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"[G]roup stereotypes can threaten how students evaluate themselves, which then alters academic identity and intellectual performance"

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Stereotype threat widens achievement gap

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Neither genetics nor cultural differences lead to poor academic achievement. Negative stereotypes raise inhibiting doubts and high-pressure anxieties in a test-taker's mind.

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Here is where I would upload a defense of this bulletin board. I would upload the document using the page icon below, rather than typing the whole thing in this box.

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What can #threecharacters tell us about racial stereotypes? gender stereotypes?

Do we think of ourselves in terms of stereotypes? Is that dangerous or harmful, and if so, for who?

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Video that shows limited, flat roles for women in film. Here it's particularly interesting because these are all children's films, suggesting that we are impressing limited opportunities on women from a young age. 

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Video that shows limited, flat roles for women in film. Here it's particularly interesting because these are all children's films, suggesting that we are impressing limited opportunities on women from a young age. 

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Comedy article about ridiculous sexy women's costumes. Although it's a comedy article, it illustrates the intersection of the limited roles for women in our culture, and the sexual objectification of women. Women are expected to fulfill limited roles, all of which are assumed for the purpose of fulfilling the needs of others.

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Halloween and geek conventions have one awesome thing in common: They give women an excuse to wear outfits that their own sense of modesty and dignity would otherwise never allow them to leave the house in.

Therefore, the costume industry struggles mightily to come up with a "sexy" version of every single costume ever made. The results cover the spectrum from laughable to terrifying.

We know for a damn well fact that there is at least one porno out there with this theme. We also know for a fact that not a single non-serial killer has masturbated to it.

This can also be said about ...

Really stop and think about the target audience for this costume: heterosexual males who have sex fantasies about Michael Jackson.

We're not saying those guys don't exist; we're saying that if you're a sexy young lady who goes home with one of them, next year he's going to be wearing your face as a mask for Halloween.

We hope we're not out of line when we say that imagining yourself boning a fish -- or any character from a Disney/Pixar film, really -- means you're probably due for some counseling.

Then again, this costume is less "Nemo" and more "Prostitute who murdered Nemo and is wearing his skin to entice johns."

Nothing says sexy like Big Bird's shrunken, disembodied head casually eating the skull of a delusional 80s pop star who's checking her shoe for dog turds. Honestly, how far down the list of common sex fantasies do you have to go before you find goddamned Big Bird --

-- Wait, what the fuck? There's more than one of these costumes out there? And both of them make it look like Big Bird is eating the woman's cranium? And they both use the same freaking pink platform shoes? This demands further investigation.

Oh, wait. No. It doesn't.

Our first thought upon seeing this was, "ASS!" But our second thought was that behind that mask is either a decaying Sith lord on life support or Hayden Christensen.

Though we admit that the Star Wars prequels would be considered the best films of all time if the third ended with Palpatine saying, "Rise, Lord Vader," and out stepped that.

That is a cat behind that crotch-level door. There has to be a pun there somewhere, but for the life of us, we can't figure out what it might be.

Though if she gets drunk and vomits inside there, you'll wind up with probably the best Halloween party photo of your life.

Well, hell, you put that outfit on a woman and it just looks stupid.

We even tried to force this one to be sexy by imagining her having sex with Priscilla. Seriously, don't do that.

This is the laziest costume we've ever seen. Do you see the sad, tiny little turtle shell strapped to her back? The one that in no way corresponds to the shell pattern on her torso? And think about this: The Ninja Turtles didn't wear clothes. Look it up. Which means that her skirt is actually a part of her presumably grotesquely deformed turtle body.

Wait, no. This is the laziest costume. It's a damned blue jumpsuit with a "CSI" patch glued to it. And while we don't want to sound like a broken record, who is it that has sex fantasies about the team of people who collect your hair and semen to test for DNA? Once again: serial killers.

We're telling you, half of the sexy costume industry is either run by or intended for that demographic.

Wait, no. This is the laziest one. We like to call it, "Regular Goth Dress While Grabbing Your Own Ass." We can't tell you the number of times we showed up to the Cracked Halloween party to find four other people dressed the same way. It's very hard to drink in this outfit, because when you remove your hands, the costume loses its meaning.

Stay classy, costume industry! Here's a character who is between 11 and 17 years old, depending on which Harry Potter book you're fantasizing about. Though we like how the costume makers offset that by putting it on a 58-year-old model.

Oh, wait. Maybe this costume isn't Hermione -- it's Hermione's mom, putting on her daughter's schoolgirl costume to spice things up in the bedroom, because she knows her husband has incest fantasies. See! Not creepy at all.

And while we're on the subject ...

Just to be clear, if you go to a party, and a woman is dressed in this outfit, do not invite her back to your place. There are police in that van across the street, and they will follow you, shovels at the ready to unearth your terrible, terrible secrets.

We understand there's a thin line between "sexy and innocent" and "pedophile bait," but seriously. Teddy bear. Though we suppose she could just be portraying a very girlish and naive adult. After all, it's not like the costume specifically says, "Sexy eight-year-old" ...

This one does! Yes, that's a Cindy Brady costume. A character who was eight or nine years old when that outfit was in style on The Brady Bunch. Again, if you ever see this costume, look closely, because there's a tiny little FBI camera hidden in the wig.

OK, no more creepy pedophile stuff.

WHAT? GAH! Pebbles is an infant. Nobody in the history of humankind has ever had a fetish that involved Pebbles whose story didn't end with the sound of a gavel banging and the words, "... mercy on your soul."

In case you didn't catch it, it's supposed to be sexy because it says "SEXY" on it. Notice the costume makes far more sense if you take away the little toy football and give her a stripper pole.

Honestly, guys, you really can't grasp how demeaning a costume like this is for a woman, unless you were to, we don't know, see the equivalent on a guy or something.

Here we go! One of you guys out there, preferably one in your 40s and weighing in the 250-pound range, put this on and go trick-or-treating. Let's see how long you last before you see the red and blue lights behind you.

Wait, is that Dane Cook? Don't answer that. We're going to keep believing that's Dane Cook.

Some commenter is going to point out that those bull horns are just sloppily photoshopped onto what is clearly a photo from a clothing catalog, but you can blame the costume makers for that, not us. If you pan down, you find no hooves or tail, just some nice slacks and dress shoes. The point being, this costume was so stupid they couldn't convince a model to put it on long enough to snap a photo.

They couldn't get the license to use the name "Papa Smurf," so they called this one "Blue Daddy." We're not sure which one makes it creepier. Wait, why is there a Smurf in the background getting launched out of a catapult?

Funny? Yeah, we can see that. But this cockless blow-up sex doll was listed under the "sexy" section, for whoever dreams of fucking the mouth of a dickless Mario.

Also, we will utilize every method available, no matter how immoral or illegal, to never see the back of this costume.
For more terrible costume ideas, check out 20 Costumes That Will Earn You a Halloween Beating and The 35 Most Insane Halloween Costumes from Around the World. And stop by Linkstorm to see David Wong's Robert Brockway costume (we aren't sure where Brockway has gone to, so we don't know how accurate it is). And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get sexy, sexy jokes sent straight to your news feed. Do you have an idea in mind that would make a great article? Then sign up for our writers workshop! Do you possess expert skills in image creation and manipulation? Mediocre? Even rudimentary? Are you frightened by MS Paint and simply have a funny idea? You can create an infograpic and you could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow!

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26 Sexy Halloween Costumes That Shouldn't Exist

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Halloween and geek conventions have one awesome thing in common: They give women an excuse to wear outfits that their own sense of modesty and dignity would otherwise never allow them to leave the house in. Therefore, the costume industry struggles mightily to come up with a "sexy" version of every single costume ever made.

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Argument about how #threecharacters exposes some unpleasant realities about media depictions of minority women

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Argument about how #threecharacters exposes some unpleasant realities about media depictions of minority women

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xoJane: Women's Lifestyle & Community Site - xoJane

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A friend once asked me why I didn't like the TV show Friends.

As a young white woman who came of age during Friends's heyday, she only had rosy feelings for the show. I don't begrudge her those feelings, as we can't choose what triggers warmth and nostalgia in us. If we were to censor all our childhood memories, I suspect most of us would be left with none.

We can only educate ourselves and make new, smarter, rosy memories as we age.

But she couldn't understand why I didn't love Friends. It was hilarious, it had something for everyone, and, yeah, it was unrealistic and "Fat Monica" was horrible, but it was possible to see beyond that at the time. The times were different, right?

The times were different...but not all that different. This is more or less what I told my friend:

"I understand why you love Friends. You see yourself in it. As a young girl, you saw yourself being Monica or Rachel or Phoebe. I did not. There is a plethora of reasons why not to love Friends; there is a plethora of reasons why to love Friends. I can only tell you why I don't love Friends.

"I admit that when I was a teenager, I watched episodes of Friends, I laughed at parts, I knew the basic stories. But I never felt close to it. I looked at that band of privileged white people and I saw nobody like me. I saw a world where I didn't quite belong. Where there wasn't room for me on the coffee shop couch (unless I was somebody's girlfriend of the week). I couldn't relate on any level. As a Chinese American kid from suburban Dallas, a part of me was sincerely afraid that if that was the world of 'cool, hip adults making it in the world,' then was I doomed to fail? (Fail in the terms created by Friends- world.)

"I wondered if 'the world' [America] wasn't interested in people who looked like me?"
I might be making too much out of a sitcom with a haircut.
"Yes, Friends wasn't the only show like this, but it's the show that for some reason, people continually don't understand WHY I don't like it. The older I get, the less I like it. And yes, it's ENTERTAINMENT, it's television, but entertainment is how our culture forms its self-image. It is the conduit through which young people, more than ever, form a mental picture of normalcy.

"When you grow up not seeing yourself in the media (unless you're a soulless stereotype) you begin to question if you're 'normal.'"

My friend sat there staring at me. If there had been a record, it would have scratched.

I didn't want to be a buzzkill...but OK.

"You're right. I never thought of it that way. I get it," she said. And in that moment, I felt a teeny, tiny victory.

That question of "normal" in western media popped back into my head this week. Everyone and their Uncle Roger is playing that game on Facebook where they post three pictures of fictional characters that best describe them.

People are posting pictures of Mary Poppins, Liz Lemon, and Miss Piggy; Mr. T, Punky Brewster, and the Kool-Aid Man; Bridget Jones, Captain Planet, and Eliza Doolittle. Most folks in my feed are sticking to film and television in their thinking, so I am too (I figure it's because images of book characters just aren't as Googleable). I should add that most people in my Facebook feed are also American.

I've been moderately amused by some of the posts.

And while I don't normally play these reindeer games, I started thinking about my three characters this morning. Two things happened:

1. I immediately thought of myself as animals. My first thoughts went to Flipper, Garfield, and Mr. Ed. Or maybe I just want those characters to be MY Friends. (I'd watch that show.)

2. I could barely think of any Asian women characters in American film or television that I would say accurately reflect my experience as a human woman. A human woman Louise, nonetheless.

Yes, I know there are remarkable Asian women characters in books. But by the nature of it being FACEbook, the game asks for images. And where do most Americans primarily draw images of fictional characters from? Film and television.

This is not to say that Asian women characters do not exist at all in film and television. But the fact that I feel like I could name nearly all of them in one sitting, with very little help from Google, makes me sad. (I'm not talking ALL Asian women onscreen characters; I'm just thinking of the ones that aren't scratch-my-eyes-out offensive.) And frankly, while, yes, many of these women are as well rounded as women get to be in mainstream media, with such a narrow field to draw from, it's hard for me to say, "Oh, yes! There I am!"

Here is an incomplete list of Asian women characters from mostly television (because TV suckled me from its teat when I was a child, and that's where my brain goes):

Joan Watson from Elementary

Lane from Gilmore Girls

Margaret Kim from All-American Girl*

Agent May from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Mindy from The Mindy Project

Dr. "Deb" Chen from E.R.

Ensign Sato from Star Trek: Enterprise

Dr. Cristina Yang from Grey's Anatomy

Jessica Huang from Fresh Off the Boat

The women of The Joy Luck Club

Dr. Park from House

* All-American Girl was hugely problematic, and Margaret Cho knew it. However, I feel the need to include it because of the seeds it planted, how THRILLED I was to have ANYTHING like it on TV when I was a kid, and because Margaret Cho was and is very influential as to how I learned to own my Asian woman identity. But, yeah, that show was cringeworthy.

I know this list is not complete or perfect. Many of the characters on there are controversial and/or are still slogging through the outer suburbs of Stereotype City. I feel like we're slowly zeroing in what an "Asian woman" is, but it's a long, slow spiral.

And, yes, I also know I'm making a big deal out of a dumb Facebook game. A friend of mine pointed out that my three fictional characters don't have to be Asian or female (as evidenced by other women posting as a mishmash of men, cartoons, animals, etc.).

I proceeded to tell her about Flipper, Garfield, and Mr. Ed. (Because I'm enthusiastic, because I'm hungry, because I'm wise in a surprising kind of way, in case you're wondering.)

But that's the thing: Why should I have to relegate reflections of myself to abstract images of cartoon cats and talking horses? Or men? Or cartoons (of the drawn kind or the racially stereotyped kind)?

As a woman, an Asian human, and a Chinese American woman, it saddens me that in a country as diverse as the one I consider home, I still have to pick through the bargain bin of characters that mainstream media deems "accurate enough." Yes, it's getting better, but when better is simply being acknowledged as existing in the first place, excuse me if me and the other Dragon Ladies don't do a kick line - er, I mean, a fan dance? Wait, do your surgery? Be your ninja sidekick? Sorry, Hollywood, which one is the one we do?

(And P.S.: If being acknowledged as existing means that parts written for women of Asian descent go to white movie stars because "EGADS! An Asian woman can't carry a movie written for an Asian woman! But at least we're making this movie with this character-san!" then I'd like to rescind the above-mentioned "It's getting better" and replace it with "It's getting the same.")

Look, I do not and cannot expect to see a spot-on depiction of LOUISE in film and television. Film and television are not reality. Hell, THE PUBLISHED INTERNET WORD IS NOT REALITY. I know that and you (I hope) know that.

But even though we know it's all not real, we still reference film and television as touchstones for our reality. We can't help it. What we see on the screen has become so interwoven into our consciousness that we cannot help but regurgitate aspects of it into our lives. Blerg! I'll have what she's having!

This post was brought to you by a dumb TV show, a dumb Facebook game, and the simmering rage I so rarely publicly express over how Asian people continue to be ignored, erased, and generalized in film and television (Chinese is Japanese is Korean is Vietnamese is Hawaiian is Indian is...).

AND I LOVE FILM AND TELEVISION, DAMN IT!

It's like the whole industry is saying to Asian people, people of color, "We're just not that into you!" (SEE! More media references! By the power of Grayskull!)

I've said this before, but as Americans we are standing on a precipice above a giant, bubbling shit-cauldron of normalized hate. Maybe we'll find a bridge across it, but there are a scary amount of people who are like, "Come on in, the water's white!" (Oh, wait... But not you... You can't come in...)

When faced with the normalization of such hate, how can we hope to live in an accepting, non-violent society if we are fueled by imagery that only shows one side? One life experience? One "normal"?

If what we see on American film and television screens depicts characters "for everyone" what about the "other ones" who aren't shown?

The "other ones" are being told that they don't count, and the "everyones" are being told that they count more.

So 1,670 words later (oops, this was supposed to be a "short post," sorry Jamie!), the reason I'm not going to play Facebook's game is because it wasn't really meant for me, as an Asian American woman.

My experience is still a little too far outside of the realm of "normal."

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Why I'm Not Playing the "Pick 3 Fictional Characters That Describe You" Game on Facebook

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A friend once asked me why I didn't like the TV show Friends. As a young white woman who came of age during Friends's heyday, she only had rosy feelings for the show. I don't begrudge her those feelings, as we can't choose what triggers warmth and nostalgia in us.