At the beginning of January, a 2013 Maclean’s article started circulating virally, written by a Western Alumni who was frustrated by the well-known stereotype of the Typical Western Girl or TWG. Many of my friends read and discussed this article, passing it around class when they were bored or just could not wait to share it. The article resonated with every girl I talked to, they were all in agreement that the TWG does not actually exist and that the stereotype is very frustrating. For the past three years, I have been pegged as the TWG every time I go home and run in to friends from high school at the mall or when out to dinner with my family. I have long blonde hair and I wear a lot of purple Western wear. However, I do not wear or own a Canada Goose jacket or Hunter rain boots. Several times, I have been asked, “why not?” as if I am required to go buy these items in order to attend Western. While this does not bother me, it is a reminder that there is a strong stereotype connected to girls at Western. So, like my friends, the Maclean’s article resonated with myself as well… but for two very different reasons.
The thing that most bothers me about the TWG stereotype, is the connotation attached to it that adhering to this stereotype makes girls “less”. There is a suggestion that because a group of girls like the same high quality clothing, they have a sheep-like mentality that makes them less individual, less unique, less intelligent. Of course, this is only on the Western campus, because girls at other schools never wear TNA leggings or dye their hair blonde… no, never. When I think of the TWG, I don’t picture a girl perfectly manicured in daddy’s money. I picture my friends, my hard-working, intelligent, funny friends. I don’t see the clothes they wear and I don’t care whose money bought them. As much as we young women love our clothes, they do not define who we are.
My friend Jessica is platinum blonde, loves her TNA jacket and is the most selfless, caring person I have ever met. My friend Beth is a make-up guru and saves my ass on a regular basis because she’s brilliant and grasps concepts much quicker than I do. My friend Lauren has a Lucille Ball worthy sense of humour and can crack a better joke than anyone I know while waiting for a bus in her Sorrels. Each of these girls is subjected to the TWG stereotype even though it has nothing to do with who they are. When they are on campus, they do not need to prove that they are woman of worth. But outside of our school’s world, they are belittled by material stereotypes that eliminate the value of a person, focussing only on their packaging. It may be a product of jealousy, materialism, whatever. I personally do not care how the stereotype came about. I care that it exists and disadvantages girls who go to Western.
Last summer I got my first office job and when discussing school with my co-workers, their comments about my education were not what I expected. I received not one “Wow, good for you that’s a great school and your program sounds interesting!” No questions about my plans after graduation, no interest in my classes. I was asked if I partied a lot, what kind of clothes I wore, if my friends were slutty. My boss even referred to Western as “that party school with those Western girls”. My student co-workers who were both male and female, however, did not have the same connotations attached to their schools and were frequently asked genuine questions about their educations. While I don’t blame my co-workers for the nature of their questions, it bothered me that by being classified as a TWG, I had somehow been defined based on attributions of a stereotype.
The sad fact is, that no one propagates the TWG stereotype more than we Western girls do. We may not support it, we even mock it, but how many of us correct our high school friends when we run into them at the mall? How many of us have ever told them that Daddy may have bought our boots but we worked our butts off for our marks and lost sleep over our extra-curricular activities. Some of us even pay for school on our own while maintaining high marks and being involved in extra-curriculars. How many of us admit to dying our hair with pride because we like it more than our natural colour and it looks better with most of our wardrobe, not because it’s the same colour as all our friends. How many of us tell them that our school has a higher entering average than most schools and the highest student satisfaction rate; so thank-you very much but here’s where you can shove your stereotype. By allowing this stereotype to continue, we are hurting ourselves because we will always be associated with it. People will make assumptions about our behaviour and our personalities that are unfounded, mostly negative, and extremely unfair.
Over 50% of the students at Western are female so I understand how the TWG may have arisen when there are so many of us. But how is it that there is no Typical Western Guy? To get a little structuralist for a moment: we have a tendency to categorize things into binary pairs. So logically, if there is a Typical Western Girl, there should be a Typical Western Guy. Except that there is no stereotype pertaining to Western guys that I can think of. As happy for the other half of the student body as I am, I am extremely annoyed that the rest of us have to put up with the assumptions of the NWP or Non-Western Population. My experience at Western has always been one that has put a very high level of importance on equality of all kinds; whether it is based upon gender, race, or sexual orientation. Inequality of any kind is condemned in the Western community, a community that should have long ago condemned this stereotype that belittle the female population of our school.
The purpose of this article is not to promote hostility or enhance annoyance; it is to draw attention to something that requires change. As we all know, Change Starts Here, and what better way to kick off an end to the TWG stereotype than to begin a conversation bout it. So, as you finish up your exams and start your new summer job, be conscious of how you others affiliate you with your school, and correct them if they say something that you don’t like or contributes to the TWG stereotype. We have all worked hard to get here and we deserve to be credited for our work ethic and intelligence, not belittled because of whatever social activities we may or may not take part in.