Stereotypically Threatened
Stereotype's are an interesting idea in human nature because they exist in our everyday lives and even when they seem to be less prevalent they are still there. I actually tend to see stereotype's on a daily basis in my life, whether they are stereotype's of me or my friends/co-workers. Racism and stereotype's are a thought of as different things but they are actually very similar ideas, except that one is just slightly more socially acceptable in people's eyes. I feel that stereotype's are very hurtful towards others and from reading about stereotype threat you can see that they are most hurtful towards ourselves. These particular articles focus mostly on peoples race, which is definitely one of the main contributing factors to stereotype threat, but I feel that there are many different types of stereotypes that are facing people today. Many stereotype's are made from the way that people dress, the hair that they have, the piercings or tattoos they have, physical appearance in general, etc.. The sad part of stereotype's is that for the most part they boil down to generalizations being made about a "group" of people and they way they have "act" or "behave", this is sad because humans are individuals who all are different and unique and cannot be generalized in my opinion.
Who "me"?
Being a "white male" most people would assume that I have not been stereotyped in my life and that everything has just been "given to me". I see people make these assumptions at my job very often. My co-worker and friend Manuel is a Hispanic male who had lower socioeconomic circumstances than a lot of people so he likes to make jokes often about 'race' and 'classes', even where I know he is joking, a lot of people feel that way about "white males". Aside from race because I do not like to think about it and try to never let it affect my opinions or thoughts on any person or any situation, I have been stereotyped many times because of my physical appearance and clothing. Many people assume that because I have long hair, tattoos, skateboard/snowboard clothing, etc, that I am a hippy, stoner, trouble-maker, rebellious, overall bad egg. Often I have been labeled as these things because of my clothing and appearance. In my life I have had lip piercings, long hair, baggy clothes, beards, you-name-it. This leads a lot of people to stereotype me as something that I am not necessarily. I am a father of two beautiful daughters and they are my whole world, I do not get in trouble(often), I am not a drug addict, I do not steal from people, I am very respectful towards others and try to help others more than I help myself always. A lot of times in my life I have not been selected for a job or been thought of as very intelligent because of my outward appearance.
When I feel stereotype threats towards me I try to first remember that I am very confident in the way I am and the person that I am. One of my opinions on stereotypes is that they can only affect you as much as you let them affect you. If you let a simple person stereotype you then you are reducing yourself to their level, but if you intelligently show them that what they believe to be true just simply is not, then you not only break their stupidity of stereotyping that group but you also help them grow as a person. Proving people wrong in these situations is very rewarding because you are able to help them see that their preconceived notions were wrong and hopefully open them up to a future without these notions. Sometimes if you put it eloquently you can make them aware of their stereotype without making them feel like you are attacking them. Often I use jokes to make people aware of when they are doing this, this works because you can bring their actions to their attention while not making them feel as though I was very offended. If this does not work or does not seem like a good idea, you can calmly bring your feelings to their attention and ask them to stop doing whatever they are doing that makes you feel this way. Most normal people will not get offended by this and will respect your opinions and stop this behavior, even if only in front of you.
As you can see stereotype threats are something that we all have to deal with everyday. They are not going to just disappear from human society now or possibly ever. The best way to handle them is, like I said earlier, to break the mold and show someone that their stereotyped idea is just not true. Otherwise, sometimes a joke is a good way to bring to someones attention that it is obvious that they have a stereotypical outlook on certain groups of people. If all else fails though, you just have to remember that someone else's preconceived notions do not affect who you are as a person and certainly do not shape you or your individuality. We are all our own people and no 'groups' or stereotype's define us, unless we let them!
