4 Bizarrely Specific Stereotypes You Can't Help But Notice
I don't really think stereotyping is a good thing. Negative stereotyping leads to racism and all that, and I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I think that racism is bad, and that we shouldn't have it. But that's me, I guess.
That said, I have noticed several consistent stereotypes that are completely unrelated to race. Most of them aren't even negative; they're just weird consistencies that baffle me. Consistencies like ...
#4. Women Believe in Ghosts
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I don't know everyone in the world, but 100 percent of the people I've met in my life who have admitted to a fear of ghosts have been women (I've mentioned this before). Whenever I've been told, "No, seriously, I'm not, like, a crazy person or anything, but I swear there's a ghost or a spirit in my new apartment," it's always been followed by "I am a woman." Or, you know, it would be, if people regularly announced their gender in the middle of a conversation.
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"Did you catch the premier of Smash? I have a vagina."
It's crazy, because having an irrational fear isn't specific to any one gender. I know an otherwise completely rational woman who hates frogs because she's afraid they all want to jump into her mouth, and I know an otherwise completely rational man who is terrified that old women want to give him home-cooked food. Everyone is afraid of something they have no reason to be afraid of (I myself live every day knowing that, at any minute, my toilet will explode without warning or provocation, and never stop). When it comes to the fear of ghosts, however, that's all women all day.
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"But what if this soup is haunted!?"
I want to be clear that I'm not bringing this up as a subtle way of insulting the intelligence of women. I'm not saying that more women than men believe in ghosts because they're dumber, because I'm much dumber than women, and I don't believe in ghosts. I have no idea why this trend exists. I thought it was something bizarre that only I was noticing, but according to a 2009 CBS News poll, 56 percent of women believe in ghosts, while only 38 percent of men do, and women are twice as likely as men to say that they've actually seen one.
My Best Guess:
I actually have several competing theories on this one. Maybe women are just encouraged early in life to be more open to spiritual things, while men are encouraged early in life to be more focused on practical things (it's why my girlfriend in kindergarten dressed up as a fairy for Halloween and I dressed up as a ninja). Or maybe women convince themselves to believe in ghosts so they can cast themselves as Demi Moore in the Ghost movie that they hope will happen in their lives. Or maybe ghosts are real, but they only stalk women, because they're perverts.
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"Boooooo ... oobs."
That's probably it.
#3. The More Stories You Have That Start With "I Was Hanging Out With My Cousins," the Trashier You Probably Are
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It was actually a buddy of mine who first came up with this theory, and I was shocked by how immediately I agreed with it, and how consistently I'd recognized the trend in life. I grew up in an area that always seemed to teeter between middle and lower-middle class. As is the case with most neighborhoods like that, the bordering towns and areas were upper class and slightly wealthier on one side and distinctly lower class and much shittier on the other. And I noticed without exception that, if someone started most of their anecdotes with "My cousins and I" or "I was hangin' out with my cousins" or "Down at the shack where my financially unfortunate cousins live," you could tell instantly whether they came from the wealthier neighborhood or the poorer neighborhood (especially that third one).
I will never know why this is.
I have a bunch of cousins, and I get along with them great, but I have very few stories that start with "I was partying with my cousins when ..." and neither do most of my friends.
My Best Guess:
I know a big stereotype regarding white trashy rednecks is that they're all having sex with their own cousins and siblings, but I don't know if that's related in any way. Honestly, I have no idea on this one. I don't even know if it's a common observation, because there's no way to Google it.
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#3 - Low income people don't have as much capital, social or economic, and therefore are less likely to move or to know people outside of their immediate family. I was born and raised in the same place that my father's family had been for like 100 years, and around 80% of the people who lived within 1 square mile were somehow related to us. So yeah, mine and my brother's childhood was spent hanging out with our cousins, because most of the children within walking/biking distance were our cousins and we were all around the same age and become your life long friends in addition to being family. I don't think it makes you trashy to be close friends with a cousin, no more than being close friends with your sibling. It just means you grew up with strong social ties, as opposed to more affluent people (generally) who move away from their hometowns and raise their nuclear family absent from the extended family.
ReplyI dont watch award shows, and I /still/ have next to nothing friends. lol
Replyand #1 is completely correct; ive done jack s**t, and I still think im a "writer", sad.
Damn, I gotta work on that book.
The writing thing is sooo true, I shut up now about writing, unless fanfiction counts.. I mean I don't write fanfiction that's for nerds, teens, and people who live in their mom's basement..because people will never take you seriously if you always talk about writing a book that never gets finished.
ReplyHell yeah. Its worse when youre "writing" a book where you intend it being the book which changes heaps of views: No pressure.
My guess about #3 would be that:
Reply1. Lower class people usually have more siblings, and therefore cousins.
2. Since said people have less money, they may be likely to move away from their childhood home, so cousins are closer.
3. I've noticed that in lower class areas (because of reasons 1 and 2) there's much more significance put to "blood" relationships.
All this would have the by-product of lower class people having a lot of great stories to tell about their cousins, and them wanting to tell you about them.
i have this cracked article ive been working on, its about like 7 ways to describe d.o.b.'s penis. well, i havent actually written anything down yet but i have a lot of words floating around in my head. words like 'gargantuan' 'thick' and 'not in my mothers mouth, why?'. yes, im guilty of #1
ReplyGotta say, Daniel (Mr. Daniel? Sir Daniel? Sir Daniel Ruler, Knight?) I highly respect your talent as a writer. I notice that when I'm reading certain other person's articles, I almost feel as though the person may be annoyed about the subject, or even THINK he has something to say about it, but when he actually writes, he discovers that he basically only has, "This sucks," to say, and the rest is just an attempt at humorous padding. (It's certainly padding, though.)
ReplyYou -- you have this way of -- seeming entirely interested in whatever it is you are writing, which keeps things consistently interesting.
Also, that part about not knowing how to Google it, and then the image with the lame Google search.
I laughed so hard that my already-aching sides hurt a bit more than prior to reading it.
So. . . so good job on that.
I don't talk about the epic novel I'm writing--O, wait...
ReplyAwesome article, but the 'vagina = woman and woman = vagina' thing at the beginning kind of threw me off a bit.
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesWas it a surprise to you that women have vaginas?
But what about hermaphrodites?
Joining the party, what about transwomen?
Yuppers. Not only women have vaginas, guys!
It was a joke, and while I understand that more people should be aware of hermaphrodites and transwomen being women despite not having vaginas, it was a JOKE. And as the picture was clearly one of a woman, stating that she has a vagina was considered a redundancy, not a piece of new information. Saying, "I don't have a vagina!" when we see someone we easily identify as female would be new information, or saying "I have a vagina!" when looking at someone we ID as male would also be new info. Other than that, it's a redundancy, hence the joke.I honestly shouldn't have to explain this.
Yep, I got three books I'm working on, and I can't shut up about them. How far along are they? Mostly finished character sheets, a few concept doodles, and 4000-15000 words of actual story apiece. At least I've started you say? Unfortunately, each is intended to be a series, none less than six books long. -.-;
ReplyI'm a dude, and I swear I saw my grandpa after he'd been dead over a year. I was drinking at the time so by "swear" I mean "may have dreamed it or maybe it was real." My girlfriend, on the other hand, does not. I understand that stereotypes mean "most" not "all" but I figured I'd add my data to the set anyway
ReplyI was going to write that women believe in ghosts more because they're stupid, but I now will write just to give you credit for the "Boo...ooobs" joke.
ReplyYour commenting that you find an entire half (or more) of the population "stupid" based upon their genitals while simultaneously expressing your affinity for boob-humor is just riddled with intelligence. Just riddled.
I don't have friends and I don't watch award shows...
ReplyRE: Cousins - I'd say that it's because poor, "trashy" families are more likely to live closer, to rely on each other more, to grow up more connected and to spend more time together. If you're poor, you need that support network more, and there's a sort of blood-is-thicker-than-water thing that happens in those sorts of families that bonds them together more closely. My dad grew up hanging out with his cousins, and he lived in a blue collar small town where most people were just squeaking by. I grew up in a metropolitan area, and while I LIKE my cousins, we're not super tight. It's really about family dynamics.
ReplyIt's not just ghosts. You think it's men who keep psychics, astrologers and Oprah in business?
ReplyLotta them, yeah.
#1 is true, and not just regarding writing. The more one talks about any endevour, the less likely it is one is ever going to get it done. It's as though doing it imaginatively destroys the need to do it in reality.
ReplySo very very true. As far as writing goes, actual writing isn't as hard as it is tedious. It takes a ton patience and focus. It's a slow process even when you feel like you're tearing through it and everything is flowing well. Talking about it, explaining the story, makes you not feel the need to actually put the time into doing it, because it's already out there in a way. That makes the actual writing even more tedious because you just explained the whole thing in decent detail to the few people you actually care about impressing and wanting to read it anyway. You hope it will go over huge and you'll be the next JK Rowling or Stephen King or Neil Gaiman or god forbid Stephanie Meyer, but those millions of readers are faceless and just a dream so early in the process. So you'll "eventually" get to it, but you really have no specific thing pushing you to actually do it besides a vague dream of something better than you've got right now, which may or may not be in the cards. Such is my experience anyway.
The Imaginary Feast!!!
I suspect that #3 has something to do with mobility. Poor people tend not to move far from where they grow up. Moving is expensive, and if you're working as an unskilled laborer of some sort, you probably don't have to go far to find a job in that field. If you have more money, you can afford to be more discerning in where you end up. Likewise, if you have a degree in molecular biology, there are only so many places where you can turn that into a career.
ReplyIf you and your siblings are poor and uneducated, you're all more likely to stick around when you're older, meaning that your kids and their cousins will all live in close proximity and spend time together.
It's true! My extended family lived in the same neighborhood as us growing up we even rode to school together on the bus... once my mother got a better job, we were out of that dump! ...they're still there though... and they loooove NASCAR ...sorry uncle Jimmy ;)
#1 is painfully true.
ReplyLol it's bad that I can kind of relate to #1. I tend not to bring up any of my ideas unless it comes up, but I'm bad at getting things on page in order.
Reply#3 Is valid. It's not always the case but typically less educated people with fewer prospects unfortunately tend to have more children, which often means bigger families in general and they tend to be closely knit. When you can't afford a babysitter you tend to send your kids over to a sibling or close family member's. Although having butt tons of children when you're poor and illiterate(and probably a fundamentalist of some religion or another) is an incredibly stupid idea and about the last thing the world needs.
ReplyI agree. Based on what I’ve seen, sadly, from my own family, this stereotype definitely holds up. A lot of my cousins hang out together and they are definitely less than classy. It was no surprise when the bridesmaids were wearing American flag dresses and the men were wearing Chuck Taylor’s at one of their weddings, or when they turned their car into the General from Dukes of Hazzard, Confederate flag and all. Despite the fact that they are all very intelligent, none of them have gone to college in a generation or so. Probably no incest though, so that’s good.
Yeah and reading this article while resting my head on my pillow really makes me think I need a boyfriend for pillow talk. Although, if I had a boyfriend he wouldn't listen anyway. So no, this is better, almost. ALMOST. Bitch.
ReplyWhat.