dynamics
  • The superhero impact- Stereotypes and idealism in comic books
  • Stereotyping students- How to improve academic performance via stereotypes
  • How socialization relates to gender stereotypes
  • Social stereotypes- Are they detrimental, beneficial, or neutral?

Whether you choose cliché essay topics or the latest stereotypes, research your topic extensively to write a winning paper.

Professional Essay Help For Your Rescue

Perhaps, you’re stuck with a stereotype essay. If so, our expert writers are ready to assist you. B uy college essays online to get fast and cheap writing assistance. We guarantee you a quality writing service that won’t burn a hole in your pocket. Contact us now!

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stereotypes essay

Identity: We must recognize the toxic cycle of LGBTQ+ stereotypes

By GRACE VAN ATTA | November 30, 2021

van-atta-pq

Van Atta examines the complexities of identity and how stereotypes impact perceptions of it. 

An affinity for astrology, a disinterest or shortcoming in math, a love for plants, an excellent sense of style, a tendency to walk quickly, a toxic obsession with an ex. These characteristics only skim the surface of LGBTQ+ stereotypes and their inherent magnitude, which have more breadth and depth than is casually perceived. 

Casually thrown into conversation,  LGBTQ+ microaggressions, whether intentional or unintentional, communicate negative assumptions about others. Stereotyping serves as a catalyst for labeling people and confining them to a box. Instead of allowing people to appreciate the nuances of identity and embrace individuality, stereotyping enables prejudice, judgement and bias to spread quickly through social circles. 

There is a toxic culture of stereotyping pervading our campus and our community. Variations on “As a queer woman, I have to have some appreciation for astrology,” to “I have to cuff my jeans so people know I’m bisexual” can be overheard in conversation. Though these comments can be humorous, there is a lot more to these jesting remarks than what is explicitly stated. 

All stereotypes can be unconsciously harmful to the speaker, intended audiences and incidental audiences. While the speaker may know the implications of the stereotype in action, an incidental audience member may not, and this can alter their perception of themselves and their peers. 

Not only do others stereotype us, but sometimes we also conform to these stereotypes in order to achieve a certain level of recognition for who we are. After all, it can be challenging to be your authentic self in our society. Besides societal norms and expectations, our generation faces the complex pressures of social media. As such, it is important to understand the difference between presentation and identity.

The challenges that arise from the intersection of presentation and identity are especially prevalent for those within the LGBTQ+ community, since identity is not something easily recognizable by an individual’s appearance. 

Everyone wants to be validated and accepted for who they are. For the LGBTQ+ community, it can often feel that one has to perform or present themselves in a certain way to receive that recognition. I believe, however, that everyone should be accepted for who they are and should not be pressured to dress a certain way, act a certain way or say certain things to feel comfortable with their identity. Moreover, if you yourself are comfortable and content with your own identity, it shouldn’t matter what other people think of you. How you present yourself should be an expression of your own beliefs and self-identity and not a compromise to attend to a certain image of a specific identity. 

How people perceive you does not change who you are, and how people respond to you is out of your control. 

On social media, profiles can be crafted in such a way as to present polished caricatures of individuals’ lives based on a handful of edited posts. These seemingly “perfect” representations prod our instinct to compare our lives with others, to see what they have and what we do not. In many ways, media have diverged from being an educational platform to being a competition. 

Stereotypes often appear as overgeneralizations about individuals or groups which stem from common social experiences, and social media is a common mechanism for sharing these experiences. Social media can generate pressure for individuals to present themselves differently in order to feel recognized and accepted on another platform. The intricate subtleties of identity and psychology intertwined with social media can negatively impact self-image and self-value .

If you are not part of specific communities or minority groups, it can be difficult to understand others’ beliefs and ideas. The lack of experience and exposure can lead to a decrease in social tolerance of differences and an increase in the reliance on easily accessible and deeply ingrained preexisting ideas like stereotypes. Thus, representation in pop culture and in the media is incredibly important — it’s how many people learn about different ideas, beliefs and identities. 

Social media platforms have their silver linings, though, because varying forms of media provide people with access to an array of cultural, individual and informative experiences that they would not have interacted with otherwise. Furthermore, not only do various forms of media serve as sources of information, but they can also be designed to promote safe spaces for underrepresented communities that may have limited access to support. 

The creation of safe spaces for marginalized individuals and/or groups such as the LGBTQ+ community is crucial to finding acceptance and respect, especially when assumptions and judgements flow freely inside and around these spaces, threatening their integrity. 

Representation and understanding are not just about raising awareness of these stereotypes, being a good ally or reaching out to your friends in the LGBTQ+ community. It’s about listening, being nonjudgmental and creating a compassionate and supportive world that people want to be in.

Grace Van Atta is a sophomore from Montclair, N.J. studying Cognitive Science and Psychology. They write for the Opinions and SciTech sections of The News Letter. 

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What Are Gender Stereotypes?

  • How They Develop
  • How to Combat

Gender stereotypes are preconceived, usually generalized views about how members of a certain gender do or should behave, or which traits they do or should have. They are meant to reinforce gender norms, typically in a binary way ( masculine vs. feminine ).

Gender stereotypes have far-reaching effects on all genders.

Read on to learn about how gender stereotypes develop, the effects of gender stereotypes, and how harmful gender stereotypes can be changed.

Davin G Photography / Getty Images

Meaning of Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes are ideas about how members of a certain gender do or should be or behave. They reflect ingrained biases based on the social norms of that society. Typically, they are considered as binary (male/female and feminine/masculine).

By nature, gender stereotypes are oversimplified and generalized. They are not accurate and often persist even when there is demonstrable evidence that contradict them. They also tend to ignore the fluidity of gender and nonbinary gender identities.

Classification of Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes have two components, which are:

  • Descriptive : Beliefs about how people of a certain gender do act, and their attributes
  • Prescriptive : Beliefs about how people of a specific gender should act and attributes they should have

Gender stereotypes can be positive or negative. This doesn’t mean good or bad—even stereotypes that seem “flattering” can have harmful consequences.

  • Positive gender stereotypes : Describe behaviors or attributes that align with accepted stereotypical ideas for that gender, and that people of that gender are encouraged to display (for example, girls should play with dolls and boys should play with trucks)
  • Negative gender stereotypes : Describe behaviors or attributes that are stereotypically undesirable for that gender and that people from that gender are discouraged from displaying (such as women shouldn’t be assertive, or men shouldn’t cry)

The attribute is undesirable for all genders but more accepted in a particular gender than others. For example, arrogance and aggression are unpleasant in all genders but are tolerated more in men and boys than in women, girls, or nonbinary people .

Gender stereotypes tend to be divided into these two generalized themes:

  • Communion : This stereotype orients people to others. It includes traits such as compassionate, nurturing, warm, and expressive, which are stereotypically associated with girls/women/femininity.
  • Agency : This stereotype orients people to the self and is motivated by goal attainment. It includes traits such as competitiveness, ambition, and assertiveness, which are stereotypically associated with boys/men/masculinity.

Basic types of gender stereotypes include:

  • Personality traits : Such as expecting women to be nurturing and men to be ambitious
  • Domestic behaviors : Such as expecting women to be responsible for cooking, cleaning, and childcare, while expecting men to do home repairs, pay bills, and fix the car
  • Occupations : Associates some occupations such as childcare providers and nurses with women and pilots and engineers with men
  • Physical appearance : Associates separate characteristics for women and men, such as women should shave their legs or men shouldn’t wear dresses

Gender stereotypes don’t exist in a vacuum. They can intersect with stereotypes and prejudices surrounding a person’s other identities and be disproportionately harmful to different people. For example, a Black woman experiences sexism and racism , and also experiences unique prejudice from the intersectionality of sexism and racism that a White woman or Black man would not.

Words to Know

  • Gender : Gender is a complex system involving roles, identities, expressions, and qualities that have been given meaning by a society. Gender is a social construct separate from sex assigned at birth.
  • Gender norms : Gender norms are what a society expects from certain genders.
  • Gender roles : These are behaviors, actions, social roles, and responsibilities a society views as appropriate or inappropriate for certain genders.
  • Gender stereotyping : This ascribes the stereotypes of a gender group to an individual from that group.
  • Self-stereotyping vs. group stereotyping : This is how a person views themselves compared to how they view the gender group they belong to (for example, a woman may hold the belief that women are better caregivers than men, but not see herself as adept in a caregiving role).

How Gender Stereotypes Develop

We all have unconscious biases (assumptions our subconscious makes about people based on groups that person belongs to and our ingrained associations with those groups). Often, we aren’t even aware we have them or how they influence our behavior.

Gender stereotyping comes from unconscious biases we have about gender groups.

We aren’t preprogrammed at birth with these biases and stereotypes. Instead, they are learned through repeated and ongoing messages we receive.

Gender roles, norms, and expectations are learned by watching others in our society, including our families, our teachers and classmates, and the media. These roles and the stereotypes attached to them are reinforced through interactions starting from birth. Consciously or not, adults and often other children will reward behavior or attributes that are in line with expectations for a child’s gender, and discourage behavior and attributes that are not.

Some ways gender stereotypes are learned and reinforced in childhood include:

  • How adults dress children
  • Toys and play activities offered to children
  • Children observing genders in different roles (for example, a child may see that all of the teachers at their daycare are female)
  • Praise and criticism children receive for behaviors
  • Encouragement to gravitate toward certain subjects in school (such as math for boys and language arts for girls)
  • Anything that models and rewards accepted gender norms

Children begin to internalize these stereotypes quite early. Research has shown that as early as elementary school, children reflect similar prescriptive gender stereotypes as adults, especially about physical appearance and behavior.

While all genders face expectations to align with the stereotypes of their gender groups, boys and men tend to face harsher criticism for behavior and attributes that are counterstereotypical than do girls and women. For example, a boy who plays with a doll and wears a princess dress is more likely to be met with a negative reaction than a girl who wears overalls and plays with trucks.

The Hegemonic Myth

The hegemonic myth is the false perception that men are the dominant gender (strong and independent) while women are weaker and need to be protected.

Gender stereotypes propagate this myth.

Effects of Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes negatively impact all genders in a number of ways.

Nonbinary Genders

For people who are transgender / gender nonconforming (TGNC), gender stereotypes can lead to:

  • Feelings of confusion and discomfort
  • A low view of self-worth and self-respect
  • Transphobia (negative feelings, actions, and attitudes toward transgender people or the idea of being transgender, which can be internalized)
  • Negative impacts on mental health
  • Struggles at school

Unconscious bias plays a part in reinforcing gender stereotypes in the classroom. For example:

  • Educators may be more likely to praise girls for being well-behaved, while praising boys for their ideas and comprehension.
  • Boys are more likely to be viewed as being highly intelligent, which influences choices. One study found girls as young as 6 avoiding activities that were labeled as being for children who are “really, really smart.”
  • Intentional or unintentional steering of children toward certain subjects influences education and future employment.

In the Workforce

While women are in the workforce in large numbers, gender stereotypes are still at play, such as:

  • Certain occupations are stereotypically gendered (such as nursing and teaching for women and construction and engineering for men).
  • Occupations with more female workers are often lower paid and have fewer opportunities for promotion than ones oriented towards men.
  • More women are entering male-dominated occupations, but gender segregation often persists within these spaces with the creation of female-dominated subsets (for example, pediatrics and gynecology in medicine, or human resources and public relations in management).
  • Because men face harsher criticism for displaying stereotypically feminine characteristics than women do for displaying stereotypically male characteristics, they may be discouraged from entering female-dominated professions such as early childhood education.

Despite both men and women being in the workforce, women continue to be expected to (and do) perform a disproportionate amount of housework and taking care of children than do men.

Gender-Based Violence

Gender stereotypes can contribute to gender-based violence.

  • Men who hold more traditional gender role beliefs are more likely to commit violent acts.
  • Men who feel stressed about their ability to meet male gender norms are more likely to commit inter-partner violence .
  • Trans people are more likely than their cisgender counterparts to experience discrimination and harassment, and they are twice as likely to engage in suicidal thoughts and actions than cisgender members of the Queer community.

Stereotypes and different ways of socializing genders can affect health in the following ways:

  • Adolescent boys are more likely than adolescent girls to engage in violent or risky behavior.
  • Mental health issues are more common in girls than boys.
  • The perceived “ideal” of feminine slenderness and masculine muscularity can lead to health issues surrounding body image .
  • Gender stereotypes can discourage people from seeking medical help or lead to missed diagnosis (such as eating disorders in males ).

Globally, over 575 million girls live in countries where inequitable gender norms contribute to a violation of their rights in areas such as:

  • Employment opportunities
  • Independence
  • Safety from gender-based violence

How to Combat Gender Stereotypes

Some ways to combat gender stereotypes include:

  • Examine and confront your own gender biases and how they influence your behavior, including the decisions you make for your children.
  • Foster more involvement from men in childcare, both professionally and personally.
  • Promote and support counterstereotypical hirings (such as science and technology job fairs aimed at women and campaigns to gain interest in becoming elementary educators for men).
  • Confront and address bias in the classroom, including education for teachers on how to minimize gender stereotypes.
  • Learn about each child individually, including their preferences.
  • Allow children to use their chosen name and pronouns .
  • Avoid using gender as a way to group children.
  • Be mindful of language (for example, when addressing a group, use “children” instead of “boys and girls” and “families” instead of “moms and dads,”).
  • Include books, toys, and other media in the classroom and at home that represent diversity in gender and gender roles.
  • View toys as gender neutral, and avoid ones that promote stereotypes (for example, a toy that has a pink version aimed at girls).
  • Ensure all children play with toys and games that develop a full set of social and cognitive skills.
  • Promote gender neutrality in sports.
  • Be mindful of advertising and the messaging marketing sends to children.
  • Talk to children about gender, including countering binary thinking and gender stereotypes you come across.
  • Take a look at the media your child engages with. Provide media that show all genders in a diversity of roles, different family structures, etc. Discuss any gender stereotyping you see.
  • Tell children that it is OK to be themselves, whether that aligns with traditional gender norms or not (for example, it’s OK if a woman wants to be a stay-at-home parent, but it’s not OK to expect her to).
  • Give children equal household chores regardless of gender.
  • Teach all children how to productively handle their frustration and anger.
  • Encourage children to step out of their comfort zone to meet new people and try activities they aren’t automatically drawn to.
  • Put gender-neutral bathrooms in schools, workplaces, and businesses.
  • Avoid assumptions about a person’s gender, including children.
  • Take children to meet people who occupy counterstereotypical roles, such as a female firefighter.
  • Speak up and challenge someone who is making sexist jokes or comments.

Movies That Challenge Gender Stereotypes

Not sure where to start? Common Sense Media has compiled a list of movies that defy gender stereotypes .

Gender stereotypes are generalized, preconceived, and usually binary ideas about behaviors and traits specific genders should or should not display. They are based on gender norms and gender roles, and stem from unconscious bias.

Gender stereotypes begin to develop very early in life through socialization. They are formed and strengthened through observations, experiences, and interactions with others.

Gender stereotypes can be harmful to all genders and should be challenged. The best way to start combating gender stereotypes is to examine and confront your own biases and how they affect your behavior.

A Word From Verywell

We all have gender biases, whether we realize it or not. That doesn’t mean we should let gender stereotypes go unchecked. If you see harmful gender stereotyping, point it out.

YWCA Metro Vancouver. Dating safe: how gender stereotypes can impact our relationships .

LGBTQ+ Primary Hub. Gender stereotyping .

Stanford University: Gendered Innovations. Stereotypes .

Koenig AM. Comparing prescriptive and descriptive gender stereotypes about children, adults, and the elderly . Front Psychol . 2018;9:1086. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01086

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Gender stereotypes .

Hentschel T, Heilman ME, Peus CV. The multiple dimensions of gender stereotypes: a current look at men’s and women’s characterizations of others and themselves . Front Psychol . 2019;10:11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00011

Eagly AH, Nater C, Miller DI, Kaufmann M, Sczesny S. Gender stereotypes have changed: a cross-temporal meta-analysis of U.S. public opinion polls from 1946 to 2018 . Am Psychol . 2020;75(3):301-315. doi:10.1037/amp0000494

Planned Parenthood. What are gender roles and stereotypes?

Institute of Physics. Gender stereotypes and their effect on young people .

France Stratégie. Report – Gender stereotypes and how to fight them: new ideas from France .

Bian L, Leslie SJ, Cimpian A. Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests . Science . 2017;355(6323):389-391. doi:10.1126/science.aah6524

Save the Children. Gender roles can create lifelong cycle of inequality .

Girl Scouts. 6 everyday ways to bust gender stereotypes .

UNICEF. How to remove gender stereotypes from playtime .

Save the Children. Tips for talking with children about gender stereoptypes .

By Heather Jones Jones is a freelance writer with a strong focus on health, parenting, disability, and feminism.

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How Ozempic Turned a 1970s Hit Into an Inescapable Jingle

The diabetes drug has become a phenomenon, and “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!” — a takeoff of the Pilot song “Magic” — has played a big part in its story.

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stereotypes essay

By Craig Marks

In February 2023, David Paton, guitar case in hand, strode across the most famous pedestrian walkway in rock history and into London’s Abbey Road Studios.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS.

Paton was no stranger to the rooms where the Beatles changed the course of popular music: His 1970s pop-rock band Pilot recorded two albums there. In his second life, as an in-demand studio and touring musician for the likes of Kate Bush and Elton John, he clocked numerous sessions with the prog-rock outfit the Alan Parsons Project, whose namesake produced Pilot’s signature hit, “Magic.” He even spent some time there with his boyhood hero, Paul McCartney, singing backup vocals on Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre.”

Paton had come to London to record a new version of “Magic.” “It was a great thrill to be back at Abbey Road, singing my song,” he said in a recent video interview from his home studio in Edinburgh, an array of guitars displayed behind him. The track’s stair-step chorus — “Oh, oh, oh /it’s MAAA-gic” — could test Paton’s vocal range even back in 1974, and again a year later, when the song became a worldwide hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“It’s just about the enjoyment of life,” he said. “About waking up in the morning, you know? I was 22 when I wrote it.” Now he was 73, and unsure if he could still reach those high notes. But Paton took his place in front of the Abbey Road microphone and confidently sang that indelible hook, only with the word “magic” swapped out for something less ephemeral and more pharmaceutical: “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic.”

As television viewers are all too aware, that altered chorus from “Magic” serves as the advertising jingle for the Type 2 diabetes medication Ozempic . Since the product arrived in 2018, the bowdlerized version of “Magic” — first rerecorded by work-for-hire musicians, and then re-rerecorded by Paton at Abbey Road — has taken its place alongside such classics of the form as Subway’s “Five Dollar Foot Long” and McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” as marvels of marketing ingenuity.

“It’s an earworm all right,” said David Allan, a professor of marketing at Saint Joseph’s University and the author of “This Note’s for You,” a book about music and advertising. “You can’t get it out of your head.”

Those three seconds of AM-radio bliss — “It’s just a first, a third and a fifth note,” Paton modestly explained — have played a pivotal role in the Ozempic story. Its parent company, Novo Nordisk , has now become Europe’s most valuable public company, with a market cap of nearly $570 billion.

Ozempic, of course, has become much more than a diabetes drug: Its “off label” use to treat obesity has sparked a “weight-loss revolution,” as Oprah Winfrey called it in her March TV special dedicated to an emerging group of diabetes and anti-obesity medications . Buttressed by an ad spend of $120 million over just the first seven months of 2023, according to MediaRadar, Ozempic’s Q rating is such that the brand now stands in for an entire category of product, as Viagra does for erectile dysfunction drugs. On the March 30 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the comedian Ramy Youssef appeared in a spoof commercial for “Ozempic for Ramadan” that featured the familiar “Oh, oh, oh” of “Magic.”

This Ozempic boom is due in no small part to the jingle, which helped turn a byzantine mash-up of syllables into a brand patients would request from doctors by name. Jeremy Shepler, who headed the Ozempic launch in the United States for Novo Nordisk, had previously enjoyed success deploying music in a commercial for a new-to-market nasal spray, and knew he wanted to find a song that worked both mnemonically and emotionally.

“The first song I came up with was by New Kids on the Block, the one that goes ‘Oh oh oh oh oh’,” he sang, referring to “You Got It (The Right Stuff).” “But New Kids was a bit too young,” he said. “The average age of our patient was between 50 and 55. Then it came to me: ‘Oh, oh, oh, it’s magic.’”

That snippet of a chorus not only seared the “O” in Ozempic into consumers’ temporal lobes, but its cheerfulness sold the promise of the drug: to “help people get back to a level of health when their life was bright and their future was optimistic,” said Jeff Rothstein, chief executive of CultHealth, the ad agency for Ozempic. Also, baby boomers exposed to the jingle would subconsciously hear the missing word “magic,” which, said Shepler, helped reinforce the drug’s transformative quality.

Novo licensed the song from Sony Music Publishing, and Rothstein hired a music production house to record the brand-specific version of “Magic.” When they tested a rough version of the commercial, “It was the highest scoring ad we’d ever seen,” Shepler said.

As the spot first began airing in 2018 (direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising is allowed only in the United States and New Zealand), Paton wasn’t even aware that “Magic” had been licensed for the advert. “I learned about it through Facebook,” he said. “Fans would write me, ‘I’m hearing “Magic” every 20 minutes on my TV’.”

Paton and Billy Lyall, his Pilot bandmate who died in 1989 at age 36, share a co-writing credit on “Magic,” and split the revenue generated by the composition with Sony Publishing. (Songs generate multiple income streams, some based on the performance or master recording, some based on the songwriting. In this case, since the original recording of “Magic” was not used by Novo Nordisk, Pilot’s record label, Warner Music Group, was not involved.)

As is common practice in the music industry, Sony was not obligated to receive permission from the songwriters to license the song. Not that Paton minded: Three music-industry executives, asked separately to assess the value of the Ozempic deal, said it was most likely worth seven figures to Paton. (Paton, Sony Music Publishing and Novo Nordisk all declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.)

The Ozempic commercial “is another example of why classic, iconic music catalogs are great investments,” said Jon Singer, chairman of Spirit Music Group, a music publishing company with a repertoire that includes songs by the Who, Chicago, Toto and T. Rex.

“Music as an asset can have multiple lives,” added Billy Mann, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and longtime publishing executive. “There’s a ‘comfort food’ feeling of nostalgia that hit songs can trigger. They’re time machines.”

In the Spotify era, older songs have spiked in value, as consumers repeatedly press play on the songs of their youth. For artists, those fractions of a penny eventually add up, and that has helped create a gold rush for veteran acts looking to sell their music catalogs. “There’s a finite number of songs that have proven to be iconic for 40 or 50 years,” said Bill Werde, the director of the Bandier music business program at Syracuse University and the author of the industry newsletter “Full Rate No Cap.” “Those songs have special value on the marketplace.”

Licensing a song for a commercial may be seen by some as antithetical to the countercultural spirit of rock ’n’ roll. “There have always been protectors of the flame who, when certain songs get used in certain moments, aggressively clutch their pearls,” Werde said. “But there’s very little evidence that this has ever harmed any artist.” He pointed to the Beatles licensing their utopian “All You Need Is Love” to Luvs diapers in 2007 as perhaps the most egregious example of an advertiser co-opting a song’s original meaning. “But no one really cared. It was Ob-la-di. Life goes on.”

Simon Allaway, 52, an Ozempic user and Chicago-based computer programmer and musician, loves the “Magic” spot. “I can’t help but sing along to it,” he said. “It’s a perfect fit with the product.” Another user wrote in a message-board post that whenever she injects herself, her father sings “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic.”

“Magic” has been leased plenty of times before, for a Coca-Cola commercial — “I actually sang ‘Coke, Coke, Coke, it’s Magic’ back in the ’70s,” Paton recalled — for the 2005 Disney film “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and as the musical bed for Flo Rida’s 2009 single, also called “Magic,” to name a few. “People always want to use the song in some way or the other,” Paton said.

Asked if he was bothered by his song’s association with what turned out to be a lightning-rod product, he smiled and shook his head. “I was delighted! I’m a songwriter. I want to sell my music. A lot of people don’t know the name Pilot, but they know the Ozempic song.”

For musicians, the success of the Ozempic commercial could be a harbinger of big checks to come. Pharmaceutical companies have seemingly unlimited budgets to promote their wares: according to the media analytics firm Guideline, pharma surpassed tech and auto in 2023 to become the second largest industry for ad spending, behind only consumer packaged goods.

Already, Lady Gaga is a spokesperson for Pfizer’s migraine medication Nurtec ODT; Cyndi Lauper lends her distinct Brooklyn accent to a commercial for Cosentyx, which treats plaque psoriasis; John Legend and Charlie Puth pitch Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and boosters. The Jackson 5’s “ABC” propels ads for Trelegy (used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), while commercials for the heart drug Entresto are soundtracked by Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On.”

But those spots haven’t embedded themselves into pop culture the way “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” has.

“In contemporary advertising, campaigns tend to have pretty short shelf lives,” CultHealth’s Rothstein said. “Two, three years, tops. Yet ‘Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic’ continues to endure. You can do all the market research in the world, and never end up with something like this.”

Read by Craig Marks

Audio produced by Sarah Diamond .

An earlier version of this article misstated the year that “Magic” became a hit. While the song was released in 1974, it reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, not 1974. The error was repeated in the headline.

How we handle corrections

A Close Look at Weight-Loss Drugs

The Era of ‘Brozempic’: Some telehealth start-ups are playing up masculine stereotypes to market GLP-1s  — the revolutionary class of drugs like Ozempic — which have been more widely associated with women.

Taking on Weight Stigma: Oprah Winfrey, a prominent figure in the conversation about dieting and weight bias, tackled the rise of weight loss drugs in a new prime-time special . In December, she shared that she was taking a medication to manage her weight.

Beyond Weight Loss: Wegovy is now approved for a new use: reducing the risk of heart attacks , strokes and cardiovascular-related death in adults who have heart disease and are overweight

Pregnancy: Doctors say they are seeing more women try weight-loss medications in the hopes of having a healthy pregnancy. But little is known about the impact of those drugs on a fetus .

Muscle Loss: As drugs like Ozempic become increasingly popular for weight loss, more doctors and patients are looking for ways to counteract the muscle loss that can happen on these medications. Companies are racing to meet that demand .

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