Truth Spoke in Whispers: Stereotyping
(I’m just an
ordinary person who has grown weary. Although I don’t intend too, there are times
when I do offend people. There are times when being “nice” doesn’t work. I am
not going to shout or make a loud fuss. I’m just going to put my thoughts out “here”
- truth spoke in whispers – gently, quietly, simply. Because I can’t keep
quiet, the cost to my soul is too high).
People
on Facebook are talking about the Hulu show “Rev” about a Vicar in the Church
of England. I haven’t seen the show but
I suspect what makes it good is how the Rev portrays a Rev. Admittedly, except
for the Vicar of Dibley, I tend to cringe every time a “Christian” is portrayed
on television or in a movie. I know
their lines before they are spoken. And they aren’t phrases I say as a member
of the clergy. There is a readily recognizable set of characteristics, or
stereotypes, that identify a Christian.
Stereotyping
offers a portrait of a group of people with characteristics that limit, diminish
or belittle the group or exaggerate qualities. Stereotyping is similar, but not exactly the
same as prejudice, in part because prejudice is about our emotions, it’s
affective, while stereotyping is cognitive, it’s like making a list and may not
provoke or invoke emotion.
Some
researchers indicate that stereotyping may actually be a “good” thing. People
stereotype in order to group physical and/or social aspects of their
surroundings into categories, because it is easier for them to understand their
surroundings in smaller parts than in its entirety.[i]
According to Wikipedia, stereotyping can have
positive and negative social consequences. On a positive note, stereotyping
allows individuals to acquire an understanding for those for whom they possess
little or no individuating information. The downside to stereotyping is that
over time, some victims of negative stereotypes display self-fulfilling
prophecy behavior, in which they assume that the stereotype represents norms to
imitate. Other negative effects may include forming inaccurate opinions of
people, scapegoating, and erroneous judgmentalism, thus preventing emotional
identification and causing undo distress, and impaired performance.” [ii]
I
wonder why it is that people feel the need to group people into categories of
“characteristics.” Are we so overwhelmed by the diversity of the world that we need
to clump our reality into sound bites and short lists of behavior? Is not
stereotyping typically employed to diminish or belittle another?
Admittedly,
the Christian stereotypes are an accurate portrayal of some Christians. So, who
then is diminished or belittled? The one who gets hurt may not be those stereotyped
(Christian clergy), but the rest of us, those who fit the group (ordained) but
not the stereotype (narrow view of God and humanity).
Stereotyping
begins in our earliest years. Parents who attempt to raise their children
without stereotypical reinforcement soon discover that their children pick up
on the stereotypes for girls and boys anyway.
Researchers Dr. Kathleen Moritz Rudasill and Dr. Carolyn
M. Callahan reported this in article on the website “Education.com:”
“However, despite efforts by us (including our husbands) to model androgyny in our behaviors at home, our daughters still managed to absorb societal beliefs of what is for “girls” and what is for “boys.” For example, when Kathy asked her daughter what she wanted to be as a grown-up, she said she wanted to be a nurse. When asked why, she said “because I’m a girl.” What a logical conclusion – every time she has gone to the doctor, her nurse has been female. And virtually every doctor has been male. You can bet that the very next thing Kathy did was search for a female doctor and a male nurse! We began to wonder why these beliefs continue to be so pervasive and what effects they were having on Kathy’s daughter, Carolyn’s daughter, other girls, and young women as they form their career goals. And, more importantly, what can we do to counter these effects?”[iii]
I
celebrate that progressive women and men, clergy, and Christians, are coming
together and raising our voices. We are finally getting media attention. Our
voices are making a dent in the media portrait of the stereotypical Christian
persona, values, and beliefs.
My
concern today is that those of us who have been cast into molds by
stereotypical characteristics will now do the same thing to others. As a
Christian I lament the way people of my faith are portrayed in the media and
onscreen. As a woman I know the confines of being stereotyped because I am: white;
married; have children; a priest; a feminist.
No
doubt many men are squeezed into stereotypes. My husband often hears me sigh
and state my dismay with resigned disgust whenever another middle aged white
guy “wins” the contest or is “called” to the position or is “elected by the
American people.” We Americans like our white men. (and there's nothing wrong with that, per se).
No
doubt white men in America have held privileged status for hundreds of years. That
is a reality not a stereotype. However I have recently read articles written by
smart, articulate women whom I admire, that have inverted stereotypes used to
demean women and applied them to men. I have read on a variety of social media
intelligent, sensitive women who would never deride a person because of their
race, ethnicity, religion or gender, stereotype men in derogatory ways.
My
plea today is to women, in particular clergy women, and to progressive
Christians in general. As women it is not useful for us to do to others what
has been done to us. Centuries of having our wisdom belittled, our sexuality
degraded, our autonomy diminished, our skills derided, our gender repressed
from full autonomy and used to prevent us from living into our full calling, should
be enough to propel every one of us to rise above the slum of disrespect and
model integrity and dignity for all.
So
let’s call people on their inappropriate behavior. Let’s name racism, sexism,
genderism, or whatever “ ‘ism” for what it is – wrong. Let’s just not call it
out by inverting the inappropriate phrases used against us (women, Christians, etc.) and
propelling it against others.
Let’s talk
about issues and behavior - what is appropriate
and what is not. But let's do it with dignity for ourselves and others.
The baptismal covenant in the Episcopal Church asks this of
me, (of Episcopalians), to respect the dignity of every human being. As a
Christian, as a woman, as a priest, I have promised, with God’s help, to seek
and serve Christ in everyone. I understand this promise as one in which we
learn to name what is inappropriate and unjust without stereotyping, diminishing,
or demeaning any human being, individual or group.
[i] (Tajfel, H.
(1981). Social stereotypes and social groups. In J. C. Turner & H. Giles
(Eds.). Intergroup behaviour (pp. 144-167). Oxford: Blackwell)
[iii]
http://www.education.com/reference/article/RefParenting_Gender/ By Dr. Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Dr. Carolyn M.
Callahan;
Comments
i did challenge the congregation (i think) this past week as i talked about Jesus calling the woman a "dog" and then reminded folks, we use other words to distance to hurt to shut up the perceived interruptions... usually words that speak to someone's political affiliation; nationality or sexuality. *sigh*
i was not pelted with rotting vegetables while in the pulpit... (whew!)