WP3: Stereotypes & Identity

Stereotypes have been present in our world for an extremely long time. Why? Because our brains like to box things up neatly in categories in order to organize all of the infinite amounts of information that is fed to us, surrounds us, and affects us. While this is handy to the wiring of our brains, it’s less handy to the development of our society. As individuals who all try to live together functionally, it’s key to be able to feel safe in who we are and how we present ourselves to the people around us. Stereotypes, however, create an environment where this safety is not present, passing judgement assigned to these categories on aspects of people’s identity before they even get a chance to express themselves. Most of us are aware of this predicament. I like to think that I’m hyper aware of how it affects my interactions with others, my view on the world around me, and how other people treat me. Throughout my life and my research for this paper, I ended up finding not only are these stereotypes bad for our communities in general, but the reason they are is because of their intense implications on mental health. The constant barrage of completely inaccurate expectations on certain aspects of individuals is mentally exhausting to deal with, and in today’s society, has become the norm. It is reducing the safety we feel with one another in regards to our securities within ourselves. In my own experience, I’ve found the areas where stereotypes impact me most are my body, my gender, and my sexuality. While I understand there are many more areas that people have had stereotypes pressed upon, in this particular essay I will be focusing on my own big three, and discussing them in detail alongside research. The presence of societal stereotypes on parts of an individual’s identity does not allow anyone to safely express that identity because of the harm done in the process.

When it comes to the physical body, mere perception of your size and shape seemingly and inherently connects a value to you, whether it be good or bad, accurate or not. On social media, those who tend to become famous or popular are slim individuals with muscle tone, curves, and aesthetically pleasing faces. TikTok is dominated by dancing bikini-clad models, Instagram runs off of people like Kylie and Kendall Jenner, and Snapchat promotes content from the very same people who rule the other platforms. But social media is the definition of taking something at face value. In one of my posts on Medium, titled “Yet Another Opinion on Social Media” I discussed the implications of these surface level observations of physical appearance: “What makes it worse is the fact they’re just images — they don’t have backstory, or context. A picture posted… doesn’t necessarily share that [someone] is dealing with serious eating disorders, or that maybe [their] mental health is also taking a hit from being expected to look a certain way” (Kohl). The normalization of accepting such things at face value has created a toxic environment where stereotypes are welcomed and permanently attached to each individual. The “perfect” bodies described earlier are seen as the most valuable, while say more “average” or “bigger” bodies are less so.

Societal expectations based around bodies that are not the norm in the human population create stigma around weight and body image that are only harmful. Our perceived value of ourselves based on these stereotypes or labels take big hits on mental health, digging deep holes of insecurity into the hearts of those who are susceptible, which in today’s world is almost everyone. In a meta-analysis done in 2020 by Christine Emmer, Michael Bosnjak, and Jutta Mata, they studied 59,172 participants to discuss the possible correlation between these topics. They found that “body weight was a significant moderator, indicating a stronger association between weight stigma and diminished mental health with increasing body mass index.” The stereotypes around larger body types and their lack of visibility on social media is to blame. Since the promoted bodies we see on social media are the ones seen as superficially attractive and “perfect”, there is an inherent insecurity around those who don’t share the same body types. Higher body mass index (BMI) is usually an indicator of what would be called a “bigger” body, but BMI doesn’t always accurately tell much about your health or what you look like. The fact that this study found individuals with higher BMI experiencing mental health issues when it came to weight only proves the point that it’s only stigma that affects perception of weight. This is seen again in a study by Vilma Lankinen, Sari Frojd, Mauri Marttunen, and Rittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino in Finland, looking at 2,775 adolescents: “Results: In multivariate analyses perceived overweight, not actual weight, was significantly associated with higher risk of self-reported depression.” In the same way as before, these mental health issues are a result of societal norms. Rather than being worried about their actual weight, teens are more affected by what they think is wrong, according to stereotypes. The bodies that we put on a pedestal create an unrealistic environment where these expectations are enforced, and not in a good way. We all know there’s nothing wrong with ourselves as long as we’re healthy, so in order to combat these negative health effects and normalize the truly normal bodies, a change in societal expectations is needed.

However, the worst part is that no matter what you look like, society will always manage to find a problem, even further reducing your ability of self expression. In my own experience, growing up in an extremely wealthy, white, and fitness-driven town, most of the girls my age had those types of “perfect” bodies. Whether it was out of jealousy or not, kids in our high school always had something to say about them: critiques, snarky comments, and just straight up trash talk. I’ve always been extremely skinny, a result of genetics and a heart disorder, and while hypothetically I’m within the range of the thinner bodies society allegedly desires, suddenly it’s “too much.” All through middle school I got constantly asked, to my face, if I had an eating disorder. “Are you anorexic?” strangers would ask me, “Do I need to get you help?” No, I didn’t have anorexia and no, I didn’t need help, but even though friends “would kill” to have my body, alas, there was still no winning. In response to these comments, I tried to gain weight. I ate multiple meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, overeating to the point of discomfort, and while now at this point of my life I’ve filled out a little more, I was never really successful in putting the pounds on that I wanted and tried to back then. No matter your body, small, big, ideal or not, society has created this endless critique and expectation that is detrimental to everyone. Only a small percentage of individuals will ever be seen as anything close to “perfect”, and at the cost of mental health to everyone else. With insecurities about bodies, people can’t wear what they want, express themselves, or put themselves out there without feeling stressed and uncomfortable. This is exactly what we should avoid, because as stated before, having this type of environment is not conducive to society as a whole.

The next part is the gender stereotypes of women — these stereotypes are created and implemented by society through a multitude of sources. The most notable ones include the damsel in distress trope, women being weak or helpless, and women being only sexual objects. These stigmas are pushed through movies, TV shows, and social media. The documentary Miss Representation, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, was a project made to analyze the role of women in the cinema world, breaking down the extreme underrepresentation of women on screen, and in leadership positions globally. It goes further to break down the roles of women in movies as well, finding that “only 16% of women are the protagonists in movies.” (Miss). This, along with the trend of sexualizing women in movies and TV shows, minimizes the value of women to all who view the show, especially when it’s on such a large scale. Similar to the argument made about the expectations on body types being a result of widespread exposure to certain bodies on social media, the extended view of women being mere objects on the screen causes societal expectations to arise in the real world. Same can be said for kids being raised on the Disney animations that constantly repeat the scene of the prince saving the princess who can’t help herself — it just reinforces this stigma. The effects of these stereotypes being ingrained in society’s head is prevalent.

These effects greatly impact women’s ability to succeed in the real world, and limits their capabilities compared to what they could truly do. As we all know, women are paid less, taken less seriously, and often dominated by men in the workplace. According to the UN Women Association, “As of 1 September 2021, there are 26 women serving as Heads of State and/or Government in 24 countries [out of 196]. At the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years.” There is no reason for this to be the case except for the perpetuation of these stereotypes causing women to be seen as inferior to men. The continued marginalization of women restricts them from reaching their full potential in how they can use themselves to positively impact this world, which I believe is a form of hindering who they are. Some women are meant to lead, some women have ideas that formed close to their heart that will change the world, but it will never happen because of this societal breakdown. It’s not only the outside pressure of the stigmas, though. The constant message from these sources also causes internalized obstacles that serve as more barriers in girls’ attempts to be themselves. An article about body image done by the US Department of Health’s Office on Women’s Health states: “In the United States, girls and women hear and see messages about how they look from the first moments they are alive, throughout much of their childhood, and into adulthood. Young girls and teens are more likely to be praised for how they look than for their thoughts or actions.” If someone only seems to have any value based on their appearance, it can be almost impossible to persevere in ways regarding their actions or ideas if they’re never validated for it. If women were allowed to speak up and be a leader, being confident in who they are and what they were capable of, it would inspire other women to do the same thing and break the cycle — and while we’re making progress, we have a long way to go.

I have found that in my personal experience, being a woman has caused me to have to change who I am in order to be taken seriously in this world. Throughout high school, I always put all my time and effort into school, and where the valedictorian and salutatorian, both males, were praised for their hard work and intelligence, I always got quips and comments about being a “try-hard” or a “teacher’s pet” rather than being validated for my effort. Whenever I spoke passionately about women’s rights and lobbying in my government class I got exasperated sighs and rolled eyes from the guys, and when a male history teacher asked me to stop participating as much in class, it kind of dampened my overall excitement to do well in school. I still tried, but I turned to being quiet about it rather than being proud of my achievements. Now, I’m technically a woman in STEM. I get a lot of jokes about this on a weekly basis, and I understand they’re just jokes, but since most of them come from the male population repetitively, it’s hard to not take some of it to heart. Especially when telling people at the beginning of the year that I was on the premed track, so many would bring up how the men were going to eat me up like sharks in med school. Again, this made me try to stop talking too much about my major and my plans, even though the world is making bounds to even out the playing field in terms of gender in STEM fields. But as someone who holds education and intelligence very close to the core of my identity, this was a big deal to try to silence myself in high school and now college. I felt, and still feel, like I was losing a part of myself in my inability to express my passions, and I know other girls feel the same way, whether it’s about education, their body, or whatever else.

The last part I wanted to discuss is stereotypes based around sexuality — in the same way many sources create stigmas around gender, they also create unrealistic stereotypes about the many different sexualities. It can be really hard to come out and label yourself a certain way to the public due to these stereotypes. Many sources portray gay men as extremely feminine and “girly,” while often portrating lesbians as masculine and brute-ish. These are both the extreme ends, whereas being gay, or straight, has a spectrum of how you express and carry yourself. This separated view of LGBTQ+ individuals causes other people outside of the group to assume or not believe a person’s sexuality based on these stereotypes, again creating an unsafe environment for individuals to express themselves. This is especially important when it comes to different sexualities, due to their long history of conflicts and lack of acceptance. Bisexuals and pansexuals usually have to deal with people making jokes about the threesome trope, assuming that just becasue they are attracted to both or all genders, respectively, that they would automatically consent to such acts. Non-binary folks deal with people not respecting their pronouns or how they identify. Asexuals deal with constant questioning about why their sex drives don’t function like everyone else’s. The list goes on and on. The constant barrage again of these expectations and stereotypes are incredibly exhausting to these individuals, myself included. In a study done by David M. Fergusson, John Horwood, and Annette L. Beautrais, following a birth cohort in New Zealand to the age of 21, they found that “gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people were at increased risks of major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, nicotine dependence, other substance abuse and/or dependence, multiple disorders, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.” This illustrates the toxic world created by stereotypes hurting LGBTQ+ folks, and very clearly does not create a place where their identity can be shown and heard. We’ve all experienced it in one way or another.

I have found that talking about my sexuality has caused judgment and jokes to be made to me, and it does create insecurities in expressing myself. As I’ve written one of my Medium posts about the differences in reception upon two slightly similar labels of sexuality, I do technically identify as pansexual. However, I’ve found that expressing myself as pansexual has a lot more negative feedback than the more widely accepted bisexual, which I orginally identified with and now tell new people to avoid the negativity. When I have said pansexual in the past, I usually get the same three responses: The first, the most acceptable one is “What does that mean?”, the second being “Haha, so you’ll have sex with anything?” and the third, “Does that mean you’re attracted to inanimate objects?” This last one is said with a negative connotation, referring to the prefix of “pan” being a literal steel kitchenware. While the jokes are meant to be jokes, as mentioned before in the gender argument, when they’re made all the time and by the same people, it isn’t funny anymore. Instead I feel insecure expressing my sexual idenity, and avoid talking about it with new people or aquaintances at all costs. Even labeling myself as bisexual, I still dealt with the threesome quips almost every time it came up. There’s no winning for us. The problem is that my sexuality is a massive part of who I am, and I feel like others do not know me personally without understanding that part of me, so these judgments and stereotypes extremely limit my own self expression and suffocate my identity. I’m not alone in this, and the abolishment of unrealistic expectations regarding our identity is the only way to begin to fix it.

Between these three parts of my identity, stereotypes run rampant, negatively affecting me and other people who are also a part of these communities. I will reiterate again and again that the presence of societal expectations creates unsafe environments for genuine self expression and showing of identity. Nowadays, there’s not much blatant discrimination against these parts of oursleves, but rather the microaggresions as a result of stigmas around body image, gender, sexuality, and more. These are even harder to combat, because it is not easy to target a million small things done by everyone compared to targeting an issue with a single root. Overall, until we have a space where we can all safely self-express without implications on mental health, society will continue to have conflict within its populace. One of my anonymous interviewees for my WP2 about physical appearance and mental health put it nicely: “I think self expression is a very powerful form of identification, but how you look… [is associated with] stereotypes that we’ve learned [and] influences how we think that person acts or who they are.” In order to keep this form of identification accurate and comfortable is to reduce these stereotypes, but it all has to start with us.

Works Cited:

“Body Image.” Body Image | Office on Women’s Health, 27 Mar. 2018, https://www.womenshealth.gov/mental-health/body-image-and-mental-health/body-image.

David M. Fergusson, PhD. “Is Sexual Orientation Related to Mental Health Problems and Suicidality in Young People?” Archives of General Psychiatry, JAMA Network, 1 Oct. 1999, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/205418.

Emmer, Christine, et al. “The Association between Weight Stigma and Mental Health: A Meta‐Analysis: Done in 2020.” Uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com, https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_proquest_journals_2322969175&context=PC&vid=01USC_INST%3A01USC&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Primo+Central&tab=Everything&query=any%2Ccontains%2Cweight+and+mental+health&sortby=rank&facet=rtype%2Cinclude%2Carticles&mode=advanced.

“Facts and Figures: Women’s Leadership and Political Participation.” UN Women, https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures.

Kohl, Shayna. “Post #5: Yet Another Opinion on Social Media.” Medium, Medium, 21 Nov. 2021, https://medium.com/@skohl_12779/post-5-yet-another-opinion-on-social-media-3b366411679.

Kohl, Shayna. “WP2.” YouTube, YouTube, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/?gl=ES.

Lankinen, Vilma, and Sari Frojd. “Perceived Rather than Actual Overweight Is Associated with Mental Health Problems in Adolescence.” Uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com, https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1963275693&context=PC&vid=01USC_INST%3A01USC&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Primo+Central&tab=Everything&query=any%2Ccontains%2Cweight+and+mental+health&sortby=rank&facet=rtype%2Cinclude%2Carticles&mode=advanced&offset=20.

Newsom, Jennifer Siebel, director. Miss Representation. Girls’ Club Entertainment, Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.