What's The Point Of Stereotypes?

What’s the point of stereotypes? To think some way of someone without really knowing them. To classify a person or people into a group just because of their gender or what they look like. Should all women be stay at home mothers? Should all men have white collared jobs and have to provide for their family? The more people don’t fit the categories that others put them into the better, because to me, it makes them more interesting. The point of getting to know someone is to find out what they’re really like. There’s no point in doing that if everyone fit into a certain classification. After all, “you were born an original, [you shouldn’t] die a copy.” (John Mason)
Marilyn Monroe once said “ give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the …show more content…
The rare stereotypical views I’ve experienced haven’t hindered me and instead, it motivated me to be the best I could be. In school, the sexist comments I had gotten were from one particular teacher who just refused to show me any respect. My senior year, he came into my shop and I was the closest so I greeted him and asked if he needed help with anything. He responded with “no, but could you get one of the guys for me?” Thinking he needed heavy lifting or something I told him yes and asked what exactly he needed. An extension cord, he said. An extension cord? AN EXTENSION CORD?! He needed a guy in my shop to find him an extension cord because although I had been in construction for four years, I wasn’t capable enough to get it for him. I didn’t outwardly let my feelings show even though my blood was boiling inside, so I put on a smile, a really obnoxiously fake smile, and said “of course I’ll get a guy for you!” And guess what? I walked away and never went back to him or got him the “help” he needed. This probably wasn’t the smartest idea on my part because he was a teacher and all, but for someone who taught a male dominated trade with girls in his shop, he made me feel inadequate and not capable. I understand that physically, I may not be able to do certain things. Even though I love roofing houses, I can barely lug up a single package of shingles on my own. Lifting a 4X8 sheet of drywall? Not easy for a 5’1 girl …show more content…
I was sitting in our computer lab when about eight HVAC male students came in with their teacher. The guys started making crude comments towards me and the teacher didn’t do anything. I, of course, told them to back off and eventually they did. When they all started to pack up their things and began to leave, I noticed there was a mess where they were working. It’s a common courtesy in my school that when we go somewhere to work, we clean up everything, even if it wasn’t ours. Figuring the teacher would tell his kids to pick up their trash I didn’t say anything. All of a sudden though, I look up and everyone was walking out the door. I heard the teacher say “guys make sure you pick up your trash!” And then, “oh wait, that’s not ours, she can do it.” That really got my blood boiling because the teacher was setting an example for his kids and wasn’t showing my shop or myself any kind of respect. There was other events that occurred throughout high school where because I was in a male dominated shop, people thought I wasn’t capable of doing tasks that guys could. And then going to a male dominated college, people were either impressed (because I told them my major) or made crude comments because of the girl to guy ratio. When it comes to things that guys do that girls may find offensive, as long as you’re respecting me, I won’t have a problem with you.