stereotypes

Read recent news stories involving stereotypes on Newser.com

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Viewers Aren't Amused by Baking Show's 'Mexico Week'

UK audience points out stereotypes

(Newser) - The Great British Bake Off could have researched traditional Mexican baking and the differences between favorites such as pastes Hidalguenses and pastes (cakes) in Britain. But that's not what happened during the program's "Mexico Week" episode that aired Tuesday in the UK, a professor of Mexican cultural...

Romania's Olympians Were Welcomed With a Dracula Pic
Broadcaster Says Sorry for
'Inexcusable' Gaffe at Olympics
in case you missed it

Broadcaster Says Sorry for 'Inexcusable' Gaffe at Olympics

Among stereotypical pics used in opening ceremonies: Chernobyl for Ukraine, pizza for Italy

(Newser) - Ukrainians tuning in to the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday were likely looking forward to catching a glimpse of the athletes representing their country, not a photo of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that wreaked havoc within its borders in 1986. If they happened to watch the sporting...

We're Ignoring 'Lookism,' and It Isn't Right
We're Ignoring 'Lookism,'
and It Isn't Right
OPINION

We're Ignoring 'Lookism,' and It Isn't Right

Writing for the 'NYT,' David Brooks takes on discrimination against the unattractive

(Newser) - Sexism and racism are bad, but there's another "ism" that David Brooks is concerned about, and one for which there doesn't seem to be much legal recourse: "lookism," the term Brooks uses in his newest op-ed for the New York Times to describe "prejudice...

Soccer Commentator Apologizes for His Latino Remark

Jim Beglin made the comment about a penalized player from Argentina

(Newser) - A CBS soccer commentator has apologized for attributing a red card to a player's "Latino temperament." Jim Beglin made the comment during a match Tuesday between Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, ESPN reports. Angel Di Maria, who's from Argentina, had just been penalized for kicking a...

Simpsons' Apu Actor Had His Own Reckoning

Hank Azaria apologizes for participating in 'structural racism'

(Newser) - More than a year after Hank Azaria, a white actor, announced he would stop voicing the Indian-American character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on The Simpsons, he's apologizing in full. "I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that. Part of me feels like I need to go...

Disneyland to Redo Offensive Scenes on Jungle Cruise

Theme park says it will remove 'negative depictions of native people'

(Newser) - The Jungle Cruise, a Disneyland staple since 1955, has regularly undergone tweaks. It's now in for a broader rethinking, the Walt Disney Co. announced Monday. The goals are to make the ride more inclusive and racially sensitive, the Los Angeles Times reports. That will be achieved partly by eliminating...

Emily Ratajkowski Won't 'Know' Baby's Gender Till Age 18

Supermodel announces pregnancy, says she won't impose an identity on her soon-to-arrive child

(Newser) - Emily Ratajkowski's "pumpkin spice" hair is making headlines , but that isn't the biggest news of the week for her. In an essay for Vogue , the 29-year-old supermodel reveals she's pregnant, but if you're tempted to ask if she's having a boy or a girl,...

Big Brand on Packaging Change: 'The Time Is Right'

Mars Inc. rice brand, now to be called 'Ben's Original,' is losing Uncle Ben

(Newser) - Following in the steps of Aunt Jemima and Land O'Lakes , another major brand is about to experience an overhaul. This time around, it's Uncle Ben's rice, which is getting a new name and dropping the picture that has long appeared on the product's packaging. The updated...

Trader Joe's: We're Keeping Ethnic Food Names After All

Chain seems to do 180 after teen's petition to change branding she said was offensive

(Newser) - A California teen's petition to get Trader Joe's to change the branding on some of its international food items looked like it hit home with the grocery chain, but after hinting on a phaseout, management seems to be backtracking on that plan. Briones Bedell has noted some of...

After 130 Years, Aunt Jemima Is Getting an Overhaul

Aunt Jemima brand is changing logo, name to 'make progress toward racial equality'

(Newser) - For decades, supermarket shoppers have seen bottles of maple syrup represented by log cabins, matrons with aprons, and one especially controversial brand that's now getting an overhaul. Per NBC News , Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, announced Wednesday it will completely change both the logo and name of its...

Research Claws at 'Crazy Cat Lady' Stereotype
Research Claws at
'Crazy Cat Lady' Stereotype
NEW STUDY

Research Claws at 'Crazy Cat Lady' Stereotype

It suggests cat owners are no more anxious, depressed than others

(Newser) - Roughly half of Americans buy into the "crazy cat lady" stereotype, generally believing cat owners to be single women surrounded by numerous balls of fur, according to a 2015 survey spotted by the Los Angeles Times . It's a long-standing idea, as evidenced by an 1872 editorial in the...

NYC Mayor on New MTV Show: 'Shameless Ratings Grab'

Staten Island residents aren't happy about 'Made in Staten Island' for its Italian-American 'stereotypes'

(Newser) - If a neighborhood was featured on a new reality show, one would think locals would be pretty excited. But for Staten Island residents, MTV's new series debuting Monday is nothing but a "shameless ratings grab" full of "stereotypes." That's per a recent tweet from NYC...

Men Are From Mars (Logic), Women From Venus (Empathy)

Cambridge scientists reinforce old stereotypes; critics pounce on 'neurosexism'

(Newser) - In what's said to be the largest study examining differences between the sexes, a longtime stereotype is holding some water—though critics are pushing back on the supposed biological merit underlying the results. The Telegraph reports that researchers at the University of Cambridge tested more than 670,000 people...

School Staffers' Halloween Get-Up a 'Gross Display of Dehumanization'

Superintendent apologizes after staffers dressed as 'border wall' and in stereotypical Mexican garb

(Newser) - Halloween is over, but the controversy in one Idaho town isn't. NBC News reports that the superintendent for Middleton School District has issued an apology after photos were shared on social media of staffers at Heights Elementary School dressed up, as a group, as both stereotypical Mexicans—complete with...

Artificial Intelligence Can Be Racist, Sexist Like Humans
Machine Learning Has
a Weakness: Humans
new study

Machine Learning Has a Weakness: Humans

Study finds that artificial intelligence can adopt our racism, sexism

(Newser) - Artificial intelligence has come a long way in recent years, and algorithms with machine-learning applications are proving skillful at things like playing poker, lip-reading, and, unfortunately, being biased. Researchers at Princeton proved the point in an experiment involving an algorithm known as GloVe , which has learned about 840 billion words...

She Was Once Called 'Monster.' Now She's a Trailblazer

Noelia Garella is breaking stereotypes by teaching preschool in Argentina

(Newser) - A woman once called a "monster" when her parents tried to enroll her in nursery school has just achieved a longtime dream: running her own nursery school class in Argentina as Latin America's first teacher with Down syndrome, Mother Nature Network reports. Noelia Garella, 31, who teaches an...

On Facebook, Cat People Are 'Tired,' Dog People 'Excited'

Cat people prefer fantasy and anime, while dog people go for romance and, well, dogs

(Newser) - Facebook analyzed the behaviors and preferences of 160,000 people who posted photos of cats and dogs, at once both confirming and busting several prevailing pet myths. For instance: Cat owners have 26 fewer friends on Facebook, yet are more likely to be invited to events than their canine-loving...

Takei, Other Asian Academy Members Blast Oscars' Asian Jokes

Letter to Academy calls skits on awards show 'tasteless and offensive'

(Newser) - The child actors who were part of a joke about Asians on Oscars night seem unperturbed by the ensuing controversy, but more than two dozen members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who are of Asian descent feel otherwise. Per the Hollywood Reporter , 25 members—including director...

Oscars Kid Unfazed by Asian Joke, Mom Not So Much

'This was not OK and should never have happened'

(Newser) - Little Estie Kung has never seen Chris Rock's work (not even Madagascar) and doesn't quite understand the ins and outs of child labor. So when the 8-year-old child actor and chef (she's competed on FYI's Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown) became the center of a controversy...

Netflix Changes 'Racist' Summary for Pocahontas

Writer pointed out sexism and stereotypes against Native Americans

(Newser) - Until recently, the Netflix description for the 1995 animated Disney film Pocahontas read like the back cover of a Harlequin novel—and was sexist and racist to boot, a Native American writer asserts, per the Guardian . The original description, seen in a screenshot Adrienne Keene posted on the Native Appropriations...

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