I never really knew much about race and gender in the media, but now I feel like I could go and teach a class about it. That's a little exaggeration on my part, but that's how much I learned in just this class alone.
One of my favorite parts of the class that I found interesting was the Asian American section and how they are the model minority. I never had any knowledge of this before and really never thought about it before this class. After we discussed it, I thought about the real world and how when it comes to a minority being the most "white" or being the most appropriate to interracially date/marry, Asian Americans stereotypically fit that category. For instance, I have noticed that people don't look down upon a couple when it is an Asian American male or female dating a white male or female, but when the scenario is a black male or female dating a white male or female it is just SO much different in some people's eyes. I don't really get it, minority is minority. Why is one looked down upon and the other isn't? What criteria makes one race or gender so much better than the other?
From the beginning of class, Professor Flippin-Wynn has talked to us about our toolboxes and what we have in our own. In the beginning I didn't really get the concept, but now I feel like there is tons in that little bitty toolbox. When we graduate and become professionals, we need to be able to handle situations that we deal with topics like stereotypes within the office. My group did a project on women and stereotypes within the workplace. We thought this was a great issue to discuss since we are all women and "might" have to deal with this in the future whether it be a circumstance where a man is making more money for the same job that we are doing or whether it be us or a co-worker being sexually harassed. People all over the world deal with these kinds of things all the time, and we really don't know the extent of it until we are actually out there in the workplace.
I really enjoyed the way we never tried to make each other feel pity for one another; rather we just wanted people to understand how we have been affected by our race or gender throughout our lives. Sometimes I feel like conversations about race and gender can turn into one big pity party, but this class was never like that and I really respect my fellow classmates for that. All kinds of races and genders throughout history have had awful things happen to them and their ancestors so we are all in the same boat. We are all human beings.
One day soon I will be a PR professional and I hope that some of the knowledge that I have from this class will help me deal with certain situations in the future.
Finally, I just want to touch on the topic of white privilege, which was one of the first things we discussed in the class. This was another one of those things that I had no clue about or maybe I was just oblivious to before. I see "white privilege" all around me now in everyday life and even with the model minority sometimes. I know many minorities that are smarter and more professional than some white people I know. When was it decided that "white people" would be the privileged ones? Doesn't made much sense to me.
I guess what I really learned in this class was that a lot of things about this world don't make sense are can be really aggravating when you think about it. Unfortunately the world isn't perfect and people aren't perfect so there probably won't ever be a day without stereotyping or judgment. No matter how hard we try I feel like we still find a way to judge others. I'll stop my preaching now, but I really enjoyed this class and all of the things that I can now say will be added to my toolbox.
I hope you guys have a great rest of the year and summer!
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