It is in man’s instinct to classify, well, things, and I use this word with great reluctance - because of its nonspecific and generalising nature - but I am put in a situation right now where I can’t replace it. I mean, think about it: throughout history, researchers have always classified their findings, be it new species, types of formulae or even entire sciences. We also compile things into separate sections when we come to do almost anything, any day in our lives - hell, we even classify each other!
But wait.
Aren’t we, humans, extremely complex creatures with profound, vivid personalities that simply cannot be fitted into one tiny class, where we would be stripped of our diversity and freedom because by doing so, we will literally become trapped in a box of who we have to be?
I know you probably think I’m making this into a way bigger deal than it should be, stereotypes can’t be THAT harmful, right?
Wrong. Making assumptions about someone belittles them and seriously affects their self-image on the long-term. In fact, I just made an assumption about you at the beginning of the previous paragraph, and - what’s interesting is - about 80% of people, upon hearing that sentence, would immediately become defensive and think something along the lines of, “How do YOU know what’s going on inside MY head?” Some of you might have even stopped listening to me by now, all because I made a severely insignificant assumption about what’s going on inside your head.
Now let’s try linking this to what’s happening around us: we (you & I) are going to morph into some faceless, stereotyping figure that we’re going to call, let’s say, Bryan. Bryan walks into a room full of people, and begins to link them to the stereotypes we’ve always seen in movies; the crazy cat lady, angry feminist, brainless jock, delusional artist and so many more. This person just walked into a room and reduced all the complex human beings in it into mere two-dimensional stereotypes, which, quite shockingly, wouldn’t exactly pose much of a problem as long as these are just thoughts in Bryan’s pea-brain - except they’re often not.
You see, when Bryan has the urge to fit someone into a certain criterion, he tends to tell this person (and others) about how he thinks we should all just limit this person to this certain stereotype. Then, the person being stereotyped would typically respond by laughing awkwardly and subconsciously forcing themselves to act according to the personality they were asked to fit into, even if it meant having to compromise pivotal parts of their personalities.
It is also necessary we mention that some of the stereotypes Bryan links us to are severely misogynistic, racist or offensive to people with specific mental conditions. For example, the oh-so-famous crazy ex-girlfriend stereotype is ridiculously sexist; it is literally born out of the tendency to shame women for being emotional or vulnerable by calling them crazy, which poses it as a double-assault aimed at people with HSP. We have stereotypes that deem black people loud and angry, which can either cause them to conform with this myth, or be so quiet and shut-off that it negatively affects their academic and personal growth.
In conclusion, we must all understand that our words affect people, and can sometimes go as far as causing them to perceive themselves differently; even if, to us, it was just a silly comment about how they were dressed or something they said. I must say that it is undeniable that that in itself is the cycle of life: someone makes a dumb joke, you subconsciously get offended, and you change a bit - it’s a form of growth - but it is also crucial that we remind our loved ones that, no, they weren’t being too loud, and that them sharing that post about a recent rape crime doesn’t mean they’re an “angry feminist”, and, most importantly, that it does not matter whether or not they fit into the boxes the Bryans of the world try to put them in.
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