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THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY! OK this is what Stereotype Threat is all about: It's about thinking you're going to fall victim to your own or others' stereotypes. It's the gay man who believes he can't throw a ball. It's the black man who believes he can't go to college. It's the Arab woman who believes she might have to just suck it up and say yes to her boyfriend or husband. It is what makes us fail as individuals and as people and it is entirely based in FEAR.

This has been my work for quite some time. As a gay, HIV positive, Middle Eastern man of Catholic origins (Chaldean), I have had to fight quite a few stereotypes myself. I can't find a man who won't assume I'm a slut because I contracted HIV. I can't go to heaven because I'm gay and (ex)Catholic. I will get stopped at the airport because my full legal last name is "Murad-al-Shaikh". But I do not fall victim to this because I am not afraid to be who I am, not WHAT I am. And WHAT I am is something I will constantly throw into peoples' faces to help them see and understand that I am not a stereotype by any means of my different "classes".

This subject brings to mind my recently watching "The Imitation Game". I'm not talking (for once) about the gross injustices that Alan Turing suffered for his sexuality (which were atrocious, and made me cry. Yes, that stereotype is true, but of all humans who have a heart. Deal with it.) I'm speaking of Keira Knightley's character Joan Clarke, who walked into Turing's test a bit late only to be met with a condescending hostility that she is in the wrong room, that the test that was being taken couldn't possibly be completed by a woman. Well, thanks to Turing's permission to enter, she took the test and was the first to complete it, undercutting Turing's own record. Whether this happened in real life is irrelevent. The fact is, she did not succumb to her stereotype threat "I cannot complete this on task because I am a woman and women can't solve puzzles like this". She faced it head on and without fear. All she needed was an opportunity, and she TOOK IT.

So I say do NOT accept stereotype as fate. Know yourself and be confident, and never let anyone tell you what you're capable because they have NO idea. Take me for example again: my background is in the theatre. All my adult life that's what I've done. Now I come to DBC and I feel the doubt in my friends' minds and eyes. Some little remarks like "but you're so talented" and "are you sure? that's a huge leap". Yes. I'm sure. Because I know what I'm capable and no one else does. BE EMPOWERED PEOPLE! -drops mic-