Stereotypes

Despite all of the negative connotations of stereotypes, they are useful to us. We sort people that we meet into categories based on past experience and, then interact with them as a member of a class. We do not have to determine how to interact with strangers that we meet on a case by case basis. Having said all of that and, also, saying that I am very open minded and non judgemental, I do sort people that I meet according to stereotypes, at least, in a minimal way. After all, it is a useful strategy, except when it does not work.

There is one class that I take that has a very high proportion of younger students. One of the female students, who is still in her teens, acts just like the stereotypical teenage girl. She does not volunteer answers to questions, she acts a bit juvenile around the guys and otherwise made me think of her as just another flighty teenager.

So, who did I run into the other day when I sought out a quiet corner to study stats. You guessed it. The flighty teenager was there studying for her upcoming math test. She started talking to me and we ended up talking for almost an hour about school, life and future plans. The flighty teenager became a serious young woman who had a good idea of what she wants out of school and out of life. She just hides it rather well most of the time.

I started thinking about all of the other people that I may have met over the years that got slotted into some category or other and reduced to a stereotypical caricature of who they really were. There were, most likely, many. I wonder how many opportunities we all miss from day to day when we don't give people the chance that they deserve.

Coincidentally, we are studying gendered behaviour in one of my other courses. Today, we were discussing the double bind that females are in. If they talk in a stereotypical female way, they are dismissed as not being serious, but when they talk more like males, they are dismissed as being aggressive and too masculine.

So, am I ever going to categorize people according to stereotypes again? Yes, I will. It is just being unrealistic of me to say that I won't. Will I think of my recent experience when I do so? I will and, perhaps, that will make all the difference.