Media Myths: 30 Things People Believe Are Incorrectly Portrayed As Stigmatized
Interview
People around the world are suspicious about the information that reaches them. For example, the 32% of Americans who say they trust the mass media "a great deal" or "a fair amount" to cover the news fully and accurately ties Gallup's lowest historical reading, previously recorded in 2016.
Another 29% of American adults have "not very much" trust, while a record-high 39% register "none at all." The latest figure is the highest in Gallup's five-decade history of tracking these metrics by one percentage point and 12 points higher than the 2016 number, which came amid sharp criticism of the media from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, making the current assessment the grimmest we've seen.
Image credits: stefan_reevezsky
However, many believe the situation isn't that much better even if we take a step away from reporting. Last week, Reddit user Stefan_Reevezsky asked others on the platform "What things are claimed to be 'stigmatized' in [the] media, but actually aren't in society?" and folks have thought of plenty.
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Boomers, hands down
The vast majority of boomers are sweet elderly people who are nice to talk to. Not racist caricatures that spout nonsense all the time.
In America, the boomers gave us civil rights. A lot of them were shipped off to war in Vietnam against their will. Every generation faces its own challenges. The boomers had their share.
Doing stuff by yourself. Some people here get almost hysterical when they describe eating at a restaurant or seeing a movie by yourself. I guarantee you that if you’re behaving normally, no one else gives the tiniest of s**ts if you went out by yourself.
We got in touch with the author of the post, and they were kind enough to tell us more about it. "I had this question come to mind while I was developing the storyline for a detective novel I'm planning to write," Stefan_Reevezsky explained to Bored Panda. "The protagonist in my story faces trial based on allegations concocted by a third-party journalist investigator."
The Redditor elaborated on their thought process, saying, "As I was brainstorming, the word 'stigma' popped up frequently, leading me to realize that many things portrayed as 'unacceptable' in popular media are actually mundane in real society."
Blue-collared jobs sometimes are looked down upon in media, but in reality, skilled trades are often in high demand and well-respected.
I worked in IT for 16 years of struggle. It was bad for my body (ten hours a day in a chair hunched over a keyboard isn’t great on you) it was bad for my mental health mostly because the industry is always in flux. Layoffs are common, policy changes daily and when the company loses 10% stock value it’s do more with no resources and no days off. In 16 years I was with 6 different companies. I was only fired once (quite quit type of thing, I didn’t care anymore and was just calling out sick to interview other places because they wouldn’t approve pto anymore without a month of notice) the rest I was laid off, restructured. I work a pretty blue collar job now and I make more. Get to be outside all day and I could honestly make it through months never seeing my boss if I don’t want to ( my boss is cool tho too.) it took a few years to advance to the money I made in it but now I’m doing better and I’m on track for a good retirement because now I have not just a 401k but a pension too.
"Take tattoos or piercings, for example. Despite articles claiming they're stigmatized, there's a mainstream culture around them, and most people outside of it simply don't care, except for certain workplace norms," the Reddit user said.
"The same goes for being gay, short, a single mother, a blue-collar worker, or dealing with depression or other mental health issues."
Maybe wanting to stay single. Media portrays it as a desperate cry for love, but in reality, it's pretty liberating!
This one for sure. I was constantly seeking a relationship. It wasn’t until I spent a few years singing and being introspective about why my relationships failed that I was actually ready to be in a relationship. I’ve been married for 15 years now. I couldn’t make a relationship last 15 weeks prior. Do you and you might actually find someone who fits you.
Slightly niche perhaps, but my kids always had trouble buying Fathers Day cards for me because I didn't spend my evenings down the pub, fish or play golf.
Stefan_Reevezsky tried to find similar threads on Reddit but they couldn't, so they decided to just post the question themselves and see what everyone thinks.
The responses were diverse, but from that the author of the post has gathered, "Western media tends to portray many things as stigmatized because people, especially young ones, seek reassurance by finding 'dragons to slay.'"
I have to say wearing glasses and having braces. No one called me four eyes. No one called me tinsel teeth. Believe me, I was made fun of as a kid, but those weren’t the reasons.
I was in 6th grade (11-12 years old) when I got my first pair of glasses. I go to school the next day, fully expecting to be called 'four eyes' but the boy who sat in front of me told me the glasses made me look very sophisticated. Made my day. Made the whole year.
Congratulations. But it has been some people's experience, unfortunately.
I think this is a generational thing, probably hasn't been a thing in the last couple of decades but it certainly used to be!!!!
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I started wearing glasses when I was 8. I did get called four eyes and felt like I was less attractive because of them.
I was 9, someone called me goggles, but I didn't much care because I could see properly. However I did feel less attractive for not being blond
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If you feel insecure about glasses try on some that are "loud" . I had pink butterfly glasses with glas stones as a teen and now I wear huuuge retro glasses. Rock it!
Yeah but in the 80s you probably had thick ugly dorky frames unless your family could afford to splash out. These days you don't have to look like a bad Buddy Holly cosplayer unless you want to.
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I was bullied for my braces. Brace face, train tracks, metal mouth, etc. every day it wasn't great but i dont think it really effected me. I have them for 4 years it eventually stopped.
Lucky you then - wearing glasses was one of the things I got most bullied about as a 90s kid. I think it’s no longer a thing because much more kids wear glasses these days
I mean how could you make fun of someone whose parents could afford that kind of stuff? Like me my parents had good, union jobs here in Canada which afforded braces for me and my sister and brother.
I had been wearing glasses when I was a kid and as a teenager I started to wear contact lenses. As I was adapting, I was blinking a lot. One of my friend at school asked my if I had a problem with my eyes and I told him why I was blinking. He looked at me and said "You had glasses ??" He was a guy I had a mild crush on so it was frustrating that he never even noticed that I had glasses :'D
My kid needed glasses in first grade and one or two girls made fun of her, as she was the only one. By the time they hit third grade, a handful more of her classmates needed glasses
I got braces when I was 11. I wasn't afraid of being teased because the majority of my school age-group had them. Braces were so common by then.
There are so many people now wearing glasses, that it's more or less "half-norm". Who cares, right? It also crushes the "ugly duckling to perfect princess" by removing a pair of glasses; the princesses and ducklings are both wearing glasses.
Luck you. You must feel special, because that DID happen to the rest of us.
I had both plus being blonde. My hair color, smile, and my jeans not covering my ankles were the reasons I was picked on.
I was made fun of for those, but it was in my friend group and we made fun of each other all the time(most of us, like 4 out of 5, wore glasses, 3 had braces, and the other two either got them shortly after or had them before, so all good).
I've had glasses since 4th grade. Only 1 person tried the "4 eyes" card with me, but in like 6th grade. By that point, I'd been in school with the SAME DAMN people for 5 years. I was just like "Really, Will?"
Working at a school, kids would get so nervous about getting glasses and the other kids would absolutely pump them up about how good they looked. Glasses have come a long way in the last 30 years thankfully, and yet despite how ugly glasses were in the 80s, I always wanted them as a kid.
Same here, had braces 6-8, no one noticed until a month after I got them, and by the time everyone knew half my friends had them
Hands up if you're a fellow Brit and got called "speccy twat" instead of "four eyes".
When I was young I had braces and glasses and I was mocked as both Four Eyes and Tinsel Teeth. I guess YMMV.
I get a lot of compliments on my glasses. And, I had braces, but nobody said anything about it.
I was called four eyes twice, then never again. It wasn't that big a deal to me either way.
I was made fun of unmercifully for wearing glasses at age 12 1988. I was made fun of as an adult for wearing glasses. Some a@@wipe woyld always say "oh! You got your smart face on" or sis in law would say " tgat makes you look old". If you were'nt teased then good! But it does happen and its not a myth
Bullying is hardly ever as simple as that. Bullies look for something to bully you with. It can be anything they can think of. They try to better/ secure their social position by doing it. They also feel when they can get away with it. Bullies are often people that lack the social skills needed to be real friends. When handling situations like this you almost always have to teach/ coach the entire group: the bully on how to interact in a positive manner, the victim on how to stand up for oneself effectively and the bystanders on how to be strong (as a group) so they can stop or prevent the bullying.
Lol I just watched the Partridge Family episode where Laurie got braces, and was terrified that PRE-STAR WARS MARK HAMILL wasn’t going to like her. But he did and he asked her out (and disappeared by the next episode). That ~1970 episode was the last time I think anyone cared about braces. (Laurie got a night retainer).
Seems to be a generational thing - I was 'Four-Eyes' in my public school in 1957, Grade 6. The only kid in the school with glasses. But - right after that, other kids began getting tested, and wearing glasses so quickly, that I actually thought I'd 'started something'. Became normal in three months.
Depends on when you grew up. I was given a hard time for this and other issues.
I think it was more common for people with glasses to get made fun of in like the ‘30s-‘60s (somewhere around those times) when fewer people wore glasses. But nowadays, many people wear glasses and most end up with braces at some point.
My friends used to smile in front of me way more than usual back when I had braces just to make fun of my situation.
Not wearing makeup. The media and Internet are full of all the pressure to wear makeup but I work with HUNDREDS of women and maybe a third of us sometimes wear lipstick or eyeliner? I can count on one hand the ones who wear foundation. Nobody says anything. Even the college president was barefaced giving a plenary speech and at commencement. There's no stigma for me wearing some color when I feel like it either. It's just not relevant to anyone's interests.
I have better things to do with my time and money than waste it on make up. If you enjoy it, then fabulous, keep on with it. Do whatever makes you happy.
"What better dragon than a stigma surrounding something you identify with or enjoy? It fits into our heavily labeled culture, where fighting for a label becomes a narrative akin to classic Hollywood underdog stories. People who lack substantial identity often cling to these labels, supporting media that reinforces their perceived battles," the Redditor added.
"It struck me as odd that no one had posed this question before, considering the multitude of responses I received. Perhaps it's because admitting that some stigmas don't exist is itself stigmatized."
Karens. Hear me out!! It went from being a thing of recording and judging actually rude and often racist women who complain just to complain. But as more videos popped up, people are recording and sensationalizing situations where if you were in her shoes, you'd be mad too! Karen isn't synonymous with "old lady you find annoying".
I have several friends named Karen who are lovely and this trope irritates me.
Being Average looking, it seems like social media loves to see *supermodel like people* and forget that most of the public is average and or unattractive sometimes, and that's alright. I like that there are more people on social media that are vocalizing this issue and letting us know that normal is ok, Flawed is ok. ( No shade to attractive people, they're beautiful and everyone loves to look at them but my point is they are not the only ones that exist).
I have problems telling faces apart so I love people with unusual features.
There was a study where researchers analyzed 41 movies that had been released between 1990 and 2010 for depictions of schizophrenia. Based on the findings of the analysis, they drew several conclusions, including:
- Most of the characters displayed "positive" symptoms of schizophrenia, with delusions being featured most frequently, followed by auditory and visual hallucinations;
- The majority of characters displayed violent behavior toward themselves or others;
- Nearly one-third of violent characters engaged in homicidal behavior;
- About one-fourth of the characters committed suicide;
- The cause of schizophrenia was infrequently noted. However, in about one-fourth of the movies it was implied that a traumatic life event for the character had been a significant factor;
- Of the movies that alluded to or showed mental illness treatment, psychotropic medications were most commonly portrayed.
Other studies have also discovered that 75% of depictions of mental illness in popular video games are negative or stereotyped.
Enjoying pineapple on pizza. It's the secret handshake of the culinary brave.
I never understood this one. It's not like someone is forcing people to eat Hawaiian pizza, so what's the deal if someone likes it?
Couples with very different attractiveness. Happens all the time irl and nobody actually says stuff.
These portrayals are not only incorrect but damaging because they spread myths about mental Illness. Schizophrenia is often painted with symptoms such as visual hallucinations, bizarre delusions, and disorganized speech, and they're presented as if they're commonplace. In reality, however, symptoms like decreased motivation, poverty of speech, and flat affect are more common. And this is just one example of how media portrayals can threaten to (re)shape societal perceptions and contribute to harmful stereotypes.
Going to college when you're older..theres tins of adults over 35 trying to reinvent themselves..theres even an old guy who made school a lifelong career.
My oldest classmate in uni was 88. She was lovely and just wanted to get a bachelor in Philosophy.
Being short (as a man). Especially online, people have made such a mountain out of this particular molehill over the last few years. I've never met a woman who strictly dates men 6' and up, and my short mates get plenty of action.
The most important thing to me is to be just a cool person, I don't care about the height!
Recent trend seems to be the “blue bubble/green bubble” debate with iPhones and Androids. People apparently HATE green bubbles and refuse to communicate with anyone if they have to send green bubble text messages.
Have not met a single soul in person or even online who gives a s**t.
Inlaws, most people I know get on pretty well with their inlaws.
Everything.
The media likes to blow things well out of proportion to get a good story for people to follow and talk about.
Most of the time, it's because of the media that many big problems are as "big" as they are.
I've gotten completly off of TV news for this reason. I check the print headlines each day and read a couple articles on the main actual news events of the day and then move on with my life. I'm done mentally participating in the constant generated outrage.
Dads going to parks alone with their children.
Since when has this been stigmatised? I used to do this all the time with my daughter, and there were often other dads with their kids. No one ever took the slightest bit of notice.
High school stereotypes, they scared the s**t out of me until I got to high school.
I'm German, but I participated in a school exchange with a school in Texas. I knew all the stereotypes from the movies, but the real thing was nothing like it. My pal had a diverse friend group that included "popular" types and nerds alike, just like peole with different ethnicities and backgrounds.
There are a lot of posts here saying "Normalize eating out/getting coffee/seeing a movie alone."
Seriously, no one cares. Do those things, they are normal.
Being a nerd. Yeah nerdiness might get you bullied in school depending, but a lot of nerd culture has just become part of...well, culture. I find this most annoying with elder millennials who still act like they're some sort of oppressed elite because the dare to like Mario.
Having freckles. When the fake freckles makeup trend was taking off, tons of people came out of the woodwork to complain about how “unfair” it was that they got teased for having freckles and now it’s a trend. I’m sorry, but unless you were physically and socially perfect in the eyes of your peers in elementary school, you probably got bullied for something arbitrary. For me, it was my big ears. I’m not going to sit here and whine about people stretching their ears and making them bigger. It’s such a fake problem.
Nuclear power has been stigmatized by the environmentalists and now guess what… it appears to be reliable, very cost effective and to date the safest form of energy.
Anything that produces tons of radioactive waste that won't deteriorate for centuries is not safe.
(Celebs) being gay (in western europe)
Most of us don't give a s**t.
Not wanting to have kids. Besides direct family members(which I mean, kinda makes sense why your parents and grandparents might want you to have kids of your own), it seems like the stigma of not wanting kids is extremely overblown. I tend to see WAY more posts and media about people feeling special/rebellious for not wanting kids than I ever see for others demanding that people have children outside of fringe alt-right types, and they tend to only want "certain people" to have more kids.
The "no kids forever" crowd seem to be like inverted vegans, they actually do bring it up all the time and act as if they are hated for their choice when in reality the vast majority of people don't care or see the benefits of said choice.
Discussing mental illness. "X illness is taboo to talk about. We need to talk more about X." It isn't taboo and in fact it's now trendy to wear your particular flair of mental illness with pride.
It's obviously OK to talk about mental illness in an appropriate context, but there should be the same boundaries as talking about physical illness. You don't go up to someone and say, "Hi, I have diabetes."
Voting for the other party.
I blame the news for the political divide.
Wearing socks with sandals—media might mock it, but let's be real, comfort is always in style, even if it's not runway-ready!
Media acts like the internet is just cyberbullying, predators, scams, and dangerous/illegal Tik Tok trends.
They also act like a 12yo playing GTA is suddenly gonna want to actually steal cars and shoot people.
Internet is a tool. Every tool has its inherent dangers. You wouldn't let a kid play alone with a drill or a power saw.
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I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I feel like a lot of these are just written by people who are privileged enough to not have to deal with judgement for xyz on a daily basis. Saying that the united states isn't racist, that s**t shaming doesn't exist. There are some insane takes in this thread.
Some of them toe the line between "this genuinely almost never happens, the media exaggerates it" and "this has never happened to ME and therefore the media is wrong about it ever happening".
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Dermatologists are fighting like crazy to stigmatize freckles, or as they call them, "melanized epidermal lesions" or something crazy like that. They're balanced out by advertisers who practically fetishize them.
And people have been blessed with them for THOUSANDS of years and (to my knowledge) never had their heads fall off due to them.
Load More Replies... I've been on a plane many, many times (maybe even around a hundred), and I have NEVER seen anyone acting entitled or Karen-ish the way we hear about in the BP AITAs. That's not to say it never happens, but it certainly isn't as common as the posters make it out to be. Most common thing is maybe kids kicking the back of your seat every now and then, but nobody is as outright mean as the stories say.
Breastfeeding. IRL no cares. Feed your baby wherever. It's fine.
I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I feel like a lot of these are just written by people who are privileged enough to not have to deal with judgement for xyz on a daily basis. Saying that the united states isn't racist, that s**t shaming doesn't exist. There are some insane takes in this thread.
Some of them toe the line between "this genuinely almost never happens, the media exaggerates it" and "this has never happened to ME and therefore the media is wrong about it ever happening".
Load More Replies... Dermatologists are fighting like crazy to stigmatize freckles, or as they call them, "melanized epidermal lesions" or something crazy like that. They're balanced out by advertisers who practically fetishize them.
And people have been blessed with them for THOUSANDS of years and (to my knowledge) never had their heads fall off due to them.
Load More Replies... I've been on a plane many, many times (maybe even around a hundred), and I have NEVER seen anyone acting entitled or Karen-ish the way we hear about in the BP AITAs. That's not to say it never happens, but it certainly isn't as common as the posters make it out to be. Most common thing is maybe kids kicking the back of your seat every now and then, but nobody is as outright mean as the stories say.
Breastfeeding. IRL no cares. Feed your baby wherever. It's fine.
