2. Tessa was born in London, 1925. She was the
daughter of a poet and writer John Pudney and
Fabian feminist Crystal Herbert, she went to
Langford school in Essex and Queens Gate
college in London. She qualified in stage
management at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art in 1960, but had a bad back injury which
blocked the career and so became a secretary
instead.
3. Tessa identified 5 assumptions of stereotyping, those being:
Stereotypes are not always negative, e.g. The French are good cooks.
◦ People assume that stereotypes are negative, for example: Females are more nurturing
than males are.
They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful, e.g. ‘Upper class
twits’
◦ People always assume that stereotyping is about the minority and less powerful people but
the same stereotyping can be made towards upper class and more wealthy people as they
could possibly make about lower class
They can be held about one’s own group
◦ Even in a group alone, such as a school, we’ll have stereotypes of others and everyone will
have similar stereotypes of others based on assumptions and how the media shows them to
be, which will make everyone feel part of a much larger community.
They are not rigid or unchanging
◦ Once stereotypes have been made, they’re very hard to change, although Perkins believed
that over a period of time they can be changed, but they cannot be just changed overnight,
such as ethnic stereotypes and religious stereotyping or women, as they used to be
stereotyped as housewives but now are shown more commonly with a career.
They are not always false
◦ Stereotypes must have some truth to them, as if not there would be no way to have made
the representation of that stereotype
4. A Matter of Hours: Women Part-Time Work
and the Labour Market (Feminist Perspectives)
◦ She wrote these books alongside another author
called Veronica Beechey
The only theory she had was about
“rethinking stereotypes” and that they aren’t
always bad and that people will either have a
stereotype of something or not at all.
5. I feel that Tessa Perkin’s theory is true, as
everyone will have a stereotype on someone,
whether bad or not but they will always be
around and the stereotypes must have come
from somewhere, and there will be ones about
your own group.
