Music Banter - View Single Post - Race/gender/sex. orientation and musical stereotyping

NSW · 10-26-2009, 02:05 PM

Decent list there Dave. I feel like I'd fit into category 4, but I'm not so sure about that "higher than average intellect" thing. Mostly I feel like I'm just too scatterbrained to focus on one genre long enough before the next new and interesting thing comes along that I just HAVE to check out. Therefore I know just enough about each genre to get myself in trouble.

As far as stereotypes go, well, being white and living in the southern US of course means that we must love country music. I don't feel like this stereotype is enforced too much in larger cities though, where things are more urban and more of a melting pot of people and tastes.

This did remind me of a time at work though, when Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" came on the radio and I started singing it before Gladys got around to it. The black data entry guy was lookin' at me all crazy, and at first I thought it was because of my awesome (translate: absolutely terrible) singing, but as it turns out he just couldn't fathom a white girl knowing the words to a Gladys Knight song. It really surprised me to be honest. In this day and age when there are so many outlets to explore all types of music, I wouldn't be surprised by anyone's taste in music and in alot of ways I think it's strange that people still hold on to these musical stereotypes.

10-26-2009, 02:05 PM	#49 (permalink)
NSW Bigger and Better Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas girl living in the UK Posts: 2,596	Decent list there Dave. I feel like I'd fit into category 4, but I'm not so sure about that "higher than average intellect" thing. Mostly I feel like I'm just too scatterbrained to focus on one genre long enough before the next new and interesting thing comes along that I just HAVE to check out. Therefore I know just enough about each genre to get myself in trouble. As far as stereotypes go, well, being white and living in the southern US of course means that we must love country music. I don't feel like this stereotype is enforced too much in larger cities though, where things are more urban and more of a melting pot of people and tastes. This did remind me of a time at work though, when Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" came on the radio and I started singing it before Gladys got around to it. The black data entry guy was lookin' at me all crazy, and at first I thought it was because of my awesome (translate: absolutely terrible) singing, but as it turns out he just couldn't fathom a white girl knowing the words to a Gladys Knight song. It really surprised me to be honest. In this day and age when there are so many outlets to explore all types of music, I wouldn't be surprised by anyone's taste in music and in alot of ways I think it's strange that people still hold on to these musical stereotypes. __________________ Hi. Last edited by NSW; 10-26-2009 at 02:23 PM.