Stereotypes and Sexism

Our culture of origin and environment influences our conclusions and their application to our daily lives. It is not uncommon for individuals to question stereotypes that they have upheld as truth since birth because they become educated on information that contradicts their beliefs.

Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, and Xu conducted numerous studies on positive and negative stereotypes associated with sexism, which is prejudice based upon sex or gender. They propose the following:

• Hostile sexism includes negative attitudes toward either sex.
• Benevolent sexism involves positive attitudes which ultimately cause harm due to their contribution to confining the person to the stereotyped role. For example, viewing women as deserving special care and treatment may have a positive connotation. But it also implies that women are weaker than men and depend on men’s assistance.

An understanding of sexism and stereotypes will force you to ask yourself questions such as:

• Does all stereotyping produce negative results?
• Have you been buying into stereotypes unconsciously without ever analyzing their validity or considering their potentially harmful consequences?

Stereotypes are reinforced constantly in our culture. Much of this reinforcement targets specific populations (i.e., children, adolescents, or adults) and is hidden in the media via messages such as newspaper articles, magazine pictures, television commercials, and website content.

When explaining the concept of stereotypes to a room of third graders, you are likely to receive feedback that stereotyping “may hurt someone’s feelings.” Yes, at its most basic level, stereotyping may make others feel bad about themselves. However, as adults, we understand that stereotyping can have much direr emotional, physical, and psychological consequences.