I expect at least 90 points. You should have a initial post which is 500 words, and three responses to my classmates (few sentences)`
One of the reasons it is important to learn about different cultures is that it allows us the ability to better recognize our unconscious conceptions/misconceptions of people that differ from us. When you first meet/see/interact with someone who is visibly different than you, it is likely that you already have a preconceived expectation of how they are going to act, what values and beliefs they hold, and even the style of communication in which they will engage. This is especially true if your only experience with these cultural differences has been learned via the media. What often happens is once you engage with members from other cultures first-hand, you will find media portrayals may have misled you and falsely shaped your unconscious expectations of how others exist.
The discussion is intended to get you thinking about the way you “perceive” others who are different from you. Please watch the following videos and respond to the prompts below (500 word min. in total).
What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied
- Please describe a time where you have felt that someone else has unfairly judged you based on the way you look, or because of a group membership you belong to (e.g., religious, political, sexual orientation, ethnic, etc.).
- How did this make you feel about yourself?
- How did this make you feel about the person who incorrectly passed judgment on you?
Describe a time when you unfairly stereotyped an individual from a different culture? How did this make you feel once you realized you unfairly judged them?
For peer responses: Respond to at least THREE of your classmates’ posts, addressing the following: – How did reading their post make you feel? If you can relate, how so? It is really important that you remain respectful to your classmates’ experiences. These are their experiences, through their eyes. Please do not belittle or downplay their experiences. A few sentences to a paragraph per response is fine.
1) Growing up as someone who looks relatively racially ambiguous, people, especially men, would always tend to make assumptions about what I was. The conversation always starts like this: “So, where are you from?” And, as always, I would reply that I am from Boston. Then, the follow up question: “No, like where are you from?” I have brown eyes and hair and have relatively tan skin. With this information, most people guess middle-eastern or hispanic. My parents were both born and raised in Colombia, and although I am definitely white passing, I have always gotten called slightly weird terms like “spicy white”. While this is relatively harmless, certain ethnicities, especially Latinx ones, tend to be something that is commonly fetishized in Western culture. Ever since I was a young girl, something that left an impression on me was how different (particularly men) would act around me when they learned that I could speak Spanish (or anything in relation to my ethnicity). I noticed this because their presumption is that I am simply a tan white person, however, their demeanor changes around me completely when they learn that I am Colombian. This became difficult to avoid as everyone always feels the need to ask what I “am”. Again, all of these things seem harmless, however, I was unaware that I was being put into a box, where I could satisfy someone’s perception. It is incredibly disgusting to only feel sexually preyed upon based entirely off of stereotypes (for example, the “spicy latina trope”). This is something that is incredibly harmful to POC, and happens with many other ethnicities and races, as well (for example, asian women face this heavily, as do black men). This was incredibly damaging to my sense of identity when I was growing up. As a young, impressional girl, when I began to learn that my ethnicity tends to be sexualized, I thought of it as empowerment. I would look at women like Sophia Vergara and Shakira, who are incredibly intelligent and beautiful women. Yet, the only reason they were inspiring to me was because everyone thought they were so “sexy” because of something they and I share; our ethnicity! Obviously, I was naive, but that set me up to hold myself to standards where I was basing my self worth off of these perceptions. I should not be put into a box, nor should I ever be fetishized. This makes me realize how common this is, considering I know multiple other Latinx girls that have experienced the same thing.
One time I unfairly judged another individual was back in early high school. I had an asian friend, and at the time, I was unaware of how hurtful generalizations could be. I referred to him as Chinese, and while the word Chinese is not inherently bad, it was incorrect, showing that I was making a very obvious generalization. He was Korean, and he corrected me, and I remember digging an even deeper hole and replied back with something like, “Same thing”. Immediately, he said “It’s not though. It’s the same thing as when someone calls you Mexican, when you’re not. You’re Colombian” which he knew was something that bothered me and did happen to me frequently. I felt awful and embarrassed, but I am glad this interaction happened because it educated me and shed light on how common these generalizations are made.
Hi Andrea. I loved reading you response and how deep you got. Regarding the first part, I can sympathize, but not empathize with you. I see your perspective 100% and I am sorry people ask you those questions. On the second part, I found it extremely eye-opening. I too am at fault for referring to my asian friends as Chinese. You bringing this to my attention will completely change the way I refer to them from here on out
2) I honestly do not feel judged for my ethnic background or sexual orientation and that is definitely something I feel support fortunate for. Regarding the religion that I believe in, I cannot say the same. My mom is Catholic, and my dad is Jewish. Growing up, I went to Jewish preschool and then Catholic middle school and high school. Needless, to say I was surround by both religions. When I was younger religion to me was something you believed in and never judged for. As I started getting older, those thoughts started to change. It became prevalent to me when I got to high school. Little remarks were made in class when learning about the Holocaust and which offended me, but I never said anything. They were made to the situation and not directly at me. There was a high population of Jewish people at my high school, so I was always left in awe that no one said anything. I kept my religion kind of a secret which I regret because at this point in my life I am proud to be Jewish. People make jokes that they mean, and it breaks my heart that I can be judged for simply what I believe in. This honestly made me feel less than or not enough. I felt left out due to what I believed in, so I chose to not even share what I truly believe in. My perspective on the people that made these remarks changed completely. I lost all respect for them completely and see them as people with zero empathy and sympathy. I can picture each and every person that has made a remark in school, the hall, or even the lunchroom. I would like to think that they truly did not mean the things they said because I do not like holding a grudge, but unfortunately, I doubt that. Karma will get to them and hopefully one day they can see the Jewish religion for what amazingness it truly is.
It is extremely unfortunate that people are stereotyped for there culture. I too have faulted into stereotyping people due to their culture. Now one of my best friends is someone I used to judge. He is from Iran and when all of the Palestine stuff was going down, I distanced myself from him. I thought that just because of his culture he would be Pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. I refrained from talking about such topic when around him because I did not want to know if my thoughts were true or not. Skip to a couple weeks ago it came up in conversation. It turned out that he was Pro-Israel and we shared the same views on the topic. After having this conversation with him I felt mad at myself. I should have never predetermined his views and judged him for it. Realizing that I too have stereotyped others based on their culture gives me empathy for when I am judged.Our society needs to become better at getting to know others before judging and pre determining their views.
Hi Olivia, I enjoyed reading your reflection post for this week! I can relate to your post since my dad’s side of the family is also jewish. I also have never really felt judged unfairly for my ethnic background and consider myself very fortunate. I feel the same way reading your post about stereotypes, even though many people don’t mean to stereotype cultures.
3) When growing up, I would always visit my family members in Mexico alongside my parents and siblings. Additionally, my mother’s side is Hispanic, and my father’s side is Caucasian. However, I was born with brown eyes, dark skin, and it is obvious that I am Mexican.
Every time I visit Mexico, they call me “fresa,” which means not an “authentic” Mexican. Alternatively, my family makes side remarks about how I am not Mexican enough or my California accent. They say it jokingly; however, it gets annoying when they comment on how my Spanish is not good enough. It is fascinating to experience because it only happens when I visit them in Mexico, but it is different when they visit us. I have noticed that they only keep their side remarks when I visit them. I know my family only makes comments when we are in Mexico because they are more comfortable. They do not say anything when they visit because they are uncomfortable and do not know how things work. Which is very understanding, but that does not make me want to make rude comments. Mostly my cousins make comments, which makes sense because I think since I live in California, they believe I have everything.
I started noticing the comments when I got older. However, they would also comment on my little cousins, who are only eight years old. I feel bad for my little cousins because they feel like they are doing something wrong. I get very frustrated with the side comments because I am Mexican and Caucasian, which does not make me less Hispanic. Growing up, my parents focused on how strong culture is/was and made sure my siblings and I were educated enough to share our culture. For example, before my father met my mother, he only knew English. However, after they got married, he wanted to speak Spanish out of respect for my grandparents. When growing up, my parents also made sure that they taught me Spanish as much as possible. I know my cousins do not mean harm, but I would like to think they would be more supportive.
I know they do not mean harm; however, it is crazy to think that your own family can unfairly judge you based on the way you look, where you are from, or sound. It is unfortunate; however, I will never treat somebody differently. People are stereotyped for their culture all the time. It is not very encouraging when it is your people. One would like to feel supportive of their own culture. It is fascinating because I feel more supportive of others who share the same culture than my cousins who live in Mexico. They are still my family, and I care about them very much; however, I hope my cousins see us as equals. Just because we come from different backgrounds does not mean that we need to treat each other differently. Culture should be able to make people come together and share stories.
Hi Amanda, it was interesting to read your discussion of this week. I found a lot of commonalities in your story, as I have experienced similar things as well while visiting my father’s village. I am Caucasian as well, born in Georgia. However, my father’s village is in the ancient Georgian region, which is now part of Azerbaijan. The religions and cultures of these two countries differ significantly, and ancient Georgians are trying to maintain their own culture and traditions in this region. However, they are often stereotyped for their culture and it’s really disgraceful.
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