Gender stereotyping., It's wrong! Options

[Mistress Bags]

I abhor gender stereotyping.

Nearly everybody I know, both young and old, all gender stereotype. I think it's completely wrong.

For example, on another forum the other day, somebody said:

girls are freakin crazy. i had an ex stalk my new girl at her job and cause a scene. wtf why are girls so crazy & complicated?

So, because of one individual girl, you're going to make the assumption that all girls are crazy? Hell no! That's like saying men are all rapists because my sister was raped. If the girl was crazy, she was a crazy individual.

Everybody can be a little something (insert adjective here) at times, but that has nothing to do with our gender, race, nationality, age, and so on. It has to do with our personalities, nothing else. You are who you are, nothing less, nothing more. It's just wrong to make an assumption about a gender because of one person's actions or personality.

[expoised]

I abhor gender stereotyping.

Nearly everybody I know, both young and old, all gender stereotype. I think it's completely wrong.

For example, on another forum the other day, somebody said:
So, because of one individual girl, you're going to make the assumption that all girls are crazy? Hell no! That's like saying men are all rapists because my sister was raped. If the girl was crazy, she was a crazy individual.

Everybody can be a little something (insert adjective here) at times, but that has nothing to do with our gender, race, nationality, age, and so on. It has to do with our personalities, nothing else. You are who you are, nothing less, nothing more. It's just wrong to make an assumption about a gender because of one person's actions or personality.

I seriously think you're overanalyzing a passing statement and it's really nothing to take offense over.

It's true that everyone's an individual, people shouldn't make assumptions, etc. but that's just a part of everyday life. But, it's also true that gender, race, age, what have you are all factors that add into who you are.

I'm a girl, and I'm not gonna lie,... most girls tend to be a little more analytical, uptight, high strung, and generally crazy. It might not be the case for you and I really don't think that's the case for me, but it's just something that 'girls' are 'categorized' into.

Also, I know a lot of guys who are really neat and a lot of guys who are really messy. But, when somebody says "Men are pigs"... I don't get into a hissy fit and tell them that they shouldn't gender stereotype.

It's just a generalization. The world can't thrive without people making generalizations about other people, like "Asian parents are really pushy", "Black people can jump real high", whatever.

Hm... and about race generalization... there wouldn't be special scholarships for hispanics if people didn't go around cracking jokes about Mexicans mowing their lawn...

So, I guess, next time when you run across a stereotype that doesn't fit you, be like "Uh-huh, too bad i'm not like that." No big deal.

[NoSex]

poised' date='Aug 30 2006, 4:51 PM' post='2261242']
I seriously think you're overanalyzing a passing statement and it's really nothing to take offense over.

It's true that everyone's an individual, people shouldn't make assumptions, etc. but that's just a part of everyday life. But, it's also true that gender, race, age, what have you are all factors that add into who you are.

It's just a generalization. The world can't thrive without people making generalizations about other people, like "Asian parents are really pushy", "Black people can jump real high", whatever.

Hmmm. I agree that the given example may indeed be a simple passing statement. Given elabortation, that individual may have very likely denounced such a sweeping generalization. However, I don't agree that generalization's are a favorable tool in the sense of gender relations. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is actually a rather menacing and malicious entity in our society. Gender stereotyping is just a small effect of a larger problem in gender roles and societal gender standards.

As a soceity, as working within many gender relations, I don't find it convincing to say that gender stereotyping helps us to move forward in a progressive and honest manner. I think human beings need to stop reducing each other into stereotypes, gender roles, and most importantly, I think people need to stop expecting each other to fit into these society constructs and standards. These expectations and generalizations become very troublesome for healthy adult development. These shape and form and mind f**k children. It just isn't cool.

I think we need to defeat those prejudices enforced by our societies in favor of individual evaluations of character. Sure, there are differences among males and females. Sure, we can recognize them. But, we have to realize, must of our preconceptions, gender roles, and standards don't actually fit reality. At least, we need to reconsider our prejudices, if not entirely strip them of power.