The Problem With Stereotypes

Blonde hair, pretty, busty and dolled up: She must be ditsy and stupid. Promiscuous.

Hooded young white male, dark clothing: He must be a menace and up to no good. Poorly educated.

Black male, (where do I start with this...): He must be good at sports, love eating chicken, be into hip hop, have baby mothers all over the place. A criminal, a drug dealer.

Indian man: He must have a corner shop, have medics in his family, be married to a not so distant relative, have a huge family, including his great grandmother who also lives with them.

Middle eastern man: Terrorist alert! Bearded, dangerous, must like taking transatlantic flights with an ominously looking small bag.

Chinese man: Must have a chip shop or works in a restaurant/take away. Maybe has a liking for taking his camera around with him. A genius with computer software. Knows martial arts. Maybe related to Bruce Lee, somehow.

OK, so you get my point. Stereotypes, they are a huge thing that the majority of us are guilty of. Some maybe not as extreme as the afore mentioned ones - but generally many individuals will see a person and judge them merely on appearance, nationality, sex, etc. The list could go on. Why do we do it? How come this arguably negative trait has been hard wired into our often dubious subconsciousness.

As children we are innocent and take things at face value. A genuine smile is enough for a child to be comfortable with. Everybody looks the same for a certain amount of time. They are too young to discriminate and cast judgements.

But as we grow older our parents considerable influence dictates to us what we should be thinking about a multitude of things. Parents and the media overtly and covertly seep into impressionable mindsets - that go a long way to how other people are later perceived. Can anybody honestly say that they have never judged a person on just their appearance. I know that I have, sometimes it has been justified, but on the other hand it has been proven to be so very wrong. Actually, I love that. When I have wrongly assumed something about a person - for them to smash my lazy assumptions all over the place. It is a humbling experience.

I have read in the past that the average person takes roughly 10 seconds to make an impression. How people come to these conclusions beats me. So, basically all that we are, initially, is 10 seconds (or less in some quarters) - to showcase ourselves. And after that, the doors are shut and the opinion will be steadfastly be made and concreted. If that is the case, in my opinion, this is a sad state of affairs.

Stereotypes are usually underpinned by prejudice and ignorance. With many people unwilling to take the time to think out of the box and re-asses their stagnant fortified attitudes in regards to the behaviour they display towards the stereotyped groups.

Perhaps, these views come from higher authorities that like controlling mindsets with rigid repressed views on how certain people act. What I must say is: I feel that although stereotypes are a drowsy way of thinking, many people do actually conform to them. Willingly and unwittingly. It is an easy crutch to lean on for some individuals when it suits them. Maybe there are fragments of truth associated with them, there is no smoke without fire?

On the other hand, many are frustrated when they are constantly stereotyped and perpetually observed for only their colour, race or gender. Feeling as though that they must work harder to dispel notions - thus proving the point that there is more to them than just how they appear in the eyes of the masses.The problem with stereotypes...

Is that it will probably always exist.

Submitted by Demola, The Collective