Oh, I do a LOT of stereotyping.

But not the typical "Goth", "Emo", "Prep, "Scenester", etc stuff.

My labels for people tend to be a bit more harsh, yet somewhat honest.

They also contain many four letter words so I won't give a preview.

:nods:

If there werent any truth, labels/steriotypes wouldn't make ANY sense at all.

You know why a joke about a Jew being a policeman isn't funny?
because it doesn't make much sense.
A joke about a Jew and accounting, though...

That kind of nonsense fades out pretty quick once you get out of secondary school.

Labelling is a byproduct of a crisis common to adolescents - the desire to make yourself different from the crowd, and the desire to fit in with your peers.
Many teenagers reconcile the conflicting desires by adopting a subculture. That way they're unlike their parents, but like a select group of friends. Of course, it's important for them to assert their individuality, so they pretend that they're truly unique and it's just everyone else that follows the herd.
Of course, those that really are different from everybody else get picked on for their troubles, as being genuinely odd isn't cool, it's often considered either pathetic or creepy.

Luckily, once people finish maturing and get out into the wide world, this kind of thing becomes much less of a concern since you're too busy concentrating on things like financial concerns.
There's still recognisable social groups, but it's no longer such a big deal since you're not all forced to cohabit in such a small space, and you're no longer trying to assert your growing independence by rebelling against your parents, because you are actually independent.

</pop psychology>

tl;dr version: Oh, you'll grow out of it.

Labeling is a part of life. It sucks, but it's human nature to put everything in it's own little cubbyhole. Even the sloppiest and grungiest of us all are neat freaks, and if we can't organize it we automatically label it as "defective" or "weird" or -insertmentaldisorderhere-

I also find it funny that when it comes down to labeling, the same people who bitch and moan about people labeling them are also quick to put labels on others as well.

There will always be a situation where you label someone. Some people want to be labeled, other people couldnt really care either way. I am one of those couldn't really care either way types.

Really?

If I fit the stereotype people give me, I'd be a psycho serial killer who shot up the school. So...no, I don't fit the stereotype for me.

I have had my fair share of that at school. There were two clear factions in my class, the goths and the preps. And a few people who were sluts and jerks... And I was the odd one who got bullied around. It may sound trivial to many of you, but even though I graduated from Junior High many years ago, I still see people who bullied me in my nightmares (It dosen't happen so often that like in a psychosis, fortunately). Even today, I'd strangle them if I met them. And once I actually did that. I saw one of my tormentors last summer selling jewelry in a touristic hot spot. And I did try to throttle him, I kid you not!

I label some but overall not.
I know I'm labeled. People think i'm goth. they couldn't be mroe wrong, I'm otaku. How many goths do you see skipping down the halls singing Garden from RahXephon? Eh...not many << >>
As far as being a stereotypical otaku, hecks yeah i am. I'm running around digging my face into anime and being so obvious, and completely hyperactive about it. The type of anime fan that gives us a bad rep, but I'm not hiding it.
I don't care for it, though. Because I know that out of over 30 people in my club, only a couple of us act like this. And I'm not goth, so that label being put on me is just silly.
And then people are expected to act a certain way, and sometimes they do, and that's not cool.