Reducing Biases and Stereo Types
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Biased Assertion: High-school students are prone to disobey their parents.
Better Assertion: Some high-school students are prone to disobey their parents.
Provide Evidence: Be cautious while using your beliefs and opinions
Biased Assertion: No women participated in war during Medieval period.
Better Assertion: English Heritage.org mentions the absence of women in warfare during
medieval period.
Be objective: Be cautious while taking a positive or negative position.
Biased Assertion: The current prime minister is perfect in developing national policies.
Better Assertion: The current prime minister can develop urgent national
policies.
- Be specific: Be cautious while writing about age, disability, gender, racial or ethnic groups, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status
- For age, prefer specificity in age representation
Prefer ‘35-40 years old’ to ‘under 40 years old’
For disability, prefer name of the disabled condition of the person
Prefer ‘visually impaired’ to ‘people with disability’
iii. For gender, prefer gender identity of the person wherever necessary
Prefer ‘transgender woman’ to just ‘woman’ or ‘people’
For gender-free language, prefer gender-free language
Prefer ‘firefighters’ to ‘firemen’ and ‘mailman’ to ‘mail carrier’
For racial or ethnic groups, prefer the name of the nation or region of origin
Prefer Indian Americans or Mexican Americans to Asian Americans or Latin Americans
For sexual orientation of the person, prefer specific category to broad group labels
Prefer ‘lesbians’, ‘gay men’, ‘bisexual people’ to the broad group labels like ‘gay’
vii. For socio-economic status, prefer income range of the people
Prefer ‘below the federal poverty threshold’ to general category like ‘low income
people’
Avoiding Stereotypical Language
Stereotypical expressions make gross generalization about people. They perpetuate age long unproved and biased assumptions of one group of people about another group. Stereotyping makes people victim of the race, caste, class, gender, nationality, sexuality and many other identity markers. Avoid the following types of stereotypes in implicit or explicit level:
Nationality stereotype: Muslims are orthodox or terrorists.
Race stereotype: White people are racists.
Class stereotype: Poor people do not want to work.
Sexuality stereotype: Homosexuals are deviants.
Gender stereotype: Women are weak.
Use Non-discriminatory Language
Non-discriminatory language refers to the use of inclusive language to address and describe all people, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity and physical or intellectual characteristics.
- Reduce biases:
- Describe at the appropriate level of specificity:
- g. Prefer 'lesbians' 'gay men' bisexual men' and 'bisexual women' for 'homosexuals.'
- Be sensitive to Labels. Respect people's preferences by calling them what they prefer to be called.
e.g., Prefer specific category instead of the term like 'culturally deprived'. Use ‘spouse’ for 'man/husband and wife.'
Do not categorize heterosexuals as normal and homosexuals as deviants.
- Acknowledge Participation
e.g., 'The students completed the survey' is preferable to 'The students were given the survey.'
(ii) Use Gender-free language
e.g., Prefer 'human beings' for 'men' to refer both men and women.
(iii) Avoid Historical and Interpretive Inaccuracies:
Language should not misrepresent the ideas of the past. Changes in nouns and pronouns may result in serious misrepresentation of the original ideas. That may give a false interpretation of those beliefs and intention. Not to create this problem, we can use original language of the author inside the quotation and then only comment on it in their analysis.
For example:
Original quote: "All men are created equal."
Misrepresented quote: "All humans are created equal."
Explanation: The original quote is from the United States Declaration of Independence, and it was written at a time when the concept of "men" only referred to white, property-owning men. If we change "men" to "humans" to make it more inclusive, we run the risk of misrepresenting the original intent and context of the statement. It is important to use the original language when quoting historical texts, and then offer analysis and interpretation in order to provide context and a more nuanced understanding of the ideas expressed. In this case, we might comment on how the phrase "all men" was understood at the time of the writing, and how it has been reinterpreted over time to include people of different genders, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds.Bottom of Form