The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

Over generations, stereotypes have formed our society.The Romans believed that all Celts were uncivilised and undisciplined, while people in medieval times believed that women who were eccentric and assertive were witches.Throughout time, stereotypes have always caused divisions between diverse groups of people.That is still the case today, leading to the formation of new campaigns such as Black Lives Matter and the ‘Me Too’ movement to respond to these complicated, deep-rooted issues. But to tackle these issues, I believe we must first understand what stereotypes are and the effects stereotypes have on both individuals and society. Stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.There are well-known stereotypes about subjects such as race or gender, but there are also stereotypes that many of us will hold on a more subconscious level.These kinds of stereotypes can be just as – if not more – harmful than stereotypes that are regularly discussed. For example, ageism.According to a survey done by a website called ASANA, 60% of workers aged 45 and older have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.This can be explained by the fact that each generation has been brought up with a specific set of cultural influences such as clothes, music and points of view. For those from different generations who have their own cultural influences, these differences can lead to a sense of disconnect or, at worst, prejudice towards others. Unlike a subject like gender bias, ageism is not talked about very often and therefore can happen every day without us even noticing. Joss Robinson (she/her), LVI questions if stereotypes are beneficial or detrimental to our society.

Stereotypes are constantly developing within our society.They are deeply embedded within social institutions and wider culture.Those we spend the most time with can heavily influence the way that we perceive others. Stereotypes are developed from inferring one person has a complete range of characteristics and abilities, and we automatically associate those behaviours with other members of that group. Not only are stereotypes learned unconsciously, but this stereotyping process happens unconsciously too. The consequences of stereotypes are widespread. Every stereotype has its own effects and consequences. For example, consider stereotypes around women. Some stereotypes around women such as ‘Men are better than women’ have been discussed and dissected so often that they are no longer believed by the majority. However, other stereotypes – for example, ‘women are more emotional than men’ – are talked about less.Therefore, many people still believe this stereotype to be based on fact. However, a quick Google search would tell you this is not true.According to a study done by the Psychology Department of the University of Michigan, women are not any more emotional than men are. Nevertheless, most people still believe they are more emotional.The effect of this misconception is that there are certain biases that govern how we look at men and women’s emotions. For instance, a male sports player whose emotions fluctuate during a big game is praised for being passionate, but when a women’s emotions fluctuate due to an event, she is considered irrational.

This does not only apply to gender but to a myriad of stereotypes, each with their own effects and causes. This is why it is so hard to get rid of stereotypes, as many of them come from a deep history and link to other problems. So, to diminish stereotypes, I think we must identify the causes of these stereotypes. One of the most common and influential causes is the media. Many news sources draw in their audience by exaggeration, scaremongering or misrepresentation. This is highly dangerous as the media can create their own stereotypes of people.These can become so common that after a while we believe them to be true without truly examining where our perceptions have come from. In conclusion, stereotypes are a human instinct.We are programmed to classify people to feel less threatened by them. Nevertheless, we cannot allow stereotypes to control our judgments towards different groups of people. If we allow stereotypes to grow, they can lead to an increase in segregation between people and eventually can lead to brutality against a certain group. However, I am not naïve: I know we will never eradicate stereotypes completely, as they are so deep rooted and normalised within us. Nonetheless, I do think that by addressing stereotypes and bringing awareness to them we can decrease the number of stereotypes that divide us from our neighbours and our society.

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