Stereotypes

   At first I wanted to call this myopic-types, for a) the very definition of stereotype is generally singular and b) does anyone even use the word "stereo" anymore?  Yet the sense of the word remains, for we still tend to stereotype people and customs and even countries.  This generally changes with the passage of time: women leave the kitchen, a white person robs a bank, Alaska becomes quite warm to visit, eating an animal's innards becomes fashionable.  But how did those wordings make you feel?  A bit uncomfortable?  A bit difficult to digest as if such concepts are still not "the norm."  Ever so slowly our stereotypes fall as men become nurses and flight attendants and women become pilots and doctors, and we think nothing of it.  Small examples, yes, but there are many other roles and images yet to change.

   This was the concept of Trevor Copp and Jeff Fox, two ballroom dance instructors who felt that dancing was one of the mediums ready to change.  In a Ted Talk, the two dancers demonstrate those views as they dance with a woman in a "normal" fashion, then dance together, then dance with the larger-in-size Jeff Fox becoming the "woman," and being led in dance by the smaller Trevor Copp.  As they complete the dance, Fox turns to the audience and asks: ...you thought it looked...a little strange.  Interesting --appealing, even-- but a little bit odd...See, the standard image that the leader must be larger and masculine and the follower smaller and feminine -- this is a stumbling point...So this was gender training.  You weren't just learning to dance -- you were learning to "man" and to "woman."  It's a relic.  And in the way of relics, you don't throw it out, but you need to know that this is the past.  This isn't the present.  It's like Shakespeare: respect it, revive it -- great!  But know that this is history.  This doesn't represent how we think today.

    Admittedly, it was a curious segment to watch for even I found myself a bit unsettled.  Not judgemental by any means, but something was being brought to my attention...a stereotype that was being dug out from the back reaches of my head (my wife is an avid fan of Dancing With the Stars so perhaps I was a bit more aware of housing this concept).  Continues Trevor Coop: Try this: Google-image, "professional Latin dancer," and then look for an actual Latino person.  You'll be there for days.  What you will get is page after page of white, straight Russian couples spray-tanned the point of mahogany...There are no black people, there are no Asians, no mixed-race couples, so basically, non-white people just disappeared...Even within the white-straight-couple-only paradigm -- she can't be taller, he can't be shorter.  She can't be bolder, he can't be gentler.  He dictates, she reacts.  No relationship --gay, straight or anything-- that we would regard as remotely healthy or functional looks like that, and yet somehow, you put it on prime time, you slap some makeup on it, throw the glitter on, put it out there as movement, not as text, and we, as a culture, tune in and clap.

   In the recent issue of ELLE (no link for the current issue), several books were recommended including The Glass Universe and A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, each dealing with busting stereotypes.  Says the review: ...two books, alike in dignity (and indignation), examine how women have succeeded in the arts and sciences, often through channels men weren't interested in taking..."The 'feminine' has far more polluting power for a boy in our culture than the 'masculine' has for a girl," Hustvedt (one of the authors) writes...Women read books by men and wear pants...men are far less likely to read books by female authors or wear skirts.  Are men more threatened by a woman holding a "power pose" (a concept explained in detail by social psychologist Amy Cuddy in a Ted Talk) or wearing pants?  Was this an issue in the recent U.S. election, that of a woman possibly becoming the President? (the voter turnout for this recent election was the lowest in 20 years, with well over 100 million voters deciding to simply not vote)   Are women (or men) less impressed by a man acting in an effeminate manner?

    Those are stereotypes which we might deem easy to spot; but others might be a bit more ingrained.  What happens when we hear that we've got cancer?  That we're doomed?  Scary for certain, but we're also learning that there are many types of cancer and many are rather easily treated if caught early.  What if we hear that the circus is coming to town; would we expect Cirque de Soleil or "lions and tigers and bears, oh my?"  Climate change?  Hmm, not so easy to pin down.  Gas driven cars forever?  The good ol' days?  We're all different and different in many ways, not just in color and customs and geography, but in upbringing as well and there's where our stereotypes become muddled.  My image of a grandmother or a father --good or bad-- might be totally different than yours.  Same with potato salad (nobody could beat my grandmother's potato salad).  On the other hand, I've tasted some excellent potato salads (or huevos rancheros or lutefisk or whatever).  Times change, and slowly, ever so slowly, so do our stereotypes.  Slavery?  Appalling, a relic, but it still exists.  War, torture, bombing hospitals and killing children?  Ghastly, another relic, but it also still exists (daily in Syria). 

   We might be changing our views on dancing and gender roles, but we might still have a ways to go on our other views.  The word stereo used to mean coming from two sides, a definition Wikipedia describes as: ...a method of sound reproduction that creates an illusion of multi-directional audible perspective.  And the key word there might be the word "illusion."  For aren't our stereotypes just that, illusions?  We were told to make them, we were told to accept them.  But from this point onward, the decision of whether to keep them is ours and ours alone.  And whether our vision becomes more myopic or more open might just be life changing, not only for ourselves individually but for the world as a whole.