Judging Books and Their Covers

This past class, and the readings that were required for it, truly opened up my mind to a new way of analyzing the actions of mankind. It led me to ponder about how we all posses the ability to judge others and how we do such a thing so quickly and quite unreasonably. These tendencies occur so naturally and almost happen without our knowing.

I decided to see if I was guilty of such actions. Thus, while heading home on the subway that night, I sat down and consciously became aware of my thoughts about other people once they walked into the train. The results were outstanding. I will admit that I judged every single person that passed by me and generally categorized them into societal stereotypes.
The next day, I headed out to dinner with a friend and he confessed many childhood problems that he had, some that could justify the way he behaves today. This led me to come to the conclusion that perhaps it is in our best interest to decrease inclinations to scrutinize and place others into certain categories set in place by society (example: blaming..) without knowing them. It is truly amazing to see how significant it is to let someone tell you their story before you deem them to be a certain type of person.

This being said, I looked to Twitter, one of the most popular social networking sites in the world, in order to observe this issue of stereotyping. The account snapshot pictured above, was brought to my attention immediately. In its description: "Successful Black Man meme! Witty one-liners satirizing the African American male stereotypes." This 'tweeter' exploits a specific stereotype, blatantly bringing it to the attention of his 67, 000 + followers. The tweeter commences certain phrases, ones that people automatically associate with an African-American sterotype, and then changes their latter ending to something that breaks that correlation. For example: "I went to jail ...to visit my client and prepare him for tomorrows trial." or "I listen to Nelly ...Furtado." The importance of bringing attention to such stereotypes, just like both articles did, is imperative for many evident reasons.

Recently, stereotype targeting has been on the rise. Seen right below, such pictures have invaded both the world wide web and street corners (as posters) alike. I believe that people are becoming more aware of the labels society has created and are attempting to rid themselves of employing these. However, as I stated above, due to our natural impulses, placing people in socially created categories may be tougher than it looks.

-Arina


Note: Here are some other interesting links to do with the topic discussed in class, more so pinpointing the gender stereotypes.

-A paper titled: Advertising, Gender and Sex: What's Wrong with a Little Objectification?
-A trailer for the movie, Codes of Gender, by the above author.