It isn’t hard to convince people that making negative stereotypes about a certain group of people is a bad thing. Jewish people are no strangers to negative stereotyping and we have organizations, such as the ADL, to publicly and legally defend Jews from intolerance.
I did an internship with my local ADL chapter when I was a senior in college. I went to various events where ADL speakers engaged audiences of many races, religions, ethnicities, and genders to promote understanding. The punchline to these gatherings was that in the end, there are far more similarities between everyone than differences.
I was interested to read an article about “Linsanity” NBA basketball star, Jeremy Lin. In a 60 minutes interview, he talks about how he was discriminated against as an Asian American basketball player.
Fans and opposing teams would hurl insults at Lin about Chinese food, the color of his skin, and his appearance. Despite being a finalist for Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year in 2006, Lin didn’t receive any scholarships from Division I schools, so he went to Harvard. After finishing Harvard, he wasn’t drafted into the NBA. Basically, Jeremy Lin had to fight for his career every step of the way due to the stereotype that Asians can’t possibly be top contending players in basketball.
Anyone reading this story would agree that the kind of stereotyping Jeremy Lin had to face is wrong. Why then, are there many more articles written about how African American basketball players resent the stereotype that all black people have a natural affinity for the sport? Isn’t this stereotype an advantage compared to what Jeremy Lin has had to endure?
In an article called, The “Aren’t you good at sports?” assumption, the question of earning your place, whether on the basketball court or the business boardroom, is the big issue. Am I to be commended because I blink my eyes at appropriate intervals so that they don’t dry out? No, this is just the way my body was made to automatically function. It takes no rehearsal or talent.
When you stereotype African American athletes as having a natural inclination for sports, you dismiss all of the hard work and dedication that goes into being a top tier athlete. The concept that superstar athletes achieve their status due to nature and not nurture bleeds into other areas of life as well. Society questions the success of African Americans in other areas because of this question of merit. Did they receive the title, honor, or job because of their hard work or because of their skin color and all that it implies? It’s easy to see how a stereotype that seems positive on the surface can be a slippery slope to discrimination.
Going further to prove this point is a study in the journal, Psychological Science, entitled, “Even Positive Stereotypes Can Hinder Performance.” The study focuses on social and academic stereotypes of boys and girls and how that affects performance. In two experiments with 4- to 7-year-olds, the children performed more poorly after they were exposed to broad generalizations that associated success on a given task with membership in a certain social group, regardless of whether the children themselves belonged to that group. These findings suggest that even when children hear positive stereotypes about their gender, their performance can be impaired by leading them to believe that success depends primarily on innate talent and has little to do with factors under their control, such as effort.
Even positive stereotypes meant to compliment can be discouraging. Particularly if the hue you are being painted with doesn’t flatter. Am I a failure as a woman if I don’t wish to marry or have children? Am I an outcast if want to be an actress instead of a teacher or occupational therapist? On the flip side, what if I am the best wife, mom, teacher, or OT in the community? Are my triumphs truly earned or was it simply the automatic progression of my pre-programmed DNA? I don’t think we can truly value individual merit in our society until we rid ourselves of sweeping sex-based stereotypes.
