Stereotypes and how to avoid them

                 

Stereotypes are an unfortunate part of our lives, and though we should try to avoid perpetuating these stereotypes at all costs, it is hard to escape them completely. A perfect example was seen in this year's MTV Video Music Awards. Almost everyone knows who Sofia Vergara is, mainly because she's a drop dead gorgeous Colombian woman.


Watch this clip of Sofia Vergara introducing the nominees for one of the MTV awards (forgive the terrible quality, but it was the only clip I could find....)

I understand that she has an accent, which is perfectly fine. But I think they purposely wanted her to exaggerate her accent in an effort to  play the stereotypical Hispanic woman- I guess it was supposed to be funny or maybe even sexy, but it was just irritating. At least for me, it was definitely painful to hear. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum was NPR's attempt to stay far away from stereotypes. The stations story on the fasting football player was probably one of the most memorable pieces I've seen. As we discussed in class, it really humanized Ramadan and the people who observe it. We didn't get the traditional story about people praying. Instead, we got a glimpse of a young football players decision to balance religion and sports, as well as family members at home and on the field.

During our class discussions, it has been made quite clear that efforts to increase diversity in newsrooms are failing miserably. The assumption is that Hispanics can cover Hispanics, blacks can cover blacks, etc., which is so far from the truth. As we noted in class, many second-and third-generation Hispanics can't even speak Spanish, completely breaking with the assumption that all "brown" people are the same. 

Keeping this in mind, it is important to recognize the stereotypes we carry and avoid passing these on to our children. If we try to move in this direction, maybe we can start bringing real diversity to newsrooms and the stories they produce.