Opinions on Stereotypes Essay Example for Free

Opinions on Stereotypes Essay Webster’s Dictionary defines the word â€Å"stereotype† as a simplified and standardized conception or image of a person, group, etc. , held in common by members of a group. (1265) Many people create stereotypes of an entire group of people based off a single person. There are several different stereotypes that exist amongst society today in many different forms. Most churches and religious affiliated organizations condemn homosexuality which causes less gays to be open about their faith. This brings upon the stereotype that the gay community is not religious at all. This, however, has been proven false. According to Dan Giloff’s article, â€Å"While 72 percent of straight American adults describe their faith as ‘very important’ in their lives, so do 60 percent of gays and lesbians. †(par. 3), the gay community has plenty of religious affiliates now; The United Church of Christ now ordains ministers. Other religious groups are following in their footsteps, making moves to open their doors to the gay community. The people of the gay community are stereotyped heavily in society. Gay men are said to be obsessed with fashion, have great style, have a caddy attitude with very strong opinions, a love for dogs and are destined to be hairdressers, stylists, Broadway dancers, or fashion designers. Lesbians have plenty as well, such as: they move fast in relationships, dress manly, work in some kind of construction field, wear flannel, and hate men. These are all huge generalizations. Although gay men and lesbians may fall under some of these categories, not all do. People have too many factors that make up their identity, so it is unfair to set a certain list of characteristics to them. One of the most common stereotypes is gender stereotyping, which can be limiting to men and women in the world today. Throughout the years there have been plenty of stereotypes placed on women. One being that the woman should always be in the house cooking, cleaning, and tending to their spouses with no complaints. The culture of today has cultivated an image of women, saying that they are outspoken and have strong opinions about anything, that they spend all your money, that they are extremely demanding, and do nothing but gossip and shop endlessly. Women have worked towards breaking this stereotype by taking a stand over many decades and actually making many breakthroughs. Although that is a big stereotype involving women, there is research that shows women are â€Å"typically categorized in 3 primary clusters: traditional (e. g. homemaker), nontraditional (e. g. career woman) and sexy. † (Psychology of women quarterly). In an article from Psychology of Women Quarterly, scientists did research showing that career women held jobs in higher status while the sexier women held more appeal for the lower status, more feminine occupations. A sexier dressed woman showed to invoke negative emotion while also making people think incompetence was inevitable. Where as a more career based woman showed to be looked at as more of a leader figure that was prepared to take care of business at any cost. While Women are stereotyped to be a homemaker or a career woman, men too have sterotypes. Men have been stereotyped as being stupid and sex-obsessed people only worried about the next sports game; or weathly businessmen who cheat on their wives constantly with the closest woman in his office. Contrary to most women’s belief, there are plenty of men who are hardworking businessmen who have happy and loving home lives. Men live above this stereotype all the time. The blonde has two sides, the positive side where blondes are considered to be alluring and desirable. Then there is the negative side, where they are perceived as not being too intelligent and don’t use their common sense to figure out things; they rather rely on their looks than their intelligence. The hair color is often associated with â€Å"floosies†, â€Å"airheads†, or â€Å"ditzy† women. This is a very broad stereotype because there are many smart and successful blond women in society amongst the governments, school systems, and many other places. According to Harriet Brown, â€Å"In landmark 2003 research from the University of Pennsylvania, more than half of the 620 primary-care doctors surveyed characterized their obese patients as ‘awkward,’ ‘unattractive,’ ‘ugly,’ and ‘noncompliant‘ the latter meaning that they wouldnt follow recommendations. More than one-third of the physicians regarded obese individuals as ‘weak willed,’ ‘sloppy,’ and ‘lazy. ’† (par. 3). The stereotypes placed upon obese people usually falls under the words the doctors stated in the study from the article. Most people over look that it could be a medical condition causing such weight gain in obese people. They see the weight and automatically assume that it was a choice based upon laziness and lack of drive. People do not look beyond what they see, which creates plenty of false accusations. While there are many lifestyles that are stereotyped, such as, people assume if your gay; you must have aids, if your atheist; you must hate the world, if you have no religion; you must not have any morals, etc. One in particular is if you’re a biker you like to party hard, have tattoos and are a criminal. However, as much as people who ride motorcycles love the smell of fresh air and the open road, different riding styles are associated with different lifestyles and are completely diverse Racial stereotypes are in abundance in today’s world as well as throughout history. Most associate themselves with racist thoughts. Asians must be smart, Arabs must be terrorists, Irish must have drinking problems, Italians must be in the Mafia, Germans must be Nazi’s, African Americans must be in gangs, whites must be nerds, etc. These stereotypes can be wrong and hurtful in many situations. One public incident from any person of any race can create a stereotype. Society places people they don’t know much about or they don’t understand into classifications, thinking that people who look like them will act the same. Media plays a role in creating all of these stereotypes although people play the biggest role in creating them. It is human nature to notice the difference between themselves and others before the similarities. Media is still held responsible for a lot of the creation because not only does it use pictures of a generalized group to show how a person may look, but media also uses stereotypes as comedic entertainment on popular shows and movies. The romantic movies of today ,as well as in the past, depict very heavily the gender stereotypes placed upon men and women. They always show the â€Å"knight in shining armor who saves the damsel in distress† story, the men always sticking to their â€Å"typical† man stereotype and the women always to theirs. Media does influence our views and thoughts about people and does encourage generalizations about certain classifications of people. People to this day still fight with being held under heavy stereotyping. Society places an immense amount of merit on these loose generalizations. This sadly makes it hard for a lot of the people who do not fall under them and do break free from these stereotypes. While there is some truth to a lot of stereotypes, people need to understand one person cannot define an entire group of people. Whether a stereotype is negative or positive, they both exist and are limiting and leave no room for individuality. Works Cited Brown, Harriet. Does Your Doctor Make You Feel FAT? Prevention 63. 7 (2011): 26-33. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. Gilgoff, Dan. Fighting the Gay-As-Godless Stereotype. U. S. News Digital Weekly 1. 23 (2009): 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. Heather Branstiter, et al. Evaluations of Sexy Women in Low- And High-Status Jobs. Psychology of Women Quarterly 29. 4 (2005): 389-395. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.