Shanghai Tango - A Memoir
This book is by, and about Jin Xing, a former prima ballerina, one of the brightest stars of the Shanghai Ballet. But her journey to international fame has been fraught with difficulty because Jin Xing was in fact born a man. From an early age she was intensely uncomfortable with her gender. Unable to understand or put words to her feelings, she immersed herself in ballet dancing, her first love. Aged 9, she joined the People's Liberation Army, where she received both dance and military training and attained the rank of colonel. The curtains opened on a new act in her life when, at the age of 19, she received a scholarship to study dance in New York. It was there that she discovered for the first time that it was possible to change sex. In an instant, what had been the province of dreams became a real opportunity. She took the courageous decision to return to China to face the authorities, quit the army, and confront the world with her decision to become a woman.
Interesting? What do YOU think about Jin Xing? That just because she used to be a guy, she is not as "womanly" as most women? That she is neither woman, nor man?
Sterotyping is such a strong influence in the society nowadays. Just because one guy dresses up slightly more than most guys do, just because the guy walks in a way that most guys don't, people automatically link the image to the guy being - Gay. Just because a girl doesn't wear skirts, just because a girl doesn't behave as most girls do, (i.e. scream at everything) just because a girl walks in a less-than-feminine way, people link the image to - Lesbian, or Butch.
A common sterotype in the little circle that I am in, would be - IJ girl, or St. Pat's boy. You may ask, why not St. Marg's girl or RI boy, or any other school. I suppose this is due to the fact that I have many IJ girls and St. Pat's boys around me, which is why steorotypes would automatically lead to them. Other than that, it would be either Straight, or Gay.
Appearance, would be the main factor which people use to sterotype another. If you see a guy dressed in a skin tight tank top, jeans, and shoes, what would you think? Most of us would probably be alright with it. But think again. If this same guy were to dress in a PINK skin tight tank top, shorts, and platforms. What would you think? .... GAY. Isn't it?
Appearance aside, the 2nd most important factor would probably be Actions. People sterotype others by looking at them. The way they walk, they way they talk, the way they carry themselves. A guy just needs to walk with a slight skip in his step, sashay just a little bit, to lead people into thinking --- HE IS GAY. Well, STEROTYPING.
I guess to some extent, EVERYONE is guilty of sterotyping another. Dare you say you haven't ever looked at someone and linked him/her to some image that you have in your mind? Be it the school that they were from, what they are like, how their actions remind you of someone else.
Don't deny. I'm sure you've ever done something like that. :P
To end it off, do take a look at this. Sterotypical! :P
(Click to enlarge)
Jane.
18 comments:
HI JANE!
Judging people by their actions and looks is a very very common thing in the society. No one is perfect in this world and most importantly they live for themselves not for others. It is time that all of us should start reflecting on our own actions and whatever offensive comments that comes out of our mouth towards others. Through this post,Jane has clearly bring out the need for us to spare a thought for others before making any comments.
Nice brief summary and I totally agree wif u o.O
I guess this all boils down to our roots, where men wore pants and women wore skirts. I wouldn't want to imagine a guy wearing skirt and platforms cause it's just.. wrong. As for "men" doing ballet, I would think they possess both the men and the women side, gentle and strong, which infact is a good thing! Likewise with male hairstylist, designers, I think most are better than females!
This post actually makes me think about the other forms of sterotyping present in the world. For example, racial disparity in the States is one serious problem that have not been solved since a longlonglonglong-who-knows-when time. Even though US has claimed, through abiding with the human rights law of the UN, to stop this form of sterotyping, it is only on the surface where they acted on. In depth, it actually still exist as a core problem between the Whites and the Blacks which can lead to other problems of society like murder, robbery, etc.
This can be another topic for you to think about, Jane ! =D
i guess there is no avoiding sterotyping in this world. =(
hmmm, i would think tht stereotyping is quite serious in modern day society.
i mean even i would stereotype sometimes!but we all have a image in our minds of what a standard male and female should roughly look like.and if the way they dress is not what we expected, i suppose there is still room to accept such dressings?
:D
Sterotyping is what we tend to do most of the time. Guess we have to be more open minded and see the world in a bigger picture.
I think these stereotyping is plainly a common thing in society nowadays. It's actually hard to avoid. I'm sure everyone does that unknowingly sometimes. However, i think it does potrays about our upbringing and character as well through our acts, for this case, stereotyping. This post is actually a brief description on the what's really happening in the world nowadays. And i do agree with your points stated in the post. However, i feel there are pros and cons to everything.
Great post!
Ah, the fact that stereotyping is so common among us leads me to think that its more of a human nature to do so. So, i would think that its not wrong to generalize the situation but its more of how you express it.
I agree with what you said about stereotypes. All of us are guilty of stereotyping someone - it is inveitable. The only thing we can do is to try to consciously reduce it.
IMO stereotyping is a kind a self-defence that everyone does. Still we should be open minded. But hack, humans suck.
indeed, sterotyping seems to always exist in our minds, it is a subconcious thing that keeps working in our heads of which none of us can avoid. more obvious sterotyping would be "oh she smokes, so she is a bad girl". but i beg to differ. i actually have friends who smoke to relax. they take it like "coffee"--a small dosage is for the sake of perking you up for the rest of the day. not much of an addiction, but i form of relaxation? haha
well thats life janey! no ones perfect. to be honest, im also a culprit. Well, its their choice, if they choose to be gay, butch lesbians etc, its their life not ours sooo... its best that to keep the offensive remarks to yourself as could hurt others ;)
Judging people is like so common nowadays. Everyone seems to be doing it and it is without fail. Nothing really bothers to think about what the others might feel but more on what they did. I believe that they should place themselves into others shoes to understand what the person is going through
samantha
well,stereotyping occurs because we don't actually have the mental resources to analyse every new situation we encounter. However, it leads us to miss out on the differences and the exceptions in the groups, which is of course, bad.
oie, your blog dead alr ahh?
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