I identify as female, Italian, vegetarian and feminist, but that doesn’t mean I love to go shopping for all things pink, my family is in the mafia, I throw animal blood on every fur jacket I see and don’t shave my legs.
Stereotyping, the most common and unacknowledged source of exclusion in any community, puts a label on how a person should act or live according to sex, race, personality and other identifying factors. Stereotypes have created a distortion of personal image and how every individual should act and feel.
In society, “bad stereotypes” are easily identifiable, and “good stereotypes” create further problems connecting with discrimination such as sexism and racism.
“Bad stereotypes” such as “Mexicans are lazy,” can come across as overtly racist. “Good stereotypes,” at their best, can seem admiring, such as “Asians are the best at math.”
While one may be complimentary, both statements are completely offensive and inaccurate. Judgements like these about identifying groups of people are regressive to both inclusion and diversity on campus, which draws away from education and creates a racist environment. Painting swathes of the population with such broad strokes encourages us to see people as extensions of their labels instead of as unique individuals.
Even here, individuals have become so comfortable stereotyping and classifying other individuals and entire student organizations in daily life, making discrimination the new cultural norm.
It’s not only the groups historically discriminated against that must fight stereotypes, either.
Members of fraternities and sororities are some of the most stereotyped students on MSU’s campus. My good friend Kelley, who is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority, intentionally holds back details about her participation in greek life to new friends. She hides the fact in order to avoid being judged until they get to know her better.
We’ve heard them all — members of greek life are paying for friends, they’re snobby and stuck up, they’re rich or they party a lot. Students, in greek life or not, have all heard these stereotypes and use them regularly.
We have a responsibility to break barriers between social expectations and create our own rules. We learn by doing. We must learn not to create expectations or conceptions of people because of what we think they should be like or act.
We should start a movement in our community, to think before you judge, speak or assume. You can grow by learning from people that are different from you. Most importantly, we need to learn to respect and understand others cultures, religions and traditions, to avoid discrimination.
