+46
Save

What's the stereotype you dislike the most?

8 years ago by 8mm with 27 comments

Join the Discussion

  • Auto Tier
  • All
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
Post Comment
  • remez
    +16

    Male vs. female stereotypes. Clothing, behaviour, values - every culture has its own sets for men and women, and punishes you (more or less severely) if you do not conform.

    • mcsmitheslc (edited 8 years ago)
      +6

      Yes! I hate the ones about women withholding sex or being "bitchy." Some people are assholes with sex regardless of gender. As far as bitchiness goes, a majority of women have their way of showing it that conforms to our culture. Men get in bad moods just as much and show it. And from what I see of teen males, I have to say it is even ground on if it is easier to raise a boy or a girl.

    • Gozzin
      +5

      Male vs. female stereotypes

      Yup.That's my biggie as well. I've boycotted Wall Mart for years,but went in one year around the holidays with a friend so she could let her kids ohh and ahh in the toy section. I was stunned at what I saw..The boxed items in the girls section were pink,lavender or purple..The boys..Blue..It looked really strange. There was also virtually no overlap in what the toys were either,except for the stuffed animals which were someplace else in the store.

    • idlethreat (edited 8 years ago)
      +5

      hey guys, i found the crossdresser!

      (that was a joke, btw. have an upvote ;)

  • [Deleted Profile]

    [This comment was removed]

  • idlethreat
    +13

    I think the one I dislike the most would have to be "you need to be a college graduate to be successful".

    Sadly, that sort of thinking is only putting young adults hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with only a lackluster job market to absorb them. Of all the places I've worked at over the years, only one required any form of college education to be in management. One of the head managers had a degree in interior design. To be honest, it wasn't the best sort of place to keep a career at anyway.

    Personally, I didn't even graduate high school. I got a GED. I'm now an engineer with a company I enjoy working at, making very good money. Might have taken me a little longer on this path than it would have with a college degree, but I have zero debt (in fact, have quite a bit saved up) and enjoy what I do.

    So, if you're a self-starter, and have a cojones to try real hard, then you can make it on your own.

    • massani
      +6

      Yes! I agree and I sometimes regret going to college since my career doesn't rely on having a college degree. I could have done a design bootcamp for $10k that lasted 10 weeks than be in $45k in debt and go to school for 5 1/2 years.

      Also to latch on to yours, I hate the fact that American culture puts emphasis on going to college right after high school. You have kids who are 17 and 18 deciding their future career, where most haven't even discovered where their true passion lies. If it wasn't looked down upon to take a couple years off between graduating high school and pursuing a higher degree, then we would have 1. less people going to college and 2. a happier workforce.

      • idlethreat
        +5

        Wow. Good call. I had zero clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. Sure as hell didn't know whenever I finally left school. It took time, effort, and a lot of self-discovery before I ended up where I did. Holding children accountable for such life decisions at such an early age is untenable. It wasn't until I was about 35 before I finally hit on what I'm good at and what makes me comfortable. And we're asking children to do the same? It's crazy.

  • mcsmitheslc (edited 8 years ago)
    +10

    -That women secretly want kids. Hell no! I went for my physical yesterday and realized pretty quickly after seeing people's kids running around that I chose well to not be a parent. It might be good for some people, but this woman is not a fan of kids (though absolutely loves animals). I don't want to see them get mistreated or anything, but please don't ask me to hold your baby or anything since it's awkward and anxiety provoking. If I want parenthood, then I'd do it, otherwise, please back off.

    -That people in my age group are lazy. There are some trust fund kids out there who had parents who didn't teach them to work hard, but that's true for any group. If anything, we just happened to join the workforce after the biggest generation ever who will probably live longer than the preceding ones. A lot of the "good jobs" are taken by someone who won't retire for a long time. Plus companies are not hiring as many full time people in a lot of places. We have a ton of debt that other generations never had to deal with in order to get one of the "good" jobs that are not coming available for a long time. We are trying to do all the things of having a good job and contribute to society. Give us a chance and we can get there.

    - That Gamers are immature. Older people play cards and in casinos that are their generation's equivalent.

    • idlethreat
      +9

      Woo-hoo! Childfree for me! The wife did want kids shortly after we got married, but things didn't turn out. So, we're enjoying life with our two fur babies and out of country vacations and did I mention money? Plenty of money to spend on what we want instead of taking little idle to the dentist again.

      I'm 40+ and still game. Quietly hoping for all-night lan parties in the retirement home whenever I get there.

    • Wenjarich
      +2

      The expectation that you secretly want kids, although stronger for women, is not nonexistent for men. My family keep telling me that I'll realise later that I want kids. Or my favourite one is they say when I get married, I'll have no choice in the matter. I personally don't understand why people obsess about other people wanting kids. It's bazaar!

  • ToixStory
    +9

    That anyone who isn't get a college degree in a STEM field is going to end up broke, or is effectively a moron. I'm getting an English degree because I really want to teach high school English, a field that usually features some of the most abysmal teachers, and give kids a reason to love literature, as well as the critical reading skills that are necessary in adult life. Yet, the amount of times I have to justify not having some sort of STEM degree (despite not having any aptitude toward anything Science or Math related) is startling. It also doesn't help that I have several friends who are in STEM fields but forced to seek employment in whatever field will take them due to job scarcity or go back to school for a Master's while, with the number of teachers in the US sitting around 1/2 to 1/3 of what is needed, getting a teaching job is trivial.

  • jenjen1352
    +6

    Sounding "posh" = toffee-nosed ponce.

    • staxofmax
      +3

      I'm going to have to borrow that insult....

  • folkrav
    +4

    To some extent, I feel that stereotypes do rely on a certain form of reality. You know, that stereotype of the poor single mom with a missing black father... Well, yeah, they exist (keep reading, please!). If you only stop there, you will see them and definitely will have some racist thoughts. You have to still look after answers to see that it has definitely more to do with socioeconomic factors than it has to do with race. It's only one example.

    Stereotypes rely on first impressions and appearances, and I've found they constantly pollute my own train of thought to the point I have to brush them off and make my own impression afterwards. They do are the first thing that comes to people's mind in most situations, but unfortunately, some people don't make that tiny mental effort to look past them.

    So, I pretty much dislike most stereotypes equally, as they are not my thoughts, but thoughts that have been put in my head by society, culture and peers. I don't like being said what I should think.

    • spaceghoti (edited 8 years ago)
      +7

      Stereotypes are mental shortcuts that we create to help us organize our interactions. We really only have the mental resources to seriously interact with a limited number of people and so we form strategies to help us decide how best to direct those resources. The problem with stereotypes is that while they may provide some accuracy in forming impressions, our vulnerability to create false positives or embrace surface impressions without learning the whole story can lead us astray. So it's useful for organizing our lives but not always fair to the person being stereotyped.

      For example, I am a liberal and fit many of the liberal stereotypes. But that doesn't mean that's all there is to me, or that it's impossible for me to have fruitful interactions with a more conservative individual. But many conservatives will see how I fit liberal stereotypes and dismiss me, and I'm prone to do the same in return. It narrows both our perspectives to create an unhealthy bubble.

    • Fuyu (edited 8 years ago)
      +5

      I don't really dislike stereotypes, I more-so hate the people that continue to fuel them. At my college, there's constantly black people blasting rap or pop music through their headphones and yelling ghetto to people standing two feet from them. I've purposely tried to pay attention to white people as well and nope, almost none of them are loud and obnoxious like a lot of the black people on campus. It's certainly not all of them, but I can safely say I hate a good 85% of the black people that hang around on campus, and it makes me feel like a racist even though I'm hating them for individual behavior that just happens to add to bad stereotypes.

      • spaceghoti
        +4

        When I was a Resident Advisor in college I was involved in a situation where a guy really wanted to play his music loud during study hours. We kept getting complaints and I was forced to confront him multiple times. He'd turn it back down for a few minutes, then back up once he thought I wasn't paying attention. Finally we had to call the cops to report the noise because our authority alone wasn't enough. As I was making my statement to the office I overheard a young women proclaim, "they just did this 'cause they're white and we're black!" I wanted to explain that no, I did it because he was disturbing the other students and repeatedly refused to cooperate, but I had the impression all it would do was start another fight so I didn't try.

  • TwoADay
    +4

    I'm a middle-aged white guy who drives a nice car, is in-shape, and dresses well.

    I'm not a douchebag or a birddog, and I'm not trying to oppress you.

  • Qukatt
    +4

    That being particular about the way you do something or how clean/neat you are is "OCD"

    it's not fucking OCD and if you say that shit you have No idea what real OCD is like.

  • Wenjarich
    +2

    To be honest, stereotypes in general just tend to get under my skin because all they do is create issue for people who are just trying to get on with their lives like everyone else and aren't hurting anyone. It bothers me so much that I actually wrote a song about it called Shade of normal :P

    These are the words to the chorus and bridge:

    Isn't it great how we're all different
    how boring if we were the same
    as long as you do all the same things we do
    stick to the rules of the game.

    Because different is fine if you fit in the norm,
    If you don't want to be the same
    don't pick a different colour
    Just pick a different shade.