Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Group Is Subject

¶ … ethnic, racial, and religious group is subject to stereotyping from others. This means that there are terms and ideas prescribed to a group of people based on certain characteristics that makes assumptions on those individuals because of these assumed characteristics. Stereotypes are rarely if ever based upon true characteristics but upon archaic and prejudicial ideas. There are both positive and negative stereotypes, but even ones that seem to compliment the specific group are still offensive because they give all individuals in that group the same characteristics, denying the people their individuality. Stereotypes are some of the most prevalent and ingrained ideas within the society. Even people who understand the fallacy of stereotyping and do not believe in them are aware of the terms applied to certain groups and may find themselves buying into some of them on a subconscious level. This is because these ideas have become conditioned into the collective consciousness by generations of repetition.

Every person experiences prejudices differently but it is more or less a universal problem. The people who belong to an ethnic group which comprises the majority of the population in an area will always cast aspersions on people who belong to an ethnic group with a population number that makes them a minority. This majority is allowed to place pressure on the minority population because there is no authority over which to curb their behavior. It is a highly caustic and negative part of human existence. In the articles "The Myth of the Latin Woman: Just Met a Girl Named Maria" by Judith Ortiz Cofer and "Just Walk on By" written by author Brent Staples the two writers deal with life as minority persons and how they had to deal with the stereotypes placed upon them by the society in which they lived. The United States is supposed to be a country where all cultures whether they be culture based upon ethnicity, religion, nationality, or personal ability are accepted as part of the cohesive whole. However, the truth of the matter is that people in the United States are constantly treated maliciously because of their physical, emotional, or personal differences.

For Cofer, her identity was wholly different from the one that people tried to thrust upon her. As a woman of Latin descent she was expected to either be highly sexual or highly maternal and any attempts to cultivate an identity beyond these stereotypes were hindered by the larger society. Gender plays a great part in her stereotyping as well because females are supposedly defined by their submission to dominating males. Being from Latin America only furthers to marginalize the author because she does not match the stereotypes of either of these groups leading to further conflict between herself and the rest of the population who try to impose behaviors and characteristics upon her. Staples experiences stereotyping and consequential prejudicial attitudes particularly by way of being the object of fear of the majority white population. He is all the more threatening to a Caucasian woman because of his gender. In both cases, the combination of gender and belonging to a minority ethnic group causes to make their situation worse than if they were only susceptible to one type of stereotyping by the external populous.