What Is Gender Stereotypes?

Discussion

On question 1, it becomes clear that the majority of participants age between 18 and 25. The reason for that is the demographic inside of the university, as most students are between the ages of 17 and 23.

No matter the age, however, almost everyone believes that stereotyping, prejudices and discrimination occur on a daily basis. A reason for that may be the participant’s exposure to different cultures, religions and nationalities and their experiences within countries other than their own. Another factor that contributes to this claim is everyone’s access to the internet and the mass media, where gender stereotypes are rampant. (Plous, 2003) An experiment was done a while ago where a group of men was asked to watch some sexist

A speciation for the reason behind that is the fact that the students of VUM are at the ages where they are searching for good internship opportunities abroad, and often times have trouble receiving job offers because they do not meet the age requirements. Furthermore, people are often told they are unfit to do certain things because of their genders, as they may not fit some pre-determined roles. Research conducted in 2003 shows that women are hired for office jobs less than men, which may be caused by discrimination, biases or prejudices. (Plous, 2003) Another gender related issue are the current exposure of females to stereotypes and discriminations about their appearance. Many times what is portrayed in the mass media can have a negative effect on young girls, forcing them to begin altering their bodies to meet some unrealistic requirements set by society. (Lavin & Cash, 2001) Racial discrimination, or racism, can take many forms. The “traditional” one is the hate towards people that are different than what we are used to. However, there are also other types, such as the “modern racism”, where people view it as something wrong but still feel as though the minorities are being unfair, greedy and want too much from the government. There are also those who support racial equality but still feel a particular way about some

(Keene, 2011) For example – parents agreeing that all children should have the right to education, but at the same time not wanting their children to interact with kids from another nationality. Another form of bias that forms naturally is the so called “in-group bias”. A phenomenon that occurs extremely often and extremely fast. It is essentially the belief that out group is better than the other one, even if we do not know each other. (Plous, 2003)

Regarding participation in offensive jokes, people would rather refrain from taking part in them, while some do not mind them. A reason for that is everyone’s different type of humor – we find different things amusing and while we do not see a joke as offensive, even if it is done on our behalf, there are others who would be hurt by it. It is important to take that into consideration and always analyze our surroundings before engaging in controversial behavior.

While most avoid using words that reinforce negative stereotypes, there are those who do it. A reason for that may be the different cultures and level of context societies the participants in the questionnaire come from. While one word may be offensive to some, others may not see it as anything