My knee-jerk reaction is to tell people that they have the right to make whatever choices they want for their own lives. ie, if they want to be Christian, they can be Christian as long as they don't try to make me Christian. Or if they want to fit a stereotype, well, it's their life and their business.
...But yes, I can imagine that people would get annoyed with them for perpetuating an image that they're trying to discard.
For example, in one of my history textbooks, it discussed how 'educated blacks' often looked down on 'uneducated blacks' and said they were bringing the race down. That's actually an issue of classism, but it's also because of the negative stereotypes that they're trying to combat. You know the 'compliment' that someone is a credit to their race? It's like that. If you do badly, it reflects on your race. If you do well, it means you're rising above your race.
You're going to find more black/white examples of that than Asian examples, I think, but to take a different example, my cousin is going to be a doctor. I have a lot of doctors in my family. I'm not a fan of the stereotype of Asians as doctors, but it's a good profession so whatever, their choice.
I'm less pleased with the girl whose wedding I was a bridesmaid at, because she had an arranged marriage where she only met the guy a month before she was marrying him. That really disturbs me because I think that people should know each other before binding themselves together for life and arranged marriages are archaic and only help lock in with the image of Asian women as submissive but honestly, what can I do about it? Criticizing her for submitting to an arranged marriage wouldn't stop her from doing it. It'd just make me look like a jerk.
I think that's probably the most common reaction -- unless it's something hugely negative, people are lot more likely to let self-imposed stereotyping slide than call someone on it. I mean, really, who has the right to say how another person should live? If my friend is Indian and likes Bollywood movies and takes Indian class dances, bully for her. It's her life, and if that's what she honestly enjoys, fine.
I just don't want other people assuming that I am like her because we come from the same section of the continent, more or less.
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...But yes, I can imagine that people would get annoyed with them for perpetuating an image that they're trying to discard.
For example, in one of my history textbooks, it discussed how 'educated blacks' often looked down on 'uneducated blacks' and said they were bringing the race down. That's actually an issue of classism, but it's also because of the negative stereotypes that they're trying to combat. You know the 'compliment' that someone is a credit to their race? It's like that. If you do badly, it reflects on your race. If you do well, it means you're rising above your race.
You're going to find more black/white examples of that than Asian examples, I think, but to take a different example, my cousin is going to be a doctor. I have a lot of doctors in my family. I'm not a fan of the stereotype of Asians as doctors, but it's a good profession so whatever, their choice.
I'm less pleased with the girl whose wedding I was a bridesmaid at, because she had an arranged marriage where she only met the guy a month before she was marrying him. That really disturbs me because I think that people should know each other before binding themselves together for life and arranged marriages are archaic and only help lock in with the image of Asian women as submissive but honestly, what can I do about it? Criticizing her for submitting to an arranged marriage wouldn't stop her from doing it. It'd just make me look like a jerk.
I think that's probably the most common reaction -- unless it's something hugely negative, people are lot more likely to let self-imposed stereotyping slide than call someone on it. I mean, really, who has the right to say how another person should live? If my friend is Indian and likes Bollywood movies and takes Indian class dances, bully for her. It's her life, and if that's what she honestly enjoys, fine.
I just don't want other people assuming that I am like her because we come from the same section of the continent, more or less.