#I dont wanna tag this as politics cause I’ll get eaten and I’m not looking for that rn

[faye-circle]

I think what a lot of people miss about dismantling stereotypes is that they DO exist for a reason. Good or bad, they are there for a reason. For example the whole “women love shopping and getting shoes” stereotype. This stereotype is harmful! It paints women as vanity-ridden and is just generally icky.

The problem with the stereotype is that it is an inaccurate, and negative, representation of women and contributes to misogyny and sexism. The problem is NOT women who do happen to very much enjoy shopping and shoes. There are going to be people who enjoy shopping. There are going to be people that don’t.

If we force people who just happen to have aligning traits with a stereotype like the one I mentioned, we’re just coming full circle and pressuring people into not doing something they love.

TL;DR: The problem with stereotypes is not the people who happen to fit in with said stereotypes, but rather the assumptions made about a person without any actual information.

#little extra mention about EXTREME stereotypes #such as ‘muslims are terrorists’ #obviously if a muslim happened to be a violent terrorist that would be. Bad #but again the problem with the stereotype itself ISN’T: a hypothetical terrorist who HAPPENS to be muslim #but rather the problem is that it inherently assumes someone extremy negative about a person and that severely affects the way people inter #interact* #even subconsciously! #Our society is so plagued by stereotypes and ‘isms’ that we all do things subconsciously that are prejudiced #like my mom’s dad was racist and my mom isn’t racist but she had to work on observing #and analyzing these biases (e.g. locking the car door a little quicker if a person of color comes walking by) #and of course #eliminating them #stereotype #stereotypes #discussion #discuss #I dont wanna tag this as politics cause I’ll get eaten and I’m not looking for that rn