Stereotypes

Stereotypes have always been dangerous. Subconsciously or otherwise, we all apply them at some occasion in our lives.

For example, I was groggily walking to the kitchen early one Tuesday morning when I heard the vacuum cleaner roaring downstairs. Ah, I thought, the cleaning lady's here. I should meet her for once.

Why did I assume it would be a woman? It was a man! Bald, tattooed and showcasing a beautiful baritone voice (he likes to sing random opera lyrics at top volume as he cleans the bathroom).

I admit, I felt a bit dissapointed with myself for assuming it would be a woman. For months, I had said "the cleaning lady" to my housemates whenever we discussed the cleaning. So much for thinking I never applied stereotypes.

But are stereotypes inherently evil? A definition of stereotypes would be useful. According to one definition, stereotypes are "generalizations, or assumptions, that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like" (http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty.htm). So in my mind, a person who cleans for a living is automatically a woman.

I've heard many stereotypes. Asians are hardworking, Americans are friendly and stupid, Canadians are annoyingly polite, Germans eat too much, Swedish people are suidical. Some stereotypes are funny, some not.

In any case, I'd like to think that some stereotypes are, if not good, then at least useful to social interaction. If we never had any preconceived notion of a social, ethnic or religious group, would we honestly interact with them better? Would we really be more open to their mentality, culture and history? It's an experiment I'd like to attempt.