(this image is not the image I would use in the revised version, its much too generic)
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun…
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head…
And in some perfumes is there more delight…
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks“.
A portion of William Shakespeare’s Famous Dark Lady Sonnets- Sonnet 130.
-using this quote is still under consideration. It is quite controversial which I like, but it is in Shakespearean English so not all people may comprehend it. Also, the rest of the poem glorifies the ‘Black Lady’ so it would be fair to say that this was taken out of context.
My inquiry has led me to interesting places and forced me to contend with interesting people with even more interesting opinions. Initially, I was out to find sources who agreed with me so when I wrote this paper, I would be able to convince the audience that I was right and this many sources support me. I tried for hours, but I could not write a compelling argument, answer my own questions or objectively present my findings with only one side of the story. So I set out, with my pen and paper, to find sources who told the other side of the story and used them in my writing to answer my question: where do stereotypes get their power from anyway?
I have found my answer to this question in one word, belief. If you simply believe a stereotype is true, you will find any means to defend that opinion. Initially it may be a healthy opinion that you have formed from experience or simply what you believe. From there it may evolve to the more ugly extremism we find today. Stereotypes and assumptions based on any criteria is only so powerful because it is actually believed and people use those assumptions to judge other people, situations and use them to make decisions everyday. For instance, if someone heard or came in contact with a stereotype and refused to believe it, the stereotype would have no hold over them. Case in point, an assumption that a man is much more intellectually inclined/academically oriented than a woman. If you simply thought it ridiculous and did not believe it, then you have no faith in that assumption, that stereotype and its implications are not included in the formation of your opinions, your decision making and your observations of men or women and their intellect. With all that in mind, I found that question “where do stereotypes get their power from anyway?” didn’t truly address the problem. We know the answer to that, people believe it, that’s why. So in an attempt to satisfy my curiosity, I added this question to my inquiry, What are the origin of stereotypes? That question did not give me the answers I thought it would. Stereotypes are extremely old, perhaps since the fifteenth century.
The definition of black before the sixteenth century included:
“Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul. … Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister …. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horrible, wicked. . . . Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment, etc.” Black was an emotionally partisan color, the handmaid and symbol of baseness and evil, a sign..of repulsion”.
You see, for these Europeans who first discovered Africans, they were puzzled, and as human beings, what you fail to understand, you hate. These ‘Negroes’ were the complete opposite of ‘white’ people, white and black, good and evil, pure and tainted. These were the very first impressions of explorers regarding Africans and for generations to come, these impressions will wreak so much havoc. Unfortunately, these stereotypes as a function of the time they lived in, were readily believed. Even the father of Literature, William Shakespeare wrote unapologetically to his black mistress regarding her features:
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”.
The rest of the poem calls his ‘Black Lady’ a goddess and professes his love to her. It however cannot be ignored that for about three quarters of the poem he seems to agree with the assessment that her features are unattractive and makes several comparisons to the features of a European woman. This poem is clearly a product of the times that Shakespeare’s lived in and the world’s assessment of African beauty at the time. Opinions such as Africans are dirty and unattractive may stem from sources like these, or even more modern sources, like the news, their portrayal really isn’t much different.
Perhaps, one may believe in the field of Literature you are permitted to write as you wish, while your portrayal isn’t necessarily accurate, it’s yours. However, in the field of science, specifically taxonomy(the science of naming) and physiology(science studying how organisms function) there were some findings that in the late sixteenth century “proved” that the was some connotation between the race of an individual and their intellect, behavior and by extension, place in the hierarchy of the world. Many Biologists at the time were probably of similar opinion but perhaps the most notable claim in scientific Racism was performed by Carl Linnaeus a Swedish Biologist in the late sixteenth century who is considered the father of taxonomy. Linnaeus is responsible for the Binomial System of Classification: a system used to name organisms by their characteristics. Just like plants and invertebrates, Linnaeus also believed he could classify human beings according to their race.
He made observations of the different races and the image above is the abridged version of his conclusions. It is interesting to note how generous he is to his own race, while the other races he seems especially harsh. He also made comparisons between the skull of a chimpanzee, an African and a European and concluded that since the shape and size of the skull of the chimpanzee and the African were nearly identical, Africans must be a “lower species” than the humans. He proposed that the African species is the intermediate step between the primitive primates such as the Chimpanzee and the polished finished product that was Europeans.
Obviously, these observations and “findings” are all a hoax. Africans are not an intermediate step or a lower species, they have simply evolved differently, changes in phenotype and morphological variation because of the environment in which they lived. But it is still interesting to see the lengths that Linnaeus went to prove that his speculations were accurate. As great a scientist as he was, he was still a product of his time, manipulating his findings to align with the assessments and beliefs of his time.
Sources as old and seemingly authentic like these are the sources that now taint today’s society with unhealthy opinions. Even though on paper(the constitution) all seems well, centuries of opinions and beliefs aren’t just going to disappear, transatlantic slave trade began in the fifteenth century and the Civil Rights Act was just passed in 1964: 56 years ago. Fifty six years is simply not enough time for everything to miraculously be alright. The Apartheid in South Africa ended officially in 1994 and the nation is still feeling its ripple effects, with some mainly black regions still struggling with poverty and Xenophobia. Mass incarcerations, racial profiling, discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, belief/religion, lack of belief/religion, country of origin, race, appearance are all social problems the modern society still grapples with. I am confident however, that things are better than they were a decade ago, or the time before that. slowly but surely, stereotypes based on race and country of origin will fade and the walls history has built will come down.
One of the stereotypes I am not so sure will fade so soon is gender stereotypes. Mary Wollstonecraft an English author in the late sixteenth century who is considered the first feminist, her groundbreaking book ‘A vindication of the Rights of a Woman’ was authored in 1792. Ironically, it is dedicated to a man: Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord a French politician and diplomat whose words inspired the authoring of ‘A vindication of the Rights of a Woman’. Périgord says:
insert quote here.
Her entire work is spent criticizing the social system at the time and asserting the importance of considering women as equals who are competent and should be independent. She says in its early chapters,
“my own sex, I hope will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures instead of flattering their fascinating graces and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone”
It is unfortunate to say that Wollstonecraft’s words are still very much relevant in today’s society. There are cultures even I am familiar with where there is still some resistance to send female children to school, where there are child brides, girls married off to much older men and have children at 16. People and places who believe that girls are accessories, not as good enough as boys and in a household where there are only female children, the wife is believed to be barren, she has failed as a wife.
The assessment that women and girls are weaker may have made some sense centuries ago when the key to survival was physical strength. On average, men are more physically stronger than women so in that time and culture, that assessment may have been correct. Fortunately, the human race is no longer in a time where brute strength is the key to survival, what is needed to survive now is intelligence, creativity, innovation and determination. None of which are more bestowed on men more than women. Why then are women still viewed as inferior? A business woman must be overly conscious of what she wears or she may not be taken seriously by her colleagues, or worse, she may be sexualized. Why does everyone but women themselves get a say in how women must dress themselves or appear in public in order to be viewed as ‘acceptable’ or ‘decent’. The truth is the society we live in is a patriarchal one. One where men will always be viewed as superior. In 1792, Wollstonecraft wrote:
(insert quote here)
Misogyny does exist, as much as some would like to deny, and it affects women everywhere everyday. Its roots, as we have seen, are equally as ancient as Scientific Racism.
Like all inquiry projects, I have been unable to find all the answers, and the answers I did find, have only led me to more questions. However, a basic knowledge has been formed. Where stereotypes come from and why they are so powerful.
The assessment that women and girls are weaker may have made some sense centuries ago when the key to survival was physical strength. On average, men are more physically stronger than women so in that time and culture, that assessment may have been correct. Fortunately, the human race is no longer in a time where brute strength is the key to survival, what is needed to survive now is intelligence, creativity, innovation and determination. None of which are more bestowed on men more than women. Why then are women still viewed as inferior? A business woman must be overly conscious of what she wears or she may not be taken seriously by her colleagues, or worse, she may be sexualized. Why does everyone but women themselves get a say in how women must dress themselves or appear in public in order to be viewed as ‘acceptable’ or ‘decent’. The truth is the society we live in is a patriarchal one. One where men will always be viewed as superior. In 1792, Wollstonecraft wrote:
“Dismissing then those pretty feminine phrases which the men condescendingly use to soften our slavish dependence and despising that weak elegance of mind, exquisite sensibility and sweet docility of manners, supposed to be the sexual characteristics of the weaker vessel, I wish to shew that elegance is far inferior to virtue “.
Misogyny does exist, as much as some would like to deny, and it affects women everywhere everyday. Its roots, as we have seen, are equally as ancient as Scientific Racism.
Like all inquiry projects, I have been unable to find all the answers, and the answers I did find, have only led me to more questions. However, a basic knowledge has been formed. Where stereotypes come from and why they are so powerful.
Shattering stereotypes, staying unorthodox. 
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