stereotypes

I saw a short video clip this past weekend that made me very uncomfortable. The clip was about giving money at church (this does not make me uncomfortable!) and the concept of it was quite humorous. A football player tackles people who aren’t giving any money or little money. However the football player was portrayed as a stereotypical Black man using ghetto type language and everyone else in the video was middle/upper class white.

Why did the football player have to be Black? Or why were no other ethnicities shown in the video?

I bet that most people in the video and the makers would argue that they were not intending to be discriminatory. This goes to show how discrimination in whatever form can be so subtle. If it weren’t for me thinking and researching about being a future transracial family I likely wouldn’t have picked up on the stereotyping of Black people in this video clip.

Even positive stereotypes can hurt. Like assuming every Asian kid is a math whiz or every African American kid will have rhythm or grow up to be a sports star. Positive stereotyping can also place limitations on a child, taking away his or her right to be perceived as an individual.

This has me thinking about the stereotypes in adoption in general. The birthmother is seen as uneducated, living in poverty, and unloving because she "gave away her baby." Adoptive parents are seen as saints and saviours because they "gave a baby a better life." And adoptees are seen as angry, bitter, and ungrateful to their adoptive parents if they even entertain thoughts about their first families. Check out this document for other adoption stereotypes.

Stereotypes are dangerous.