Stereotyping: Working Both Ends of the Spectrum

by www.adamsacks.com

Every society has different impressions and views on various ethnic minorities. When magnified, the discrimination or the tolerance of an ethnic minority in a particular society is traced back to the essentialist view of language, economic, culture or custom, and environment, resulting in stereotyping which is then circulated and reproduced by the media through their representations of the ethnic minorities. However, the term stereotyping need not be a negative discourse. The outcome of stereotyping can turn an ethnic minority in a particular society into social pariahs or, at the other end of the spectrum, turn another into a socially desirable group. To exemplify what I meant, I'll use a blog by a Singapore celebrity writer, Holly Aroozoo, to illustrate the reinforcement of an essentialist view of two ethnic minorities in Singapore, showing you how stereotyping can work at both ends of the spectrum.

So I've already mentioned that stereotyping can work to the advantage of some ethnic minorities but against other ethnic minorities. How?? For example, society generally gauges the education of an ethnic minority by the language they speak right? That means that society regard English speaking ethnic groups as more educated than non-English speaking groups, though technically that's erroneous. Society also generally gauges the social and cultural status of an ethnic minority by their ideologies, hence 'ranking' their social standing in comparison to the 'majority' group. Society judges the wealth of an ethnic minority by the economy of their motherland and their visible material possessions, again working to the advantage of some ethnic minorities and to the disadvantage of others. These traits can be seen in Holly's blog post titled Banglah Hits On ME ???!!!!, which basically narrates about an incident when a Bangladeshi who was interested in her sneakily took down her contact details as she was filling in a lucky draw form, and contacted her later. Holly makes it clear that she was annoyed and appalled by that act, not because of fear for her safety as she doesn't “think he's any danger”, but because a low socio-class Bangladeshi, presumably, a construction worker had the audacity to assume that he'd stand a chance with her. She adds that she was insulted by the attention she got from the Bangladeshi “who hardly speaks english, smells of 3 day old sweat, holds other Bangla men's hands.” In a sentence, Holly has judgementally represented an ethnic minority based on her essentialist view of their language, wealth and culture. In the post, she also comments that Bangladeshis “always have a knack for walking too close by, staring as if they've never seen women before or getting in your personal space”, negatively stereotyping Bangladeshis while ignoring the fact that this could easily describe any man wooing a woman or vice versa. 

At the other end of the spectrum, Holly's blog posts titled Multi-national Couple Trend and White Men Can't Jump. Well, Neither Can I., portrayed a stereotype of another ethic minority in Singapore- the Caucasians, but this time in a positive light. The term Caucasian is used to replace specific Caucasian ethnic minority because a) the ethnicity of the men in the posts was not specified by the blogger, and b) the Caucasian race in Singapore per se, even with all the Caucasian ethnic minorities coalesced, is still a minority group. In Multi-national Couple Trend, she credits Caucasian men for being persistent when they are wooing Asian women as the author puts it, “pursue them left and right”, unlike Asian men who falter around women “they perceive as even remotely possibly maybe out of their league” and therefor it's comprehensible “that these women would date White men, because they’re not pursued by any promising candidates from the Asian race.” Holly also added that Asian women who have evolved out of their traditional culture, and become “less appealing to the typical Asian man”, will still be palatable to Caucasian men. These are very contradicting views of courtship to the one involving the Bangladeshi. She's presenting a favourable view on the persistence of Caucasian men yet was put off by the attention she got from the Bangladeshi.

by www.guardian.co.uk

 The two ethnic minorities have been stereotyped based on Holly's essentialist way of thinking. The essentialist view deployed in those posts suggests that the Bangladeshis' contemptible standing on the social ladder is justified by their lack of hygiene, occupation, incomprehensible culture (Bangladeshi men hold each other's hands as a sign of close-knit friendship and sticking together), and their incapability to speak good English, hence not suitable for successful and beautiful Asian women such as herself.

by www.nomad4ever.com

 On the other hand, Holly commented that most “white men” converse in English well, an indication that they're befitting companions of articulate Asian women. She also stated that Caucasian men have a “more imposing size” physically, are “different” “yet compatible”, are chivalrous, and “tend to be more experience” unlike their Asian counterpart who “tend to still be latched on and suckling on their mother's teat.” What we've seen so far are mere stereotypes of Bangladeshis and Caucasians portrayed through Holly's understanding of the socially constructed reality (and judging by the blog's high readership, that view is circulated and shared widely with the rest of the nation, or even the world). More importantly, the portrayal of stereotypes has worked differently for the two minority groups. And as we've seen, the stereotype of Bangladeshis has demean and de-value their social standing in the Singaporean society making them social pariahs, whereas the stereotype of Caucasians portrays an attractive embraceable ideology, making them a desirable social group in that society.

by www.guidemesingapore.com

Thus, stereotyping doesn't just surround unfavourable portrayals but it can also positively depict an ethnic minority. This reflects that stereotype need not be consented as a bad thing, as the term stereotype can be used as a neutral discourse. Regardless, how warped or pleasant the society's essentialist view of an ethnic minority is, stereotyping can work at both ends of the spectrum.