Com(m)unicate - Vol VI Issue I by Guzman Julio

Vol VI, Issue I Com(m)unícate is a bilingual publication dedicated to sharing student voice and writing of Colegio Nueva Granada. Editors

Copy Editor

Adelaida Lopez Sergio Lozano

Michelle Akerman

Layout and Design Editor

Writers

Natalia Acero

Design Team and Artists Juanita Cure Luz Perez Stella Hur Natalia Acero

Special Thanks to

Ms. Kaun Mr. Tangen Dr. Carriazo Mr. Guzman Julio Mr. Burgos Publications Department

Sofía Z. Maria Fernanda G. Silvana J. Paulina R. Laura A. Isabela P. Paula A. Ju Young S. Natalia R. Natalia M. Verónica A. María T. June L. Andrea A. Joo Hyun P. Gabriel T. Isabela V. Printed by Cima Impresores E.U. January 2017

Table Of Contents of Stereotypes 1 Victims Maria Fernanda G., Sofía Z.

of Stereotypes 2 Victims Pt.2 Sofía Z.

Not 5 Colombia Columbia Isabela P.

of People 6 Stereotypes With Disabilities Silvana J.

17 Años de Vida... 17 Años de Guerra Isabela V.

Climate Profile: 9 School Miss. Alice Pettway Laura A.

is For Boys, Pink Is 12Blue For Girls June L.

Need for Stereotypes 13 The Paulina R. Sick is Not 15 Being Masculine Paula A.

Stereotype 17 Printing Ju Young S. Questions With Ms. 19 10 Blesgraeft Natalia M.

Stereotypes 21 Colombian Gabriel T. Is Your 23 What Stereotype? Natalia R.

Disney Princesses 25 The Joo Hyun P., Andrea A.

Editor’s Note The word stereotype comes from the Greek stereos, which means “firm”, and typos, which means impression, thus as a whole referring to a firm impression on an idea. As you will read in one of our articles, however, the term was previously used to refer to a copy of a plate that was used for printing, to avoid using the original. It was then used during the mid-nineteenth century to refer to the idea of “an image perpetuated without change,” and eventually, in the early twentieth century, it was given its current meaning. Stereotypes are seen today as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” This is the idea that we try to convey in our articles. Often, stereotypes can be interpreted depending on their connotations. For this issue, we selected “Stereotypes” as our theme because we believe stereotypes are some of the main cleavages in our school. As a school magazine that tries to use student voices to generate informed discussion, Com(m)unícate felt the duty to choose a theme that can shed a light on issues the student body is facing. Most of our articles tackle one or more stereotype that has had a direct effect on a large percentage of our school population. By sharing personal experiences, we are proactively voicing our concerns on the matter.

By Maria Fernanda G., Sofía Z.

Victims of ...

Victim A

In the past years, Victim A has repeatedly heard the stereotype of how short people can’t do most of the things tall or average height people can do. This victim has proudly been able to prove most of those comments wrong. Sometimes she would feel excluded just because of her height, until she decided to block all comments that would affect her in any way. During her day to day life she shared with us how she has been able to achieve a lot of things like: Jump over the net in volleyball, or in ballet have the longest extensions, making her look taller, with elongated hands and longer fingers. She has become quite impressed on how equal we are when it comes to heights, nationalities, and cultures. There is one thing that she got out of this experience and it’s to listen. Listen to those who do you right but don’t ignore those who do you wrong.

Victim B

Luca Ferracuti, another victim of stereotypes, has had the experience of listening to people say how because he is Brazilian, he is lazy and never works well in group projects. As an individual, he has had the chance to not only put aside those comments but to let people know that culture has nothing to do with people’s way of being. Where we come from doesn’t make us who we are, it only make us stronger, which is why he works well in groups, and is responsible with everything. He believes that we shouldn’t be affected by what other people think about us, as long as we have our own trust and our own abilities to do what we think is right for us.

1 6

...Stereotypes

By Sofía Z.

Victim C

Stereotypes: a set idea that people have about what As I was interviewing one of my teachers here in someone or something is like, especially an idea that the CNG campus, I asked her if she had ever been a is wrong. victim of stereotypes and she replied, “Yes, I have”. She explained to me that when people spoke to her Are they good? Are they bad? Do they affect you? in Spanish and she didn’t completely understand Does the way you use them affect someone? Names, or know how to respond back, she thought that the assumptions without knowing someone, exclusion… person she was talking to was assuming that she was are things that hurt people. being ignorant in some way for not understanding, or responding to what they were talking about. Language I wanted to be face to face with someone that really has somewhat broken our society apart but in many had been affected by this idea. I am not going to reveal ways has helped us reconstruct our trust with each his identity, so I am going to call him Victim X. other. Com(m)unícate: How did stereotypes In our society there is only one question left to answer: affect you? How can we stop labeling people?

Victim X: I think that gender is a stereotype because the fact that you are a girl or a boy is already a very poor definition of who you are. Society begins to expect a lot of things from every individual. In my case, when I was growing up, for example, boys were expected to play soccer, and if you wouldn’t do it, then your masculinity started to be questioned. At the age of 15 or 16 years old, boys were expected to have “girl crushes”, or started to have girlfriends, because once again, if you wouldn’t do it, then society would question your sexuality. Society assumes that all men don’t have feelings, that they won’t cry under any circumstances. Showing yourself as weak would be wrong for the personality that a man should have. That stereotype affected me in my teenage years the same way it affects many teenagers today who think and believe in stereotypes and therefore follow them making them lose their own values and identity. Stereotypes are like a wall that prevent those who follow them to be truly themselves by making them follow the same pattern as the rest and give in what makes them unique to be accepted by society. This is very bad because you lose the things that make you unique. You lose your identity.

2 7

When I was able to break from one stereotype, I found another right in front of me. When I came out of the closet, I thought that everything was going to be over, and everything was going to be easier, but what was curious was that gays had their own stereotypes. Things like “gays are best friends with girls because they are good at fashion” or “gays do all the things that girls do” or “gays are artists, and so they can’t work in tough jobs” heated me as a wave that didn’t let me breath. This is very funny because I got free from one stereotype, and now, there is another one coming after me. It is like a war against society that never ends. This makes it more difficult to be yourself and the person you want to be. Gender shouldn’t define your individual identity. Com(m)unícate: make you feel?

How

did

Surprisingly, inside the “gay world”, there is a lot of sexism. In fact, gays are more socially accepted than lesbians. It’s funny because it has been a challenge among the Gay community to hide their feminine, or delicate side, so they can cancel the stereotype. In some ways, this can be frustrating, but at the same time being conscious about the stereotype makes you feel free, and it helps you understand that you are how you want to be, and if you don’t apply the stereotype, it is not your problem.

Com(m)unícate: In what places have you stereotypes been excluded?

Victim X: For me, that I am very conscious about stereotypes, it has been a fight, a rebellion. Everyone is very impressed that I talk about my sexuality in a very open way, but it is the way I express myself. When I was very young, I suffered a lot because I couldn’t be like the rest, because if I was, I wouldn’t feel like the person that I knew I was.. I felt very frustrated while I was growing up, and I began questioning my being. Am I a good individual? Am I good enough? For some reason, I felt guilty with myself. While I saw my friends happy and good with themselves, I knew I was missing something, so that was the moment that I started accepting myself as an individual.

I began to challenge those stereotypes, and I had to do it in many spaces (at work, in my personal interactions, etc).

Victim X: I really feel like the school is a space where I can be the person and the teacher that I am, and in some way, it has become a very nice aspect because students come to me and tell me that they like the way I teach, the way I express myself in class, the way I talk, etc. It hasn’t been easy to be where I am right now. I’ve had many parents from other schools question me because of the fact that I am gay. They think that I am not morally accepted to teach, that my liberty is a very bad example for the students. In many spaces, my feelings and my thinking, have been questioned, sometimes in my own family. I’ve felt excluded sometimes when for example my friends make girl-plans and boy-plans.

I don’t fit in any; I am not going to the spa with my girlfriends, but neither am I going to watch football with my boyfriends. My friends don’t take me into account because the guys say “wow no, I think Victim X is not going to feel comfortable watching football” and the girls say “No, but he won’t come with us to the spa because he is not a girl, so it will be strange.” It is very interesting because they don’t do it on purpose, they don’t do it because they are bad, but because they live inside a stereotype, and they are comfortable inside it, so they don’t realize that they are excluding me. What really impacts me is that the ones that usually discriminate me are the adults. I feel that my students have always supported me in many ways, so it has been very interesting, because in some way, with the upcoming generations, stereotypes are starting to break.

Com(m)unícate: How do stereotypes affect your life? Victim X: The fact that I have been excluded from other spaces, has affected me when I face a new place. I always ask: how would they react? What would they feel? What would they say? What type of people are they? In some way I developed some kind of insecurity, but once I’ve taken back my confidence, things change a lot. I am usually very shy in new environments, but after the “ice breakers”, I tend to be more extroverted. In my normal day, I try to avoid the idea of “Hey! There is the gay teacher” or “that’s the gay”. No, I am Victim X no more, because by giving tags to people, this makes you follow the stereotypes. I try to challenge the tags by not doing the usual, and that is something that helps me not to believe in the tag that people put on me, but to believe in the person that I want to be, and the one that I really am. Com(m)unícate (to the reader): Why? Why do we have to use stereotypes to categorize people and make them be something that they aren’t? Where do we, as humanity in general, get that need of using stereotypes to make people miserable?

Colombia Not Columbia By Isabela P. Here are some of the most common heard stereotypes More specifically, they believe that Colombians are and misconceptions all Colombian people hear; but Mexicans and that some of their typical food include Tacos and spicy food. Yes, maybe we do have some hate it when people say it. spices in Colombia, but our main dishes include: First of all, Colombia is not spelled with a U it’s spelled empanadas, arepas, sancocho and bandeja paisa with an O, like this: ColOmbia. We hear this very amongst others. In Mexico they have completely often, and I am sick of it. Every time that a famous different dishes. celebrity comes to have a concert in Colombia they tend to write it with a U. I mean it’s not that hard to Finally another misconception or stereotype that actually look up via the internet and get the name I often hear is that we don’t have roads, hospitals, doctors, movie theaters, and more. Colombia has right. big cities, like Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena. People also tend to think that everyone here is involved Bogota is the capital of Colombia, and it has around with cocaine. Actually that is not true; although you 7,878,783 people living in it right now. It has schools, can find it in Colombia, most people don’t do it. Also, universities, hospitals, and many other places all no, it is not legal. Another stereotype that goes along cities have. Los Andes and La Nacional are amongst with the last one is that all Colombians are either part the top universities in Latin America, and both are of guerillas, cartel or both. NO, that is absolutely not located in Bogota. true. Even though there are some Colombians who do belong to these groups, most of the people do not and Words can hurt someone. We have to stop classifying people into groups. It can destroy someone in ways are trying to make peace with them. you haven’t seen before. Sometimes it is easy to slip Moving forward, many believe that Mexico and into stereotyping people based on a few obvious characteristics. You have to remember that every Colombia have strong ties. single person is much more than his or her race, gender, sexual preference, or physical condition.

tereotypes Of People With

We are all used to seeing things on a daily basis. We call them ordinary. Whether we like those ordinary things or not, we are used to seeing how they appear right in front of us. When we spot a change, we tend to react in certain ways and many of those times, we don’t accept those changes. The way that our eyes observe differences is judgemental because they are unfamiliar so we tend to ignore or underestimate them. Disabilities, for instance, are examples of differences that get stereotyped. There are a wide variety of disabilities around the world today including mental, intellectual, physical, and sensory disabilities amongst others. People who live with them have to deal with things their own way, which makes their lives more challenging; but in doing so they act in odd ways, find it harder than everyone else to communicate, sense or learn in distinct ways, have emotional dilemmas, and work slower. Due to these effects and differences, the rest may decide to judge them by underestimating these people’s intellectual capacities and knowledge.

isabilities By Silvana J.

According to “Myths and Facts About People with Disabilities”, an American government source, there are ridiculous myths such as: “all persons who use wheelchairs are chronically ill or sickly”, “mental illnesses are brought on by a weakness of character” “disabilities are always visible,” and “disabled people cannot make their own decisions because they might make a mistake”. These stereotypes are hurtful and show that certain people lack acceptance and victims don’t deserve to receive those kinds of comments. Just because disabled people are different, they shouldn’t be judged because the truth is that the rest don’t know their full life story or the hard times they have been through while doing the best they can. Yes, they see the world differently, but that is what makes them unique and special. People should not question their creativity or intelligence because they don’t know what they are capable of. Believe it or not, some of the most influential people in history had a disability, but that didn’t stop them from achieving their greatest potential to change the world for the better.

Diecisiete años de vida...

Albert Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell both were born with dyslexia, but ended up being very successful. Einstein, who was an incredibly smart scientist, invented the Theory of Relativity. Graham Bell is the entrepreneur who came up with the telephone. How would we communicate long distance today if he hadn’t released that creation back then? Other celebrities who achieved great success are Howard Hughes and David Beckham who had “En mis 17 años de vida, nunca había estado tan Tourette’s Syndrome. defraudada por mi país. Una sociedad que está dividida hasta en la máxima demostración de Hughes is a producer and businessman that has convivencia humana, no está preparada para asumir gained a great amount of wealth. Beckham, on the ninguna clase de paz. Felicitaciones a todos los que other hand, is one of the most popular soccer players votaron por el no.” who happens to suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (also known as OCD) too. Temple Grandin Esas fueron mis palabras exactas momentos después grew up to be an agricultural scientist and professor de ser testigo de aquello que días atrás pensaba of animal behaviour although she was born with and imposible. struggled with autism. Stephen Hawking developed theorems about space and its black holes while dealing Al ver al “no” ganar en el plebiscito nacional que se with Motor Neuron disease. celebró el domingo 2 de octubre del presente año, en el que se le preguntaba al pueblo colombiano We should all be grateful to them because of all the “¿Apoya usted el Acuerdo Final para la Terminación contributions they have made. Each one made their del Conflicto y la Construcción de una Paz Estable own mark in history and has their own inspiring y Duradera?”, sólo palabras de rabia, frustración y story in order to make those contributions come to desconcierto salían de mi boca. No cabía en mi joven life. Just like they tried to embrace their differences, e ingenua mente cómo una sociedad eternamente allow yourself to accept disabled people how they marcada por la guerra y la violencia podía tener la are and treat them with kindness. Open your mind paz en la punta de sus dedos y aún así, dejarla caer to new ways of observing them, and stop thinking of sin el más mínimo arrepentimiento. No cabía en mi ordinary things because the world of tomorrow holds mente cómo el “sí” podía ganar en las zonas más so many new changes that may be very different from afectadas y no en aquellas donde la mayoría sólo today. había probado la guerra por medio de noticieros y periódicos. Pero, sobre todo, no cabía en mi mente cómo era posible que aproximadamente la mitad del pueblo colombiano celebrara la victoria de decirle no a la única oportunidad de paz que nuestro país había tenido en un buen rato.

...Diecisiete años de guerra By Isabela V.

Desde el momento del veredicto y tras varias discusiones sin conclusión, el tema no ha salido de mi mente. A lo largo del proceso, y sobre todo en los últimos meses de campaña, nunca pensé que la victoria del “no” fuera una posibilidad. Al contrario, solía argumentar y decir que aquellos que iban a votar en contra del plebiscito eran ignorantes y les faltaba un sentido de nación. Sin embargo, con el paso de las horas y entre más reflexiono sobre tema, me doy cuenta de que tal vez la ignorante haya sido yo. Mi exagerado optimismo cegó mi razón y constantemente me reconfortó, asegurándome de que no había forma que el “no” saliera victorioso. Esta constante reiteración de que lo que pensaba pasaría, me llevó a nunca manifestar mis opiniones o tratar de persuadir, a través de un diálogo respetuoso y saludable, a aquellos que argumentaban por el “no.” No obstante, como suele decir mi mamá “lo hecho, hecho está,” y las urnas no mienten. Sigo con el corazón en la mano y el orgullo en el piso no sólo por el impactante resultado de la votación, sino también por la polarización de un pueblo que ésta trajo a relucir. Aunque me cueste aceptarlo y me toque dejar mi orgullo a un lado para hacerlo, hoy es el día en el cual aquellos que votaron por el “sí” y aquellos que votaron por el “no” tienen que dejar sus diferencias a un lado y tratar de reconstruir un país en el cual el significado de esperanza se ha convertido en tan sólo una idea difusa.

A los que votaron por el “sí”, gracias por ser la voz de jóvenes, como yo, que aunque no tuvimos la oportunidad de votar, queremos lo mejor para nuestra patria. Gracias por darnos la oportunidad de tener un mejor futuro. A los que votaron por el “no”, me disculpo si en cualquier parte de este artículo les faltare al respeto pero cuando del ámbito político se trata, es dificil ocultar mis emociones. A los que se abstuvieron de votar, les dejo una frase que un amigo recalcó en uno de sus comentarios: “el peor enemigo de la democracia es su propia gente.” Y a los que, como yo, no están seguros de lo que viene, sólo podemos esperar que nuestros compatriotas hayan tomado la decisión acertada. Y “Eh eh epa Colombia.”

School Climate ProďŹ le:

Miss Alice PettwayBy Laura A.

Alice Pettway the f o ber ity m n e u M mm o c CNG

Jou r poe nalist t

Com(m)unícate: What is school climate? Alice: School climate, according to the National School Climate Center, is “the quality and character of school life. School climate is based on patterns of students’, parents’ and school personnel’s experience of school life and reflects norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices, and organizational structures.” From a social justice perspective, we use the term school climate to talk about how accepting a school community is of people of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, races, ethnicities, nationalities, religious and nonreligious world views, languages, family structures, abilities, sexual orientations, genders, body types, and many other identity characteristics. Com(m)unícate: What has School Climate done in the last year?

and

in ma l the schoo of of s e On nizer NG C a org ate at clim

Purp o mem se: give bers CNG on is com sues o voice mun f th ity e

Alice: CNG is working to continuously improve its school climate. Last year, the high school conducted its first school climate survey. The survey was completed by all HS faculty, staff and students. The high school also formed its first diversity council to advise administration on how best to work toward making the CNG high school a community that welcomes all students and all faculty. As part of the diversity council’s efforts, the HS faculty has participated in a number of professional development sessions aimed at increasing acceptance of and appreciation for diversity in our school community. Com(m)unícate: What are the largest stereotypes you have seen in CNG during your time here? Alice: Often the issues that are at the forefront in a school are those that are at the forefront in the society surrounding the school. Colombia has done much work in the last several years to protect the rights of the LGBT community—and there has been much controversy surrounding the process. Echoes of this struggle are visible at CNG. I am hopeful that the positive steps happening in wider Colombia society will also be echoed in CNG as we strive to become a campus that fully welcomes and supports our LGBT faculty, staff, and students.

Com(m)unícate: What do you think is Com(m)unícate: What do you think is the School Climate’s largest achievement, largest generator of stereotypes? regarding solving/helping decrease stereotypes? Alice: I believe the largest generators of stereotypes are fear, ignorance, and laziness. People fear what Alice: School climate isn’t something you achieve— they don’t understand, and it takes time and energy to it always exists. It can be more or less welcoming, understand another person, to educate yourself about more or less supportive. By working to improve an experience that is not your own. school climate, we can ensure that stereotypes are left behind in favor of valuing individuals for their unique Com(m)unícate: Have you ever judged identities. (or misjudged) a person because of a stereotype? Com(m)unícate: Have you been exposed to stereotypes? Which ones? Alice: I have definitely misjudged a person because of implicit bias—we all have! That’s why it’s so Alice: I have personally been stereotyped both important to examine your own beliefs about people because of my gender and because of my non- who are different than you are in some way. It takes religious worldview. Because I am a woman, people work to dismantle the stereotypes that permeate our have assumed that I am weak, less intelligent, less experience from the time we’re babies. If your entire educated, incapable of leading, incapable of thinking life you had been told that people who wear socks are for myself—all of which are untrue. As a person with dangerous, you might never stop and think, “Wait, a nonreligious worldview, I have had people assume why are people who wear socks dangerous? Maybe I believe in “nothing,” that I actually worship Satan, I should learn more about people who wear socks. that I have no ethics—again, all things that are untrue Maybe they’re not dangerous.” You might spend your about me. And, unfortunately, on a daily basis I witness entire life avoiding people who wear socks when in other people bearing the brunt of stereotypes that reality there was nothing to fear about them in the cause people to make assumptions about individuals first place—it was just a stereotype! based on their race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender, abilities, appearance, etc. Com(m)unícate: What are some tips you could give CNG students when coming across stereotypes? Alice: My advice to CNG students is to make a conscious effort to always approach people as individuals. Be aware that all aspects of our identities are not immediately visible. Look inward. Could someone know who you are—in all your multifaceted complexity—by knowing one thing about you? Of course not. Remember that next time you find yourself making assumptions about another person.

Com(m)unícate: How can students become more involved with the School Climate in order to improve the CNG environment?

Alice: There are already some student organizations— like the SGDA—that are working hard to help improve the school climate in the high school. Stay tuned! The HS Diversity Council is working to find meaningful ways to include students in this important work. But you don’t need an organization to make a difference. You can make a choice every day while you’re at school to value people for their unique identities. You can choose to stand up for people who are being Com(m)unícate: What is the worst stereotyped. You can help educate your peers about stereotype you have heard of? the inaccuracies of common stereotypes in the school. What seems like a small action to you might mean the Alice: All stereotypes are horribly damaging. I won’t world to someone who needs a friend in that moment. even try to put them on a spectrum. They are all dangerous and hurtful.

Blue is for Boys

Pink is for Girls

By June L.

What color represents males? What color represents females? I guess everyone will have a consensus on this question; for males it’s blue, and for females it’s pink. When we find out that the baby is a girl, we start buying pink clothes and decorate the room with ‘girly’ stuff. On the other hand, when the baby is a boy, we buy what is ‘boyish’. This is a type of stereotype on gender. According to Psychology Dictionary, gender stereotypes can be defined as “the relatively fixed and overgeneralized attitudes and behaviours that are considered normal and appropriate for a person in a particular culture based on his or her biological sex”.

sent to a hospital. When the son was being prepared for a surgery in the operating room, the doctor came in and was shocked and said, “Why is my son here?”. What is the answer to this? If you know the answer, congratulations. You are not having any prejudices or conventional images for the jobs. If you don’t know the answer, you should probably fix your mind and try to escape from your personal bias. Here is the answer, very simple, the doctor was his mom. Let´s discuss expected physical appearance of males and females. Males are supposed to be “masculine” since they are male. Females are supposed to be “feminine” since they are female. This stereotype leads people to become “hyper-masculine” or “hyperfeminine”. When someone is hyper masculine, it means that the person, probably a male, thinks they should be dominant, aggressive, and ‘macho’. On the other hand, when a person is hyper feminine, in this case probably a female, she will pretend to be pious, naïve, and nurturing. In other words, people who try to satisfy the expectation of the aspects of masculinity and femininity are just obliterating their true identity and trying to modify it and fake their individuality so they can best fit society’s perception.

Modern society displays the effect of gender stereotypes in various aspects. First of all, in workplaces, women tend to be less important and less paid. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Report, in 2012, women’s earnings were about 80% of that of men’s. Although the salary for women keeps increasing, it is certainly true that there are some traces of gender inequality. The difference of salaries can be explained by some factors that are related to gender stereotypes. When we compare motherhood and fatherhood, motherhood is recognized as a career while fatherhood is something that fathers have to do whenever they have some spare time and not much officework. In other words, fathers have to work and mothers have to take care of their The ideal solution to this problem is to simply get kids. Also, when we talk about jobs, there are certain rid of those preconceptions and consider males and jobs that are acknowledged as only for men, and some females equally. jobs only for women. Let me give you a quiz to clarify this statement. There was a car accident and the dad in the car died while his son retained his life and was

The Need Were you to, at this very moment, ask any person outside the country what the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of Colombia, the vast majority would answer drugs. However, is there nothing more to Colombia than drugs? Of course there is, but it is hard to look past the stereotype, specially after it has become so natural for individuals to immediately associate Colombia with narcotics. Hundreds of stereotypes like this one exist throughout the world: stereotypes that negatively affect the person or country that is being referred to. Humankind has come to the agreement that stereotyping is wrong, but then why is it we still have these generalizations? Why is it we still haven’t grown out of categorizing people into overly general groups if it is already the 21st century? What is this need for stereotypes that doesn’t let us evolve as a species? Although it may come as a surprise, we do have a need for stereotypes. It is, honestly, very simple. The human race likes to understand the world as best as possible; it is a natural instinct, and we understand it best when we are able to classify everything around us into separate categories. “Our ability to categorize and evaluate is an important part of human intelligence… Without it, we couldn’t survive,” says Mahzarin Banaji, psychology professor at Yale University.

The problem that comes with stereotypes, however, is that they are often negative, and the creation of these negative generalizations is a little more complicated. According to Kendra Cherry, author of the Everything Psychology Book, as human beings, we have a need to belong. It is a need often referred to as “belongingness”, and it refers to the emotional need of people to affiliate with and be accepted by members of a group. Once we are then part of a group, we feel the need to justify the reason we are part of that specific group. It is here, when we want to feel good about the group we belong to, that we tend to make others seem as less than they are. Taking then into account the fact that we categorize everything, that we create negative stereotypes. However, it would be wrong to say a single person creates stereotypes. It is society that creates them. A single person can’t do anything about so much as taking in these stereotypes. Generalizations made by society will be part of you no matter what. Why, then, does this happen? Why don’t we do anything about it? It is first important to understand that these generalizations live in the unconscious, and that it is everything that happens while a person is conscious that eventually becomes their unconscious. In other words, when creating a stereotype, we take what we see around us, in our society, and unconsciously we convert that information into stereotypes.

For Stereotypes By Paulina R. The following day, the test subjects were shown a second list which had names from the first list mixed with other ones. The test subjects picked out those who they knew were famous, but they also chose names that seemed familiar to them (that were from the first list), but that weren’t necessarily famous people. The results showed a ratio of two male names for every female name selected. According to Banaji, the test subjects were unaware they had taken a preference to male names. They had unconsciously taken into account the stereotype that men are more important and influential than women. To confirm the results, Banaji conducted a similar experiment regarding criminals, and the test subjects picked out mostly Annie Murphy Paul, magazine journalist and book African American names. This is implicit stereotyping, author who writes about the biological and social where people make a judgement consciously, but they sciences, says, “We all use stereotypes, all the time, are unaware of the basis on which they are making it. without knowing it. We have met the enemy of In order to stop using stereotypes completely, people would have to be free of them, and this is impossible. equality, and the enemy is us.” It is also important to note that as Dr. Margo Monteith, head of Intergroup Relations and Inclusion lab (which conducts social psychological research to understand processes that give rise to stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination) at Purdue University, states, by the age of five, most children have already developed stereotypes regarding many different social groups. The stereotypes inside the minds of these children are the ones they learned. They didn’t create them on their own, and seeing as they are part of their unconscious, they will never “grow out of them”. As long as we live, it will happen, and we will not be able to do anything about it.

This may come as a surprise to many, but we can’t control how we use stereotypes either. For the past few years, Mahzarin Banaji has been studying stereotypes, and she has come to the conclusion that as human beings, we can’t help stereotyping. As part of her research, she conducted an experiment where she showed a group of people a list of names. Some of the names were of famous people, and others were of regular people.

Nothing can be thoroughly described with a single word, and yet it is human nature to do so, and many times it may be either wrong, or negative, or both. Then, is there anything left for us to do? The answer is yes. We hold the power to stop consciously using stereotypes. Unfortunately, we can do no more than that. If one is looking for a world free of stereotypes then one is looking for a world free of people, and in that case, there would be nobody left to care if stereotypes were used or not.

t o N s i k c i S g n i e B e n i l . u A a c l u s Pa a y B M 15

As defined by the Mayo Clinic, eating disorders are “serious conditions related to persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact your health, your emotions, and your ability to function in important areas of life”. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.

Nevertheless, body image of men has received little attention, as well as the eating behaviors that rise from these. Because of this, society tends to assume that males are not affected by unrealistic cultural standards of attractiveness and a pressure to achieve an ideal body type. Men are then led to believe that eating disorders are a feminine preoccupation, so not reporting eating behaviors shows a tendency created by the modern concept of masculinity. Other times, men don’t report eating disorders because they are not aware of them, considering that they think exercising in excess is normal and it’s justified by the end result of increased muscle.

Although eating disorders became common during the twentieth century, they have existed for centuries. For example, the first descriptions of anorexia in the Western world are from the 12th and 13th centuries. Saint Catherine of Siena, for example, denied herself food. Although spiritual denial, the reason for Saint Catherine of Siena’s disorder, is not one of the main In the last decade, there has been a significant increase factors involved in eating disorders today, this was in the awareness that men and boys are credulous still a demonstration of it. towards cultural and social pressures regarding body image, and this puts them in risk of developing eating According to The Renfrew Center Foundation for disorders. Masculinity today also shows a shift in Eating Disorders, 24 million Americans and 70 ideal body image for men, which does exist, toward a million people in the world are affected by eating more muscular body, and several studies have shown disorders today. Clearly, eating disorders have the increasing muscularity of male action figures and become a significant problem in the world. Some male advertising models since the 1950s. In Western estimates suggest that one in every ten people who culture, men are expected to have a muscular build, suffer from anorexia nervosa will eventually die from which is composed of physical strength but low bodycomplications with the disorder. fat. Despite being observable in the entire population, eating disorders tend to be connected by society to women. There is a significant amount of studies on the relations of negative body image to self-concept, eating disorders, and psychological distress in females.

Men, like women, seem to be comparing themselves to objectified body ideals, and measure their selfworth by the way they look. For both women and men, these behaviors are greatly influenced by media, traumas, and societal beliefs. However, the development of these behaviors differs from those of women because females tend to aim weight loss and becoming thin, while men want to lose weight but also to gain muscle size. In other words, women with eating disorders prioritize dieting over exercise, while men do the opposite. Additionally, men tend to cut fat out from their diets, while women tend to cut out carbohydrates. So, is it that only women are allowed to suffer from eating disorders, because they are “too feminine”? Several rules of society need a bit of rethinking, but is this possible?

Printing Stereotype By Ju Young S.

This moment, while typing the very first words of this article, I am with my laptop, grumpily slouching on the couch and drinking milk on Sunday morn. I am the image of the classic Bsian, B-class Asian, Ju struggling the urge to do nothing during the weekends.

For all my incompetent BFFs out there, let me explain in laymen’s terms what a stereotype traditionally was. You have a metal plate with flipped letters popping out; you dab ink on it and press the plate onto a piece of paper. Now you have a piece of paper with writing on it, and it’s doesn’t have flipped letters! ¡Voila! A Unlike the other Asians who are stereotyped to be big ‘hip hip hooray’ for 18th century technology. A-class, the best of best, in study and task-related Apparently this printing technology is also called categories, the Bsian happens to fail to be A-class in cliché. That’s interesting and whatever! Ok, I think I what its race is designed for. Also typical of the Bsian wrote enough for this article! I’ll go have a snack while high schooler is to do all of his homework and tasks at the editor... edits this. BYE! the very last moment possible. The Bsian’s tendency to do such a thing might have something to do with the adrenaline rushing through when it’s 1AM of the day of the big presentation, but it’s probably the incurable laziness within or both. All of this B-class analysis of this D-class situation gets me to a conclusion: this article must be at the end of the magazine. Being a writer for Com(m)unícate a last year, my past experience tells me that there are three methods in which the people in charge decide the order of the articles: 1) Language: Spanish first, English second. 2) Turn-in date of the article: earlier turnins first, last 16 Hours Later minute submissions, second. 3) Quality of the article: Good quality first, B-class Hi. Fsian Ju here. This moment, I feel terrible… last. it’s Sunday night. Apparently the magazine isn’t celebrating and praising the incredible wonders of ¡Hola! There is no other possible outcome than this 18th century printing technology. The editors were article being at the end of the magazine. Having that quite aggressive when they made it clear that I’m in mind, it must stand true that you, the reader, read supposed to write about definition #4 of ‘stereotype’ quite a few articles before landing on this one. Or if on Dictionary.com: “a simplified and standardized you care about me so much that you skipped to my conception or image invested with special meaning article: awwww thanks! Let our friendship last forever and held in common by members of a group.” That is, or something. in fact, the sociology meaning of the word. Who cares about social studies? Ask a particular physics teacher, he knows.

Despite having negative connotations, stereotypes are inevitable, one of the many ways your brain efficiently manages information. It’s a low-work, high-profiling ability, with a moderate error system. Your brain has no other choice. How does one solve this inevitable problem? It is reasonable to conclude that if one must make judgements, they should be made with an eye of an eagle, the ears of a rabbit, and the nose of a bear; to see, hear, and smell everything one can before getting to a conclusion. That means to make judgements after you have seen and analyzed a situation, something, or someone yourself: with your very own eyes. However, this time, it isn’t for the magnificent pieces of writing you can potentially write. It’s for you to develop what you think on your own. It is to not be deceptive of propaganda and rumors, to not be others’ puppets for the rest of your life. It is to discover your understanding of the world and everything in it. It is to make you who you are. And for that, march on, you should.

It is not the easiest way to go by. There will be moments where you are stereotyped. Not everyone will embrace your eagerness to see everything. However, life would be a waste if you didn’t get anything out of it. My scars let me feel sympathy, my pain lets me feel others’ sorrow, and all of that somehow lets me understand happiness. I want that. I only live once and no matter how large the cost, I want to live life with the premium package, with all of its riches and treasures. Don’t you want to do the same? So go out there! Meet new people, encounter people you would never talk to, talk to the Fsian, marvel at his stupidity! After that first-hand experience, inscribe your ideas. Make them a cliché or stereotype. Dab it in ink, print it all in your heart. But keep it open, always be ready to edit and print more. Then show the world who you are, and they will crave that perfect equation of you = you. Repeat: grasp every moment where you can lunge at that beauty. Meanwhile, I need some sleep so I don’t faint in school tomorrow. So good night Ju, good night.

10 Questions With...

Ms. Blesgraeft 19

By Natalia M.

Com(m)unícate: What do you like to do in your freetime? Ms. Blesgraeft: Read, go to my farm, go horseback riding, work in the orchard. Com(m)unícate: What are your hobbies? Ms. Blesgraeft: Cooking, reading, knitting, puzzles. Com(m)unícate: What is your favorite thing to cook? Ms. Blesgraeft: Pastries, brownies, cookies, cakes and pies. Com(m)unícate: What is your favorite game to play? Ms. Blesgraeft: Scrabble.

Com(m)unícate: Some people in the school picture you as a cranky, bossy person. Do you agree? Ms. Blesgraeft: I may be perceived this way by people Com(m)unícate: What is something funny that has who don’t know me. I want students to do their best, happened to you lately? to challenge themselves, and learn how beautiful life Ms. Blesgraeft: I don’t like coffee but I love cappuccino is. Young adults have to be challenged not to be happy or mochaccino. It now affects my energy level when I with what they know and do the minimum. have it after 5 pm. Last week I went to a meeting with friends after having a latte cappuccino and was so Com(m)unícate: How would you describe yourself? energetic that I saw myself being the worst hyperactive Ms. Blesgraeft: I am a person who loves life and person. During the meeting, several of my friends enjoys teaching others this passion I have. I am not forbade me from ever having any type of coffee in the a conformist and I question my teaching all the time, afternoon. I felt like fifteen being punished for being making it different every year. full of energy. Com(m)unícate: Do you have any children? Ms. Blesgraeft: I have a 24-year-old daughter who graduated from CNG and studied in Holland a Bachelors degree in Science, focused in Molecular Biology and Environmental Science. Com(m)unícate: What school did you graduate from? What college did you graduate from? Ms. Blesgraeft: I graduated from CNG and studied in Los Andes: biology. When I started teaching at CNG, I got a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences at the Universidad Pedagógica. Com(m)unícate: Did you always want to study biology or was there something else you would have liked to study? Ms. Blesgraeft: When I was young I wanted to be a veterinarian but having to put to sleep my pets, I changed my mind and moved to biology.

Colombian Stereotypes

By Gabriel T. Stereotypes are unfair generalizations that we all make about a group of people.

All those who voted “no” on the plebiscito are narrow-minded hawks.

What do you think of when I say “Colombia”? Were you to ask this question to an American, he or she would probably say one of the following things: All Colombians sell cocaine, or Colombia is a third world country in which tourists are kidnapped. Oh, the indignation! Oh, the ignorance! But what would a Colombian say of an Argentinian? That they are incredibly conceited.

All Arabs are terrorists.

Every person who writes for Com(m)uícate is a geek.

Wait a moment! My own opinions are based on stereotypes: I’m just writing about the way I assume that Americans would react when asked about Colombians, and also about how I think Colombians would react when asked about Argentinians. Um… while it’s easy to identify other people’s stereotypes, it’s hard to admit that you yourself may also have them. All of us employ stereotypes, but, while they often carry a certain measure of truth -they reflect an accumulation of experience, and guide us when assessing new people and situations-, stereotypes replace complex realities with simplifying cartoons. Nevertheless, stereotypes do have a certain usefulness: a stereotype that enables us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before but they make us ignore differences between individuals; we think things about people that might not be true

Take my elder brother as an example. If you were to see him walking around the streets right now, you would just see a well-groomed and clean man, wearing some nice clean clothes, and therefore you wouldn’t think much of him. After all, judging him only by the way he looks this minute, he even seems likable. But little do you know that the only reason he seems clean is because you caught him on the day of his monthly bath, and that the only reason he is wearing anything nice, is in fact because he is going to a work interview. Usually, he wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something that looks good, and the many tattoos and piercings that cover his body are cleverly concealed under the long sleeves of his shirt. His case illuminates the undeniable truth about stereotypes: that they are simplifications of a much more complex reality, making them both unfair and inaccurate, but useful. Stereotypes can be useful in a hurry, but they never reveal the deep truth about anything.

It is true that Pablo Escobar was a Colombian drug trafficker. His cartel, at its best, supplied around eighty percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States. Pablo Escobar was born in Rio Negro, a small Colombian village, and grew up in Medellin. At a very young age, Escobar began to participate in illegal activities. He was a petty thief at first, and afterwards, he began to sell cocaine -in around 1970-. His business expanded exponentially due to the rising demand for cocaine in the United States. Once his business was set up, he began to donate a lot of money to the poor to get the people’s political support.The government started to chase him and there were some violent skirmishes. The police killed him in Medellin the day after his 44th birthday. In his prime, Pablo Escobar was one of the richest -and most wanted by the policepeople in the world.

Pablo Escobar attracted a lot of international attention. His image was made into a very big deal thanks to Let’s go back now to our previous reflection television, and people across the globe would have regarding Colombians’ image abroad, to explore how the following words drilled into their minds day and stereotypes can be created, based on an inaccurate night: “Pablo Escobar”, “drugs”, and “Colombia”, all and superficial misconception that originates in an which contributed to a fixed generalization about all unfair generalization. In our case, this misconception Colombians. stemmed from the fame of one man, who does not represent today’s Colombia at all, but of whom all What the world has to realise about us Colombians, the world thinks about when they hear the country’s is that we are more than just Pablo Escobar. He name: Mr. Pablo Escobar. was just a small part of our world -past tense-, and Colombia is much more than that, just like the United States is more much than drug addicts, and not all Argentinians are conceited. What we all have to realize is that stereotypes will always be with us, because it is a fact that stereotypes based in actual experiences will always prove somewhat useful but are unfair. . In the case of our nation, if we really want to weaken the force of negative stereotypes about Colombians, we have to embrace a strong Colombian identity, and to be united in our aspiration as Colombians to transcend stereotypes.

What is Your Stereotype?

By Natalia R.

Humans have a hard time making their own choices, some more than others, but regardless we need to find a way to cope with this to move forward with our lives. We first see a person and we don’t know anything about them really, except the few general facts they choose to tell us. We are curious intellectuals, so with this information we form a made-up picture of who So what is a boxed category? I would simply define it we think they are. That’s it: we stereotype because we as a category that limits a person to a specific trait. The like to think we know everything. There it is. All these reason we want to be a part of these defined categories facts a person has given us allow us to fit them into is so that we stop having to make our own set of each category. choices or decisions and instead make them based on what we think people in this category would do. We make different categories, but in the end we are To help you understand better, I’ll give you an almost always able to fit them in one, and if we can’t, example: let’s say you are a slacker. You hate studying we find a way to do so. We’ve assumed so many things and almost never do your homework. It’s just usually that this image we have of a person is most likely what you do. But then, surprisingly, you find a topic completely different than who they really are because interesting and actually want to work on it. You are we have just generalized based on what we think they confused because you don’t know what you are should be like. Do you see how messed up that is? This supposed to do, but then realize a slacker would never is why people are always saying that first impressions do something like that so you don’t do it. As simple as are so important. But how could they be? If in the that. Sounds a little ridiculous, doesn’t it? You’ve made end whoever is receiving this impression will simply this choice based on what you think this “definition” build what they want around it, changing who we are of you would do, instead of what you actually want to completely. What even is the use of that? The answer do. So the real question is, why do we have a need to in my opinion is: none really. categorize ourselves? So yes, we hear all the time that stereotyping is wrong, but somehow, we can’t help but do it. It’s not like we do it on purpose with the intention of offending somebody else or even ourselves, but it is instead a way in which we are able to define our complicated selves and put us in a boxed category.

In the end, we all like to identify with something, and we want to know if others can identify us as well, but it never depends on the person itself. Instead, it’s the image we have created of them to fill in all the gaps we just don’t know. So, to which boxed category do you belong to? You’ve probably seen the basics in the movies: the nerds, the jocks, the dumb blonde, etc. And if I ask you: are any of these you? You’d definitely say no. Because it isn’t who you are, it’s what others have classified you to be simply because you might have a few characteristics society has put together in a definition. In the end, it’s all about wanting certainty. But the more we stereotype, the further away we get from the truth because we believe we have it all figured out, when it’s really all built on false fabrication. So sure, stereotyping might make you feel safe and somehow in control of who you are, but in the end, this isn’t you and it never will be. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to just shut your eyes, take a breath, and look at what you see. Most likely all black right? Well look again, and this time, look deeper to find what it is that makes you who you are and realize you simply can’t reduce this to a simple category. Sorry for all of those with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), but you just can’t. And the sooner you accept you can’t define yourself by stereotyping someone else you are simply creating an image that can never be real, the closer we will all get to true understanding.

isney

Princesses By Joo Hyun P., Andrea A. The damsel in distress, the oh-so-tragic story about a helpless girl, trapped in a castle, in the woods, or in a house filled with seven little dwarfs. What do these scenarios bring to mind? Disney princess movies, of course. Even though these women are in perilous danger, they don’t do anything except sit by a window, talk to birds, or faint for no reason, instead of at least running away. The women in these movies seem to be unable to take action towards their own salvation unless a man sweeps in to solve all their problems with a simple kiss or some swinging of his sword. Disney movies make us believe that a woman is in the midst of an adventure, but all she is really doing is being dragged around by men. How lovely. Princesses in Disney movies are known to go on adventures without setting foot on the ground. Naïve and helpless, all they do is get into all kinds of trouble, only to be saved by men, and ultimately, the man of their lives, because, of course, if a man saves you, you have to fall in love and marry him.

The first ever animation movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, debuted in 1937, establishing a precedent for women’s roles in Disney movies. The film mainly focuses on a young girl named Snow White who repeatedly gets tricked and threatened because of the jealousy the Evil Queen, also her stepmother, feels towards her after being told that her stepdaughter is “the fairest of them all”, which mainly refers to her beauty: another stereotype that frequently appears in the filmographic world. When Snow White gets lost in the woods, it is seven male dwarves who aid her by providing shelter in their cottage. Yet, she ends up having to clean up after these “gentlemen” and ultimately being saved from this asylum by the kiss of a prince. The fact that she only sang, talked to animals and wasn’t capable of taking action towards her deliverance, shows that women are passive.

It is quite ironic that even though every disney princess movie supposedly has a female protagonist, all these movies are often dominated by the males of the story in both character action and dialogue. For instance, Mulan, another Disney princess movie, is commonly seen as a film where gender stereotypes are less apparent because the main character, a woman, knows how to fight and participates in a war, which are activities that are usually only connected to men. However, this is very misleading seeing as Mulan only speaks about 25% of the dialogue in contrast to the other 75% that is spoken by men. Not only is the role of women deteriorated and made to seem inferior by their lack of action and useful abilities in contrast to male characters, but their vocal participation in the story is also being presented as less essential than a man’s.According to the Guardian----. In the 21st century, Disney has already made a few movies where women hold much more interactive roles and are increasingly independent from men. Brave, a Disney princess movie made in 2012, presents a female protagonist named Merida that wants to make her own decisions in life without any interference from the Queen’s (her mother) conservative views on her actions as a princess. Not only does Merida go on a quest to solve her problems on her own, but she is also shown to have more skills in certain physical activities, such as archery, than all the men in the story. The directors of Brave included consecutive female-to-female dialogue, as well as giving the princess many abilities that allow her to take care of herself. The graph above divides the span of Disney Princess movies into three parts: from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves up until the 90’s, from thereon to the beginnings of the 21st Century, and, finally, the contemporary age of the films. Two aspects of the female lead character (the princess) are represented: their appearance and their skill. The numbers show the percentage of positive reviews that are directed towards each trait. It is evident that the reviews have shifted from focusing on the appearance of the character to the skill it acts upon. However, the fact that skills are surpassing the appearance started very recently so we must look on forward to further improvements, if the trend allows us. This shows how women’s stereotypes have become more open to represent not only the journey of women but also, as equal human beings as everyone else. The need to change women’s role in movies used to come out as words only, but, fortunately, they are now starting to be put into action, but just very recently. It might not give us a very concrete insight of what is going to happen with future films, but certainly we can anticipate for better changes later on. Ultimately, we hope for complete equality between both genders: no separate roles, expectations, and inferiorization. We believe, however, that we still have a long way to go, and movies are just a small step.

Bibliography • • • • • • • •

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