Of Sexism And Racism.
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
Stereotypes are a plague on our society and they still remain imminent on the tongues of people from all edges and ages of the Earth. Whether it be for gender, race or religion, they all disgust me. It's becoming more a problem due to social media platforms using racism and sexism as "dark humour" and it's increasingly becoming more of a problem for the youth., but my advice to you all is not to joke and mock people on stereotypes and avoid racist and sexist humour because it isn't a joke. We need to break free from these stereotypes (this is coming from someone who faces these "jokes" daily) because it's no longer okay. It never was. And if these stereotypes are what the youth are going to grow up finding funny and saying to others, then I worry for the fate of our nations
. I believe that to challenge stereotypes within the youth of our society is to get this message to parents and have more awareness to it in schools as well. Another way to challenge these stereotypes is a world wide restriction to social media platforms (such as Tiktok or Youtube and more) to children under 16 or at the least have more regulations and checks as to what people are posting online. First of all, in my experience and opinion, your parent(s) or guardian(s) are the people who make you who you are. They are also the individuals who are responsible for what you consume (information or media wise) and your attitudes/mannerisms. So in most cases, if a member of the youth has this sense of 'humour' or is positively highlighting this type of mindset, then it's a reflection of what they've been taught, shown or allowed to consume in the home setting. However, this is also down to social media companies at the end of the day (Youtube, Instagram, Tiktok etc) as it is their platform and they regulate what is and what is not allowed on their platforms and will demonetise or delete particular videos that only mildly cross their TOS's yet when certain content creators cross the line of the guidelines entirely, like my example of racism or sexism, they are still fully monetised for spreading a toxic mindset to the masses that it means more 'clicks, likes and subscribes' on the content creators works. This means more money for the creator, obviously, however the service also makes profit from of this to.
I'm sure that there are more ways to stop this insurgence of 'stereotype jokes and edgy dark humour' among the youth but this is what I thought would be the most effective. As I say, "you must cut the weeds before they grow." And to stop a corrupted, ignorant mindset from 'growing' in the minds of the youth, you must 'cut' it down from the source (in this case the home setting and social media platforms.)
However, a point to challenge gender stereotypes (as I mainly focused on how to stop racial stereotyping humour) is for people to understand that men and women both have their strengths and weaknesses. However we have to bare in mind how from person to person that in biology, mentality, mannerisms, attitudes and a lot more - how people of the same gender differ.
For example in a classroom we may all be taught the same topic, but we will all take it in, learn it and believe in it in different ways. Even if it's just the smaller differences or the bigger ones . This is an analogy for how we're all born a part of the human race, but our experiences and abilities will be the difference between you and the next person. Even from man to man, or woman to woman we're not all the same. We aren't all equal in many aspects, but we are all worth the same at the end of the day as members of our society and people. One man may be able to cook a dish that's simply exquisite, while the next couldn't cook to save his life. But the next man will have an ability or attribute the man before him wouldn't. So ,before we even begin to look into how women are treated without equality compared to men, men technically (by ability) aren't equal themselves, but by their worth they all will be the same. And the exact same can be said for women, one woman may be able to lift a heavy weight, while the next cannot do so. We all come from Earth, right? It's just like how in packets of apples, they all may be from the same tree, but they won't all be the same. But they will all still be treat as apples. The same should be for all of us humans.
So ,to conclude and to put a way of challenging stereotypes across, if we *stop* teaching our children and the younger generations to come that we judge by ability then the whole 'inequality of men and women' (and inequalities of race as well) would most likely be challenged and forced to come to a stop.
As well as between a man and another man or a woman and another woman. As the 'Declaration Of Independence' says (as written by Thomas Jefferson) - "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal..." And in the past we all know this has not been the case, or even in current times, but maybe if we all start to treat people by their worth as humans rather than the labels or abilities they have, then maybe we could challenge all stereotypes to come to an end...
Comments (5)
Hey there contemplative hurricane,
We could challenge these stereotypes that have bound our society by starting with ourselves, we need to come to the realization that we have no limits, and we can achieve all our goals whether male or female, big or small, tall or short. We should not be bound by the stereotypes that the society has placed, we should not limit ourselves just because society says we cannot do it, we should dare to dream. We should dare to be different, we should oppose these stereotypes by challenging them and proving these stereotypes wrong. As said by American politician, lawyer and television personality, Edward Irving Koch ''Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart''. We are more complex than these stereotypes and we need to prove this to the society.
This is the type of idea that I'm trying to put across! Stereotypes really are just labels that aren't really true and it's down to the person their self to define who they are. Its our actions that do that, not just our words. As you've mentioned about Edward Irving Koch - our world really is more complex than just a phrase used to classify a group of people. It's time we really do start putting these ideologies to rest and wake up our societies to the truth that these stereotypes that define us. It's who we are as people that does that.
A lot of mistakes happened in history from which we humans have learned absolutely nothing after so many years. We are still surrounded by comments in the public, black, white, woman, man... Our appearance, skin color and gender are not indicators of our values. The suit does not make the man. If we want to change the future, we need to change ourselves first and start appreciating our differences.
I agree we have not yet improved from our past mistakes as we are supposed to. We learn and study our past mistakes but never improve. We need to learn how to improve before making more huge decisions. As humans of course we will be flawed but fixing what we did by learning from our past mistakes. Once we learn to do that we will be better and stronger than ever.
I disagree with you affable_plantain, this is because though we made a lot of mistakes on the way I feel like we gotten better from our past. I believe this because if we go back there was racism and discrimination again different looking people on a higher level, but nowadays there is less racisms compared to the past so we improved for the better. So in my opinion even though bad ideas of sexism and racism are still floating around we still improved instead of learning and studying about the past and not improving.
Thank you.
In cases of law and most societal standards, I'd agree we have to some extent improved in cutting down on racism and sexism. Nowadays it's more of how our society is treating people, however it did used to include the law itself to (e.g Jim Crow Laws of America in the past.) So yes I do agree with you, but our society itself still has a lot to work on in regards of improving the mistakes of the past and racism/sexism.
Exactly! It does matter about the colour of your skin or gender - we all are different. But to that I ask, so what? It's time our societies realise they're wrong in judging us all by abilities or putting us into groups by our 'labels' like food in a supermarket. Our differences are what make us who we are, there isn't anyway to change that. But truly our worth is that we are all humans at the end of the day. Is it not?
I don't think that women should be judged by their sex or gender because sexism and gender inequality is a big problem and it is getting out of hand.And this is all happening because of media platforms like TikTok,Youtube,Instagram,Facebook and many more.Because of this,it's making women feeling insecure about their gender.Also it has a dark humour behind it and they stereotype women.Also youtubers always make fun of girl Therian,therian is when you die you become your therian animal.
i don't think you should be juged for your sex because the thing is if your are a differnt gender it dose not matter because we are all humans and we should not be racist even if we are black or white we can not be racist so we all have to stop all the bad people who are juding others because of there coulor and sex.
Hi there!
The student's perspective on sexism and racism in media, while well-intentioned, has some shortcomings. The suggestion to restrict social media for children and emphasize parental responsibility overlooks systemic influences and fails to address root causes. The analogy of individual differences within gender groups ignores systemic inequalities faced by women and marginalized communities. Additionally, the interpretation of equality overlooks the need for equity and systemic change. Overall, while acknowledging harmful effects, the perspective lacks meaningful solutions and requires a more nuanced understanding of systemic oppression to combat sexism and racism effectively.