Lois Lane or Mary Jane

He was her best friend in the entire world, but when it came to giving valid and significant relationship advice he always fell short.  Nonetheless he always threw himself out there to do it when the opportunity arose. And right now was no different.

"What?!?" she bristled not bothering to hide her irritation with the question.

"Are you Lois Lane or Mary Jane?"

She was no comic book ignorant. She knew her fair amount of mythos. "Mary Jane, as in Watson?"

"Yeah, Pete's woman."

Her brow crinkled. As comfortable as she was with the genre, she didn't think being able to refer to a fictitious character by his nick name was healthy.

"I know who she is. What does that have to do with me?"

He shrugged in that way that implied that it was obvious for anyone paying attention.  But the shrug was never the part to wait for, his explanations, no matter how farfetched, were usually money and quite entertaining.  She had told him years ago that he needed to record his rants and have them transcribed.  He'd make millions.

"All women can be divided equally and completely by one question.  Is she Lois Lane or is she Mary Jane." he paused dramatically.  It took a moment more before he acknowledged the obvious.  "It’s how I remember the question, try to ignore that they rhyme."

Despite herself she did crack a rather sheepish grin because he did know her very well. "Fundamentally impossible."  She finally sat next to him on the couch knowing that the words from her mouth would spurn an explanation that no one would want to stand for. "Do tell."

He took his time, as was his nature, before he imparted some of his well thought out and completely inane views on life, liberty, and love.  He stretched leisurely, snapping and cracking the joints in his shoulders, arms, and wrists in a fashion that made them pop one after the other like a shuffled card deck.  Then he settled back into the cushy sofa while taking a long theatrical breath.

"It’s quite simple really.  Think about Lois Lane, wholly irritating completely annoying and seemingly self-involved to a disturbing level.  And MJ is the girl next door, wholesome and sweet as apple pie. Nicest little girl you would ever want to meet.  On the surface.  Then you get to know them through their superhero mates."

"The real Lois Lane is a goody-two shoes cynic because she understands human nature.  She knows that not everyone has figured out what she has, which is that most things in this world we can take care of ourselves, and don’t need to be saved all the time. She knows right from wrong, and is always trying to reveal the truth regardless of what trouble that may bring."

Taking in her frown, he paused, and then shook his head. "Think about it, at no point in time does she ever get into trouble accept for when she's trying to do the right thing.  She's banging Superman, and he's the last dude she calls when she's in trouble.  Instead she hunkers down and sees what she can get done herself.  She's usually in way over her head, but she doesn't let that little fact stop her.  And before long old Supes says, hey I wonder what my lady's doing. There she is, in it up to her elbows, and still she hasn't relented.  He's pissed because she should know by now to come to him first, but he respects the fact that she won't to the point that he doesn't even give her a hard time about it.  Shrugs and says that's just Lois."

He holds up his contradiction hand, which is the right one.  He always raised it when he was about to embark on the counter argument.

"MJ though is different.  She's one of the sheep, the flock.  She thinks that regular people should depend on super heroes for everything.  So she's banging Spiderman with the unspoken understanding that she has priority. All hell breaks loose if she thinks for one minute that he is off saving someone else besides her when she's in trouble.  Regardless of whether or not she could've saved herself and maybe someone else couldn't. She's got small town girl issues so she's always jealous of Spidey's fame.  Trashing him for coming home all beat up, getting mad when his enemies come after her, worried about other women beating her out for his attention.  Let's be real, you're dating or married to a super hero, she should've known from point jump that this is the way it would be.  You either want him enough to let it not be an issue, or you want the issue enough to be with him."

Her frown was increasing because for once in his inane asinine uttering, he was actually making some sense. And like clouds parting the wisdom of realization and enlightenment fell on her.  With an eerie gleam in her eye, and a confidence in speech that she never possessed, she declared in an even unwavering voice.

"So what you're saying is that as women, we either want to be with someone because they respect who we are, or we want to be with them because they tolerate us for not respecting who we are?  As women we have to understand our own limitations and strengths and find a mate who understands and agrees that who we are isn't a terrible thing, but the only thing that they will ever accept from us.  Finally breaking free of the clingy woman, or ball-breaking bitch stereotypes.  Finally being accepted as an entity not defined by sex but sex being only a characteristic of the person as a whole."

He looked at her as if she had grown two heads.  "Where the hell did you get all that from?  I'm saying that women who seem like they are sweet usually aren't, and women that don't usually are.  Depending on who you are you either pull in a Superman or a Spiderman.  A guy that can really lay down the smack, or one that can take the smack."  He looked at her expectantly.  "Are you a woman that can pull a man that can deliver the smack, or just one that can take it?"

"Its not that simple," she countered. "While no one is as proficient at taking an ass-whopping as Spiderman is, Superman has been known to get it handed to him before he gets pissed off enough to do something about it. And when they get fed up they both lay down the smack.  Pretty efficiently.  So what does that say about their choice in women?"

This was a moment for posterity.  She had just once, for the first and probably only time, actually turned an argument of his against him.

He shook his head, with a self-effacing grin beginning to take hold. "Not a damn thing."

"Honestly I thought you were going to go with the whole,” she formed quotations in the air with her fingers, “Lois seems dumb as a stump while Mary Jane seems unnaturally intelligent for an actress, but the opposite for both is actually true,” end quotations in the air, “angle."

The blank stare confirmed that this was an avenue he had not considered, and in fact blew apart his whole theory.  "I hate telling you these things."

She smiled at him. "I'm going to stick with what I said so that I can give you credit for actually helping for once."  She patted his head endearingly. “I suggest you do the same.”  She popped up and started away. “It’s good advice for guys too, you either be with a woman who accepts that she’s not the only thing going on in your life, or is pissed because she isn’t, and is always lobbying for it.”

He continued to shake his head at her. “You know there is much to be said for not being so skilled at emasculation.”

She nodded. “I agree, be strong enough that your woman can’t.  Superman can handle a self-possessed woman and Spiderman can’t.”

He smiled at her then. “Lois Lane all the way.”

Unfortunate Truths: The Black Hair Chronicles

As women we are susceptible to beauty trends and myths because as a part of our core programming we are told we have to be.  You see how pretty mommy is and you want to be pretty like mommy.  The women on TV, who gets paid attention to by the boys. This is the fallout of what was all explained to you when you were very young as it takes your mother twice as long to dress you than it does to dress your brother. You have layers usually.  Underwear, undershirt, dress, maybe petticoats, socks, shoes and any random hair accessories to make sure that anyone who sees you, knows that you're a baby girl.    

Don't get me wrong we were all cute as the dickens mind you, but what about that early in life brainwashing that's actually taking place?  When you are percieved as the standard of beauty when you grow up, you may not mind so much because you're top chicken.  But what about all of us ugly, ugly ducklings?  Especially us ugly ducklings who can never be the idea of beauty because we were born with dark skin.

Google Beautiful Women Search

This comes to mind in light of recent stories regarding Olympian Gabby Douglas. I believe I can be quoted as saying "This girl has made history and literally all anyone can talk about is her damned hair!  Seriously!  What year is this?!?!"  My rage while quickly spent was not really effective in any other way than to get the angst out of me for the ignorance that people can bear.  Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.  

If want to see dark girls you have to be specific and even that isn't full proof.

And then I thought about it and I knew where it all came from. For a majority of black women in America of a certain age group life has been a clusterfuck of being told you're not good enough in a wide variety of humiliating, dogmatic, and dehumanizing ways.  Still to this day people try to use false science, beauty exceptions, and exclusive behaviors to assure the common public that the last woman that should be considered beautiful, is a black one.  The phrase "You're pretty for a dark girl", gets used much to often every day. Because even if the compliment is given, it has been made clear that you are being touted as an unusual case outside of the normal climate.  Still outcast. You're not beautiful, not pretty and frankly not attractive at all.  The irony of it is that to some degree many black women took this as a challenge.  And through it many of us have shed some of our shackles of beauty misgivings and have declared that we define our own beauty and it won't be the crumbs you try to give us.  

Side bar: And please keep in mind that I will not refer to black women born in America who's families have been born in America for decades African-Americans.  You see I know people who were born in Africa and are now Americans.  They are African Americans. . . we are Americans, plain and simple.  I don't care how many times representatives from the Republican party like to imply otherwise. All you have to do is study American history to understand that none of our ancestors were American until after the country was established. My ancestors were born American at nearly the same time as all other Americans that can't trace thier line outside of this country.

Right or Wrong this is the truth

The challenge has become a pact almost amoung black women to maintain and carry their own standard of beauty since the media seeks to constantly denegrate it by applying sole ownership of beauty with images of something none of us will ever be. . . not black. The obsession with hair is a long and dated process that can be traced back to slavery times.  The truth is because of liberal mixing of the races, ironic that it was considered smart then, sometimes produced offspring that could 'pass' for white.  Seeing as that opened a doorway to a whole new life, this was a desired thing.  

Pass for White

In many cases there was only one aspect that could be interpreted as being a 'slave' trait.  That trait was hair. It bore the double-edged sword of being a trait that could be altered when so little else could be.  And the preference went towards assimulation. When you are a captured and enslaved people who's only identifying factor is skin color, you know that were that trait to change you would suddenly be one of them because there was literally no other difference. In fact you watched it happen several times over. Just imagine what a hated and dreaded thing you would consider your skin.  And sense you had no control over your reproduction rights you couldn't decide not to have children to spare them the pain you have to bare. How does that feel, knowing the world your children will come into. With such a powerful regime that went from slavery to incarceration for control of the black population, assimulation must've and in many ways I'm sure, still does seem like the only possible answer to the subjugation of racism to the out of power population.

In the end the desire is to fit in and be considered not just another person, but an actually equal person capable of all the things the population in power is capable of.  Education, housing, employment, and food disadvantages have fundamentally replaced slavery with a new kind of oppression that unfortunately many minorities fight today. Amazingly enough it even includes restrictions on hair style by noted universities and companies who are saying loud and clear "we know you can change this feature about yourself to make us feel more comfortable. . conform or else."  People would be appauled if some company required all of it's staff to be brunette to work there when it is not an entertainment based employment.

For current practical purposes its' much harder for a black woman to wear her hair naturally.  The first reason being very obvious.  The hair was never meant to exist in this climate. As a result the method to adapt that hair to the climate  has to be studied, researched, and developed. The market for products that actually cater to the type of hair that most black people have is a relatively new one.  Only really getting off of the ground in the 80's.  But even then it was to alter the texture of the hair so that it was more manageable.  Not until very recently has there even been a set of prescribed products that can make black hair more manageable without sometimes really damaging effects. 

Hilarious is an Offensive Review

For those of you who don't have 'black' friends or don't understand the hair hocus pocus you think goes on with black women. .  please reference Chris Rock's Good Hair.  He covers it thoroughly.  What I will now give you is the cliffnotes version of why Gabby had to go through that. It is a point of vanity and pride to be able to maintain a head of hair. Because of convenience, perceived beauty expectations, and ignorance, black women have always expected a certain level of commitment from other black women in regards to hair.  Whether for natural hair or against because there are camps that lobby for both. The idea being that if it is not appropriate, you as a woman are not trying hard enough to show the world how people as a race of women we can be.  Beyond that many people within the black community question the integrity, work ethic, and professionalism of a person that has not attempted to adapt their hair to white beauty ideologies when it is simple to do. While others question the need for adapting to white ideologies and denying natural beauty. It is seen as trying to 'not fit in', thus inadvertendly continuing our lack of assimulation. While the other is seen as trying too hard to fit in.  Its a damned if you do damned if you don't situation and is ultimately no win.  

As a black woman who wears her hair naturally I went into this decision understanding the backlash I would get from my community.  And I have accepted the weight of that with all I can bear. My decision was based in the idea that if we were not meant to be different, we wouldn't be.  We are here to learn from each other and trying to hide our differences will not make that possible.  All you really learn from a lie are the strategies for efficient ways to lie. 

But does this really capture ALL women?

At the end of the day, all women, need to understand that we are naturally beautiful as we are. I mean, no make-up, no fancy hairdoes, no woman shaping garments. All the bells and whistles gone. Until we, ourselves, start to see the beauty of all of us as God has made us (or whatever your belief is) we will never be able to show others and ridiculous standards for beauty will always exist and be exclusionary depending on the controlling party of the media.  And the brainwashing will continue. 

What happened with Gabby was a shame not because some people were too concerned by a social standard that bears no real weight or meaning, but because the vanity and shallow behavior has overshadowed accomplishments that should've gained more equality for all American women, not less.  The ultimate slap in the face for all the injustice, discrimination and aggravation that Gabby has suffered to change the world in her own special way, is to have the people who will benefit from it the most use pointless archaic rhetoric to tear her down.  In the face of her accomplishment we shamed her by making it about a centuries old hang-up that we should all have outgrown by now.

Photo Credits:

http://realitywives.net/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/gabby-douglas-hair.jpg

http://talkingpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Natural3.jpeg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m68h5rdQDR1rvkzbuo1_500.jpg

http://iammilanrouge.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dove-models-real-beauty.jpg

Lois Lane or Mary Jane

 

He was her best friend in the entire world, but when it came to giving valid and significant relationship advice he always fell short.  Nonetheless he always threw himself out there to do it when the opportunity arose. And right now was no different.

"What?!?" she bristled not bothering to hide her irritation with the question.

"Are you Lois Lane or Mary Jane?"

She was no comic book ignorant. She knew her fair amount of mythos. "Mary Jane, as in Watson?"

"Yeah, Pete's woman."

Her brow crinkled. As comfortable as she was with the genre, she didn't think being able to refer to a fictitious character by his nick name was healthy.

"I know who she is. What does that have to do with me?"

He shrugged in that way that implied that it was obvious for anyone paying attention.  But the shrug was never the part to wait for, his explanations, no matter how farfetched, were usually money and quite entertaining.  She had told him years ago that he needed to record his rants and have them transcribed.  He'd make millions.

"All women can be divided equally and completely by one question.  Is she Lois Lane or is she Mary Jane." he paused dramatically.  It took a moment more before he acknowledged the obvious.  "It’s how I remember the question, try to ignore that they rhyme."

Despite herself she did crack a rather sheepish grin because he did know her very well. "Fundamentally impossible."  She finally sat next to him on the couch knowing that the words from her mouth would spurn an explanation that no one would want to stand for. "Do tell."

He took his time, as was his nature, before he imparted some of his well thought out and completely inane views on life, liberty, and love.  He stretched leisurely, snapping and cracking the joints in his shoulders, arms, and wrists in a fashion that made them pop one after the other like a shuffled card deck.  Then he settled back into the cushy sofa while taking a long theatrical breath.

"It’s quite simple really.  Think about Lois Lane, wholly irritating completely annoying and seemingly self-involved to a disturbing level.  And MJ is the girl next door, wholesome and sweet as apple pie. Nicest little girl you would ever want to meet.  On the surface.  Then you get to know them through their superhero mates."

 

"The real Lois Lane is a goody-two shoes cynic because she understands human nature.  She knows that not everyone has figured out what she has, which is that most things in this world we can take care of ourselves, and don’t need to be saved all the time. She knows right from wrong, and is always trying to reveal the truth regardless of what trouble that may bring."

Taking in her frown, he paused, and then shook his head. "Think about it, at no point in time does she ever get into trouble accept for when she's trying to do the right thing.  She's banging Superman, and he's the last dude she calls when she's in trouble.  Instead she hunkers down and sees what she can get done herself.  She's usually in way over her head, but she doesn't let that little fact stop her.  And before long old Supes says, hey I wonder what my lady's doing. There she is, in it up to her elbows, and still she hasn't relented.  He's pissed because she should know by now to come to him first, but he respects the fact that she won't to the point that he doesn't even give her a hard time about it.  Shrugs and says that's just Lois."

He holds up his contradiction hand, which is the right one.  He always raised it when he was about to embark on the counter argument.

"MJ though is different.  She's one of the sheep, the flock.  She thinks that regular people should depend on super heroes for everything.  So she's banging Spiderman with the unspoken understanding that she has priority. All hell breaks loose if she thinks for one minute that he is off saving someone else besides her when she's in trouble.  Regardless of whether or not she could've saved herself and maybe someone else couldn't. She's got small town girl issues so she's always jealous of Spidey's fame.  Trashing him for coming home all beat up, getting mad when his enemies come after her, worried about other women beating her out for his attention.  Let's be real, you're dating or married to a super hero, she should've known from point jump that this is the way it would be.  You either want him enough to let it not be an issue, or you want the issue enough to be with him."

Her frown was increasing because for once in his inane asinine uttering, he was actually making some sense. And like clouds parting the wisdom of realization and enlightenment fell on her.  With an eerie gleam in her eye, and a confidence in speech that she never possessed, she declared in an even unwavering voice.

"So what you're saying is that as women, we either want to be with someone because they respect who we are, or we want to be with them because they tolerate us for not respecting who we are?  As women we have to understand our own limitations and strengths and find a mate who understands and agrees that who we are isn't a terrible thing, but the only thing that they will ever accept from us.  Finally breaking free of the clingy woman, or ball-breaking bitch stereotypes.  Finally being accepted as an entity not defined by sex but sex being only a characteristic of the person as a whole."

He looked at her as if she had grown two heads.  "Where the hell did you get all that from?  I'm saying that women who seem like they are sweet usually aren't, and women that don't usually are.  Depending on who you are you either pull in a Superman or a Spiderman.  A guy that can really lay down the smack, or one that can take the smack."  He looked at her expectantly.  "Are you a woman that can pull a man that can deliver the smack, or just one that can take it?"

"Its not that simple," she countered. "While no one is as proficient at taking an ass-whopping as Spiderman is, Superman has been known to get it handed to him before he gets pissed off enough to do something about it. And when they get fed up they both lay down the smack.  Pretty efficiently.  So what does that say about their choice in women?"

This was a moment for posterity.  She had just once, for the first and probably only time, actually turned an argument of his against him.

He shook his head, with a self-effacing grin beginning to take hold. "Not a damn thing."

"Honestly I thought you were going to go with the whole,” she formed quotations in the air with her fingers, “Lois seems dumb as a stump while Mary Jane seems unnaturally intelligent for an actress, but the opposite for both is actually true,” end quotations in the air, “angle."

The blank stare confirmed that this was an avenue he had not considered, and in fact blew apart his whole theory.  "I hate telling you these things."

She smiled at him. "I'm going to stick with what I said so that I can give you credit for actually helping for once."  She patted his head endearingly. “I suggest you do the same.”  She popped up and started away. “It’s good advice for guys too, you either be with a woman who accepts that she’s not the only thing going on in your life, or is pissed because she isn’t, and is always lobbying for it.”

He continued to shake his head at her. “You know there is much to be said for not being so skilled at emasculation.”

She nodded. “I agree, be strong enough that your woman can’t.  Superman can handle a self-possessed woman and Spiderman can’t.”

He smiled at her then. “Lois Lane all the way.”

Stereotype Tree

Multicultural image

I think the importance of stereotypes and their existence become greatly undervalued.  If you ask someone why a stereotype is bad your general response would be something along the lines of 'Well it isn't polite, or nice."  Which of course opens the doorway of using them when you intentionally want to be mean or seen as bad.  It becomes a matter of opinion on civility instead of a matter of fact in regards to inequality systems.  Make no mistake about it; stereotypes have very little to do with civility and a whole lot more to do with the maintaining of inequality systems.

Inequality systems are an interesting thing.  In the current text I am reading "The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality" there is an analogy that is given by Marilyn Frye that I find to be very appropriate:

"Consider a birdcage. If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires.” When the cage is observed so closely, it’s unclear why a bird—eager to escape—wouldn’t just fly around the wire. It’s necessary to step back and look at the entire cage. “It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers, no one of which could be the least hindrance to its flight, but which, by their relations to each other, are as confining as the walls of a dungeon” (Ore, 2003)

The interesting aspect of inequality systems is that people have a tendency to deny their existence.  The common perceptions among average Americans are that if a certain sector of the population is not successful it is through their own lack of desire, initiative, and drive.  According to the most privileged Americans, the playing field is level.  This is just the idea that the inequality maintenance system needs to survive. This perception of falsified equality. Yet in language, media, and legislation inequality thrives, and has convinced some that the perceptions given are the truth of the tale. Stereotypes then become even more invasive than these other influences because stereotypes are what a person is involved with on a psychic level and it becomes condoned and supported by these things.  This causes an invalidated truth to take root and be accepted as a validated truth.

Stereotypes are formed because we as people need to isolate things; assemble patterns. That's what we do, and how we learn. Just in case no one has noticed, humanity is in a heap of trouble. We have compounding problems from our environment to our economy. The issue is that likeminded groups stick together. We form these pockets of humanity, and these pockets only like to allow other likeminded individuals in them. We all do it.  However, like minded individuals are what got us into this situation in the first place. Diversity is the only answer now. Different heads need to be thinking about our issues from different perspectives of thought. No individual group is going to come up with an adequate solution. They can't. The only people they bounce ideas off of are just like them, and they see things too similarly. If they had a viable answer we wouldn't be in such a quandary.

Stereotypes are the root of all perspective evil because they incorporate assumptions about a whole that is usually only applicable to a few. However with this assumption in place, the perspective of the person is set and fixed to find evidence of this assumption in everything. It's our ability to create patterns used against us. Even if the stereotype is obviously not true in a person, we are actively looking for it to the point that another unrelated aspect of them seems to reinforce the stereotype. It's us typecasting each other, building that pattern.

Amazing Tree

Stereotype Tree

ROOTS

Roots of stereotypes come from culture, life experiences, and media. These are the things that shape us that were in place before we are even conscious of what we are or who we are going to be. The surrounding infrastructure that facilitated your birth. We would all be different people had we been born in the early 1800s instead of now.

Culture

Culture is the thing your family instilled in you and your beliefs. This includes religion, location, racial identity, socioeconomic status, acceptable behaviors and rewarded ideas. These are all the factors that those before you put into place. My foundation was set by a mother who raised me to believe that as a general rule people considered 'white' would always look down on me, but this was should not be the case.  They are no different than us, but they will always act like they are. Already I have a cultural perspective that says this type of person is always going to look down on me, but they are foolish for it. There is no difference between them and me.  This colors all interactions I have with people that are considered 'white'.  Does this person disapprove of what I am doing because as a woman who is 'not white' I should not be doing this because it implies equality?

This is the first step, so try to really dig into this concept and formulate what was presented to you as far as ethnic, class, financial, gender, and sexuality based expectations.  What were these mostly unspoken rules of what your family and friends expected from you at the very beginning of your life?  What was fair and what was based solely on stereotypes and uninformed assumptions?

Life Experiences

With the example set by your culture you have a certain perspective of the world. You see it with lenses colored by your culture. Situations that would seem one way to one person is actually completely different for someone else. When I was accused of cheating on my aptitude test in elementary school the teacher probably noticed me looking around because I do, a lot, always have. I didn't look for answers. I was just looking at the other kids because I was new and trying to figure out my new environment. When the scores came in, she confronted my mother about this. I felt guilty because my understanding was ‘looking around was bad’. When my mother found out and the teacher tried to explain, my mother got angry just like she does when she complains about white people, and tells me that I won't be attending that school anymore. This reinforces the stereotype that my mother has ingrained in me. This is an example of a life experience that can be seen from that cultural perspective.  Now I have an instance where it can be perceived that a ‘white’ authority figure has in fact 'looked down' on me because of my 'non-white' status as she openly questioned whether I was capable of achieving this aptitude score.

Media

Media is a growing issue for stereotyping because it is so ingrained in our lives now. The messages that are being generated by advertisers and media outlets is shameful because the generation that was raised by television is now letting their children be raised by the internet. Should advertisers and content creators be more discriminating, yes, will they, no. They aren't trying to raise your kid right; they're trying to raise your kid to buy what they're selling. Question any and all media no matter what is being said and no matter who is saying it. All media can be traced to 6 corporations.  http://www.newint.org/magazine/ni333-media.pdf  With that small amount of diversity, everything is being reported from a very limited and specific social perspective.

TRUNK

The trunk is what the roots feed, it's the person you are, and how you react and respond to others in day to day activities. The areas this effects are social, professional, and private aspects of you. In some situations this branches out to virtual versions of you. So think of it as the social you, for friends and group settings; the professional you for the sake of your career or livelihood, and the private you which are the aspects that only close personal people know or no one at all including you even understand. Then there is the advent of this virtual you. The person you project yourself as in cyberspace.

Social

You choose to be in certain areas. Certain groups of people make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable. People create hives and groups based on affinity and relation. Usually these are dens of like-mindedness where ideas are identical and mirrored. These mirrored ideas reinforce stereotypes because they are never challenged.

Professional

While your job can create pockets of diversity, the understanding is that this is a ‘working you’, and not truly who you are. At work we respond sometimes as we must to fulfill the job expectations denying personal concerns. Most businesses are not expansive enough to need varying degrees of ability and talent with the exception of some high end performance and technology fields. Business autonomy sometimes makes it unnecessary for these different parts to fully interact. Working day to day while having certain stereotypes in mind causes you to see co-workers in a certain light as well. What is just playful banter can be misconstrued as an insult because of this. Stereotypes may be jarred a bit, but never disavowed because everyone is at work, and the actual face of who they are is not visible. Some fields are so devoid of diversity that even if people interacted with everyone they would see very little difference in ideologies. People who like to do certain work, or have to do certain jobs, have similar ideas and perspectives.

Private

In the deep dark parts of ourselves we know what we truly believe. We believe what we've been shown through media, culture, and life experiences. Patterns develop that lead to who we are and manifest as the decisions and actions taken in our personal time. This is where stereotypes truly fester because our time can be spent in any way we would like. We guide ourselves inside of our own heads; this manifests in habits, likes and dislikes; our dreams. Our minds are our own, and they can either be cultivated or left barren.

Virtual

The interesting thing about being virtual is the assumption that it creates anonymity. As a programmer I'm here to tell you it doesn’t. Web bots know you're IP address, with that they can find anything and everything they need to know about you. Just hope that no one wants to find you because it isn't difficult if you know how to look.

Online combines aspects of you and content creation. Media intermixes with self and amplifies self. In no other venue will you find more stereotypes being generated, accepted, and passed about freely as if they are actual facts than online. Then the issue becomes that a consensus has been formed, and together through another broader form of socialized communication, a body of evidence has been built and seems airtight. However if you apply all that came before this step, you can see why it works out like that. Now the stereotyped are accepting the labels, the typecasting, and are in fact living to make the stereotypes as real as possible, like some odd form of nihilistic approval seeking.

BRANCHES

The result of the roots and the trunk are the branches. This is the active part that the person themselves take in creating the stereotype and regenerating it over and over again. This is the truth of what you believe in habits and nuances that are influencing other people, and reinforcing a certain perspective of an issue adjusting how you respond to them in the real world. You don't have to be a politician or someone in power for this to be effective. Just another person and it's done. This is where social expectations change the course of your actions when you are placed in stereotype forming or breaking situations. Here is when your need to act or fear of acting becomes a crucial determination of your true stance on the issue and ultimately your role.  This is where the company you keep sets an example. As human beings we are either reinforcing stereotypes or we are breaking them. There is no passive in-between.  Fence sitting is just the same as reinforcing them. People can ascertain your ability to accept others by the things you do, and the things you don't. Limitations, drawbacks, and misunderstandings are created by rating things in quality by untested assumptions. 

LEAVES

The idea is that these stereotypes should become leaves if you do a thorough analysis of your thoughts, ideas, and behaviors. They should grow, be tested, and fall away so that new ones can form, because unfortunately that is part of the human experience. There will always be stereotypes. It is the individual's choice if they would like to be a stereotype rock or a tree, always growing, always changing, always adapting.

Ore, Tracy E., ed. 2003. The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Amazing Tree image courtesy of http://www.sharenator.com/Amazing_Trees_1/#/amazing_tree-5.html

Multicultural image courtesy of  

http://cas.ncat.edu/~liberal_studies/index.php?Key=display_page&node=171