Blog Assignment #3

I feel that the issue of stereotype is shed on a different light in two of this week’s readings, which are “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” by Audre Lord and “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives” by Julie Bettie.

Through this week’s readings, especially on Audre Lorde’s “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” I feel that we, as individuals, are influenced to disassociate people with certain stereotypes. The Russian ice cream ad which featured Obama, on the surface, seemed to concurrently support this ideal. Although in the US black persists to be a minority, the mythical norm of "white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure” as being the best is defied by the depiction of a black man occupying one of the highest positions in the world. Through this instance, I believe that discrimination of race, age, class and sex is not an excuse for one to not be successful in life. Lorde’s statistics “As a group, women of color are the lowest paid wage earners in America,” holds race as the main reason for their mishap. However, Lorde also argues that the generalization about stereotypes is mentally created, and therefore is not something that should be blamed for calamities upon that certain group. Thus, minorities should not feel inferior to the accepted perceptions of how people should be (which might be very different from how they are), but rather are encouraged to treat adversities more as a challenge, to prove the majority’s misconceptions about them wrong (as Obama did).

Secondly, the message that stood out the most from “How Working-Class Chicas Get Working-Class Lives” is that stereotypes could spiral out to be far away from the truth. The stereotype that these Mexican “las chicas” are of higher sexual desires and less interest on education and work than white girls stems from the fact that they are less informed about things. The fact that many “las chicas” end up having babies at an early age and working class lives, the article argues, is a result of lack of information about birth control pills and college prep classes. Relating this back to the video presentation, recall the stereotype poses and signs of the white, black and Asians. Although not every person of that race performs the depicted signs, it is still what society deems common as a generalization of that race. In practice, the habits would more commonly depend on the person’s community, ideals, aspirations and etc. For example, a white kid growing up in a black neighborhood, aspiring to be a rapper would emulate the signs of the black person rather than the “white” peace signs.

“Situated knowledge” could be deemed as an impediment to seeing the world clearly. Situated knowledge is, by definition, knowledge specific to a particular situation. This involves knowledge acquired prior to any experiences, meaning that there are certain assumptions that one takes for granted. (Wikipedia, 2009). For example, many works and assumptions are based on the fact that the world is a sphere. Centuries ago scholars are as determined as today that the world is flat. Consequently, my point is that many assumptions and beliefs today are based on commonly perceived grounds “situated knowledge”, that might not be absolutely correct notions. Therefore, I believe that this “situated knowledge” might distort assumptions based on these commonly perceived ideals and hinder us from seeing the world clearly.