Almost everyone is familiar with the stereotype that women are worse drivers than men. Teen girls are especially criticized as being poor drivers and easily distracted. This picture shows a young girl driving while talking on the phone and putting on lipstick. While I'm sure there are female drivers that frequently drive distracted, there are probably just as many male drivers that do the same thing. If women really are as bad at driving as the stereotype suggests then how come young male drivers are the ones that have to pay the most for car insurance?
It's
a pretty widely known positive stereotype that most Asians are good at
math, and I think that this one might have some fact behind it. Some
possible explanations for this stereotype is that there are better
schools in Asia, they go to school more often/longer, or they just put
more emphasis on math. Also, languages like Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean might be set up better so that kids can understand things like
counting and fractions more easily than kids can in English. But none of
these explanations address the success of Asian-Americans with math. I
think that the main reason they tend do better is probably more
pressure to succeed coming from their parents. Regardless of why they
are better, or even whether or not they are actually better, I see it as
a positive stereotype that people assume Asian people are really good
at math.
I couldn't really think of a positive stereotype that applied to me so I decided to just go with this picture. Some positive stereotypes for white people is that they are rich, prone to be successful, and unlikely to commit crimes. In my opinion positive stereotypes can be just as bad as negative stereotypes depending on the situation.
In my opinion Jock is a negative stereotype that isn't even very accurate anymore. In movies and t.v. shows football players are always wearing their letterman jackets and they are almost always portrayed as bullies. Jocks also tend to be unintelligent, but at Monarch I think athletes break away from the stereotype because they are usually super nice and they tend to be pretty motivated academically too.
Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church heavily protested at Matthew Shepard's funeral in Casper, Wyoming on Saturday, October 17, 1998. Phelps held signs that said "No Special Laws for Fags" and even one that had a picture of Matt on it that read "Matt In Hell". Luckily, people who cared about Matthew and his family dressed up as angels and used their large wings to try to block out the hateful signs. They had ear plugs to block out yelling and they remained silent with their eyes closed or looking up at Matt in heaven.
The video I chose is an audio excerpt from "The Laramie Project." It is a dramatization of Matthew's dad giving a speech in the court room right before the sentencing of Aaron McKinney. This is a very powerful video because of both the pictures and the speech itself. Towards the end of the video Matthew's father explains his reasoning for "granting Mr. McKinney life" by not giving him the death penalty. He tells Mr. McKinney that every time he celebrates Christmas, a birthday or the 4th of July to remember that Matt isn't. He goes on to say that he will never forgive Mr. McKinney for taking his son away, and then at the end he says, "May you have a long life, and may you thank Matthew every day for it."