Why do we stereotype?

by Andrea Farrington

“I am a blonde, so I am stupid.” “I wear black, so I an emo.” “I am skinny, so, therefore I am anorexic.”

Have you heard any of these commonly used stereotypes? 

What are stereotypes? They are simplified, fixed beliefs about a group of people. Think for a minute about these specific stereotypes: overweight people, men, old people, teenagers. We all form an overall opinion about each of these groups and not enough on the individuals themselves. For example, some old people may be grumpy, but that doesn’t mean all of them are. 

Stereotyping is used everywhere, such as in the workplace, school, community, states and even countries. To my main point, why do we categorize all students into “preps”, “nerds”, “emos”, “jocks”, etcetera? 

Everyone is different; no individual wants to be like everyone else. We all have our own opinions on things,  have different senses of style, eat different foods. 

Since I am a senior this year, the stereotypes I am classified as today will mean nothing when I leave this small town of Montezuma. I will soon be labeled as different things. 

We can’t let stereotypes form who we are and who we become as a person. We as people need to learn how to overlook the stereotypes and see the people behind their labels. We will soon realize that if we overlook these labels we learn more about people and the society itself.