Shattering Stereotypes

I watched the movie “I Tonya” today. Tonya Harding was probably never given her due. She was short and stockier, more muscular, than most figure skaters. Sure, she came from a poorer family and there was that attack on Nancy Kerrigan, but I think Harding was also penalized for her curly hair, her muscular build, and her shortness. She did not have the slim, sleek lines of an elite figure skater. The judges didn’t think she looked the part.

We stereotype people and we stereotype what powerful people should look like. In Moneyball, in both the book and movie, traditionally scouts picked prospects who “looked” like sluggers. Sabermetrics, based on analytical, statistical data, has revolutionized baseball.   Jose Altuve shows us the fallacy of relying on stereotypes.

We stereotype powerful people. Most powerful people are educated white men. Latinos, African-Americans, women and other groups don’t fit in that cookie cutter.  But, this world is changing.

We all have biases. Some we recognize, some we don’t.  These biases are implicit. Once we face our pre-judgments, we can work on overcoming them.