Stereotyping—In Fact & Fiction

Pearlsong Press Weekcontinues with a guest post from author Lauri J Owen . Lauri is a civil rights author who grew up in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. She started reading fantasy novels in the third grade, and other than taking time out to sleep, never really stopped. She worked in law enforcement for more than a decade before becoming an attorney. After completing U.C. Berkeley’s law school she moved to the Alaska Bush, where she fell in love with the magic and majesty that exemplifies her new home state. She is the author of the paranormal romance novels Fallen Embers and Blowing Embers , Books 1 and 2 of The Embers Series, available in original trade paperback and ebook from Pearlsong Press .

Comment on this post for a chance to win the ebooks Fallen Embersand Blowing Embers. A winner will be randomly chosen from the commenters. This offer is valid until midnight EST, Tuesday June 19, 2012.

Stereotyping—In Fact & Fiction
by Lauri J Owen

What’s a plus-sized woman with a brown belt in Tai Kwon-do get?
Anything she wants.
Don’t laugh. That’s not a joke.

Or maybe you didn’t laugh. Maybe instead you stopped there, somewhere hip deep inside that first sentence, and wondered how a fat woman ever managed to earn a martial arts belt.
If you did, don’t feel bad. We do that all the time. It’s called stereotyping. We do it because we share the planet with billions of other people, and we’re busy, and sometimes it’s because they’re different and we’re scared of them—though frankly I think we do it because it’s easier than examining the facts of every single situation and every person we meet.
 The problem, of course, happens when we start accepting those generalizations as Truth. Not truth—little “t,” as in “sometimes this appears to be a trend”—but as Truth—big “T,” as in “God proclaimed it from the mountain and it is always, always, always true.”
Well, even the most cursory of examinations show that of course any stereotype is never true all the time (and sometimes it isn’t true at all). Take fat—being fat—for instance. Lazy. Never exercise. Eat nothing but fast food. Get diabetes. Have lots of heart attacks. Lonely. Unliked. Unhealthy.  
(For instance see http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art58211.asp and http://www.npr.org/2011/08/08/138958386/big-fat-stereotypes-play-out-on-the-small-screen.)
I write books about a plus-sized heroine who is also belted in Tai Kwon-do (which, not coincidentally, are two things she and I share) who goes on a rollicking, romantic adventure. Recently on a review web site someone rated my book very poorly, which happens sometimes because we all have different tastes, but in this case, the only criticism the woman had for my stories is that my heroine is “quite overweight” and yet engages in martial arts. “It is fantasy, I guess,” she finally concludes.
I am offended, but not because this woman didn’t like my books. What gets me is how easily this woman accepts that fat women can’t punch or high kick. And how many other readers thought the same?Sure, sure. Some fat women can’t do martial arts. But then lots of skinny women can’t, either.
Many of us read books because we want to escape. We want to ensconce ourselves deep inside a world where the good gals win, the gal gets her guy, and justice will prevail. During our journey we don’t often want to dive too deeply inside society’s trash troves in search of Truth, which is, I think, why stereotypes prevail so weightily inside pop fiction.
We have to take a look, though, my friends, at fat stereotypes, because more than half of us are fat, and when we believe in untruth, we mislead and even hurt ourselves. I’m no sociologist, but I think our fear of fat is tied to the empowerment of women in particular. Regardless of where this comes from though, we need to stop. Or at least slow way down.
Being fat doesn’t automatically translate into being lazy, or being unhealthy, or eating fast food. Or any other of those thinking shortcuts.
Excavate them. That’s my advice. Then take the time to reexamine what you think about being fat. Research your conclusions, and make a commitment to do the same in a year.
Meh. This is really all about me. And you know what? I’m a fat girl who’s always wanted more.
And now that I’m belted in TKD, I’ve got it.