10 Stereotype Occurrences

1) 2-22-09, 1:00 P.M.
Television.
"Friends", Season2
Scene at the Central Perk coffeehouse where all the women in the circle of friends have female-oriented jobs, like Rachel working at Ralph Lurean, Monica as a head cheff, and Phoebe as a masseuse.
Gender stereotypes.

2) 2-23-09 4:30 P.M.
Print.
Ad in "The Oklahoma Daily" shows a picture of a woman working out with the caption: "Lose weight for Spring Break", targeting women.
Gender stereotypes.

3) 2-24-09 10:30 P.M.
Personal conversation with Patrick Rains, Roommate, about basketball players and how they perform.
Racial assumptions/stereotypes.

4) 2-25-09 4:45 P.M.
Personal conversation with fellow news anchors in the green room, talking about races in comparison to intelligence.
Racial assumptions/stereotypes.

5) 2-27-09 1:46 A.M.
Print
Ad in "Newsweek" depicts a woman playing with a dog advertising a more low-fat form of Soy Milk, again forcing women to think they must lose weight.
Gender stereotypes.

6) 2-26-09 1:30 A.M.
Television
The show "The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air" displays Will Smith's character as the stereotypical urban black man. He lives in a family of rich, sophisticated but because he grew up without these riches, he speaks on a lower level and dances and fools around all the time.
Racial assumptions/ stereotypes

7) 2-21-09 10:00 P.M.
Personal experience
When I was filling up my car in Oklahoma City at night, a black man pulled up in a car next to mine, cracked the window and asked if I could spare a few gallons of gas. Ashamedly, I refused him, being too suspicious of his only cracking the window down a little bit and immediately fearing that he was some kind of gang member,
Racial assumptions/ stereotypes.

8) 2-20-09 7:23 P.M.
Print
The magazine "Men's Health" features an ad of a man blindfolding a woman with the caption "It's better in the dark". It is an ad for a cologne. This implies the sense of the man placing the woman in bondage and forcing her to submit to him byt relinquishing one of her key senses, and possibly the sense that could save her in dangerous situations.
Gender stereotypes.

9) 2-19-09 6:15 P.M.
Class experience
My Shakespeare Tragedy discussion group was trying to come up with different ways to spice up our class presentation of "Othello", and we volunteered the idea of speaking every line in gangster talk, which unforunately has become the stereotypical language of the African-Americans.
Racial assumptions/stereotypes

10) 2-18-09 2:20 P.M.
Billboard
Driving down I-35 towards Norman from Texas, I always see a billboard with two pictures on it, one a picture of a fetus and one a depressed young woman. It's a pro-life billboard, a caption reading something along the lines of: "One Life Lost, One Still Empty". This is making women think they have no choice but to have the baby no matter what happens.
Gender stereotypes. 474

Normally, you wouldn't give images or occurrences like these a second thought. It seems like the same situation that happens with privilege happens here as well. It seems like the norm, the standard way to live, and any deviation from this would be too radical or unwanted.

Without acquiring that extra sense of awareness that this class has provided over the last couple of weeks, I never would have looked for such elements as these in the television shows I watched or the magazines I read. I guess it was that moment in the gas station that I truly realized how much I was suffering from racism.

But is that even the right term? Suffering from it? Or am I choosing to stay where I am in this mindset? I felt genuine fear that night, I was in a notoriously bad neighborhood and I didn't know what else to think. Of course, I can't use that excuse. I walked away from the black man and when I went into the gas station, I never suspected the white man behind the counter to pull a piece on me.

I think that was when I first started believeing in the importance of this class. If I'm going to make a difference in the world as a journalist, habits like these have to be changed in order to preserve the greater good for everyone else.