Stereotypes are deeply bipolar, mirroring period ideologies.

Evidence

Writing about the use of stereotypes in the discourse of “the Other,” Sander Gilman argues that “these systems are inherently bi-polar [i.e., polarized into two parts], generating pairs of antithetical signifiers [i.e., words with apparently opposing meanings]. This is how the deep structure of the stereotype reflects the social and political ideologies of the time” (1985, 27). — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 645

Categorization

• XREF: The deep structure of the stereotype reflecting its time’s ideologies is the crucial bridge claim: stereotype as index of prevailing social/political ideology, which is exactly the lens the Islamophobia field applies to anti-Muslim representation. — connects to: Respectability crusades unwittingly reinforced the very stereotypes they fought. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 894