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I personally think stereotypes are stupid. For one, I've never met a person who fit a stereotype perfectly. We're all different, and that's why they're stupid. People get stereotypes from observations of a certain group of people, but the thing is, they aren't all the same. Males don't have to act masculine and females don't have to be feminine. We should act like whatever comes naturally. I don't understand why we can't all just be different from each other and leave it at that. |
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While not as bad as a lot of people assume, the south is still very different from the north in my experience, or at least rural towns in the south are. Though, as stated, we don't treat Native Americans like savages. I live about half an hour away from Tahlequah (the Cherokee Nation capital) and, while I'm sure it happens in some places, I've never seen anyone treated differently for being Indian. (Actually, if anything, there's some places around here where you don't wanna go if you're NOT native. o_O) I've seen a lot of gender stereotypes here in the south, though mostly directed towards the men. I've seen guys get picked on just for having a car their friends perceive as "girly." Most would never be willing to admit to anyone other than their absolute closest friends if they don't know the basics of car care. The only time they can get away with disliking hunting is if they have a moral objection to killing even for food - just plain not liking guns or shooting things results in name-calling. I have a straight male friend who doesn't seem feminine in the slightest, but someone decided to spray paint "[Name] is gay" across the car wash wall just because he's a little soft-spoken. But when I went to the north for university, it was a completely different world. |
Most of my family is from the south, and while the men do get a lot of flack for being different from the average stereotype of a man, most of the women actually appreciate it. lol. Like my cousin's girlfriend who hit on me constantly... Still didn't respond, but it was an ego boost.
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I'm faced with gender stereotypes pretty much everyday at school. I am a male nursing student, and to just put it into perspective there are a total of only 2 boys (myself included) out of 80 students in my year. But I find that within my clinical placements there seems to always be issues when it comes to men being nurses. Female patients do not want men to be their nurse as they do not have the same anatomy and such, and they don't want to be in privacy with a man. Meanwhile, men don't want fellow men as their nurses because they automatically assume that they're 'gay' (though cultural stereotypes of male nurses don't help much). But I find that this same rule of gender doesn't apply to if you are a doctor or an OT/PT...so I don't really get that.
I don't know, but I'm proud to be a man in nursing. |
And you should be. :)
Whatever you do, it's your own dedication and willpower that make you good at it. If it makes you happy, and you have the will to do it, then your gender should be the least of the things that matter. |
I wasn't describing the South, Manders. I can only assume that you read it as such because you realize some aspects of it were true.
Even here in the villages, women are expected to stay home and keep the household. If a party happens to bring back the hunt, everyone helps prepare it but women stick to the bulk of the cooking preparations. Only a hundred years ago they wouldn't let men and women work together because it was considered to be an activity that tainted rituals. |
The labels "feminine" and "masculine" undoubtedly exist as a way (perhaps faulty) of classification.
This doesn't at all mean that one should let simple words restrict oneself. They're just general definitions that don't apply in most cases even though you may be a female or male. |
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I do realize there are a few cultural differences, but it depends on where you are in the south. If you're in one of the many po-dunk little towns where everyone knows each other, then it's obviously going to be different. But the majority of the south has grown into larger communities. |
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'Oh well that's okay, he's a male nurse..' |
I personally don't really like gender stereotyping, but I have to admit that I try to seem more masculine a lot... I'm just a really girly looking guy, and people practically always think I'm a girl. It gets on my nerves, so I try to do all I can to seem more guyish, which is also really annoying. I'm not a totally guyish guy, and I don't want to act like a guyish guy all the time, but if I act normal with my normal personality I am apparently no longer a male. I really don't anyway to fix it in the near future though... Maybe I'll get manlier as I get older.
It also annoys me when people are all, "Oh, I hate stereotyping!" because everyone does it. I try to not be about labels, but it's really hard and I've pretty much given up. I'm a bisexual male; I usually say gay because I lean heavily toward guys. ((I'm thinking that will change though; it's probably just stupid high school girls being stupid all around me all the time.)) But everyone labels themselves as something, so there's no point in saying you don't. |
Oh dude check this out.
YouTube - ‪Gay Parents Bashed‬‏ This made me very happy. ...the title is misleading. watch the video. lol. |
@sarofset I started crying watching that. I know what small Southern town mentalities can be like, so it shocked me that so many people stood up for them. Though I do wonder how it would have gone if, say, one of the male gay parents had been more feminine, or if one of the parents in any of the scenarios had been transgender? |
I'm not sure. Honestly A lot of girls stand up for me when people are being jerks...
I don't claim any gender, but I'm closer to being a girl than a guy. With guys it's more only the ones I know who stand up for me. Not that I need it. lol. I'm 200lbs of muscle and I know a lot of martial arts. ...that being the one really "masculine" thing about me. |
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I'm glad you made a point to post this, Wynna. Because there are so many people who forget that there are many ways men are stereotyped against.// When I was little, I had one of those toy doctor kits and a family friend came to visit us. As the demanding toddler I was, I told him that he was my patient and so he sat on the living room floor and I pretended to give him a check up while he talked with my parents. At one point he turned to me and said "Wow, you're very good at this! Are you going to be a nurse when you grow up?" and my response was: "NO! I'm gonna be a DOCTOR!" :lol: He was taken aback, but my parents were dancing with joy at my response (especially my mum, but I know my dad was thrilled by it, too). |
I believe that Gender Stereotyping is a result of ignorance and lack of respect with others. People shouldn't judge anyone, for they aren't the same being, and they don't see the world the same way. I see gender stereotyping as a very wrong thing to do, for all of us have differet ideals, and mostly we are not willing to open our mind to someone else's, and in such action a extremely big conflict starts, to wich racism is also included. Perhaps this action is what has resulted in many of our social problems. Perhaps - just perhaps - this is what makes wars happen, this is what makes us fight each other. And gender stereotyping is just one of these negative things that all happen to gladly apply in others.
Indeed a very bad thing. |
For some reason at some point in history people decided that they should divide themselves up into subgroups. Based on race, gender, class, religion, or even the way we dress.
I mean look at a modern high school. If I wear black, people call me an emo, or a goth and think I should only hang out with the others of my "kind" I'm still glad I hadn't admitted certain things about myself in high school. I would have been tortured, and I know it. That's probably why actually. |
Yes, indeed. Gender Stereotyping has already a very critical state. People act differently when they are with friends than alone, and yet no one sems to take an action, be it by fear of rejection or by anything else, i don't know. Perhaps if the thought that understanding comes not from neglection but from you giving a chance to the others to express themselves a lot of social problems, such as bias, would be very softened, if not gone. But we're too proud and selfish, otherwise we wouldn't be ignoring those things.
It's really interesting that a discussuion thread about it has been made, it really needs atention. :) |
There have actually been a few threads about this. :)
I enjoy discussing it, especially since it effects me personally, along with a few friends of mine. |
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I act... feminine I guess is the term, around my friends, and when I'm alone. When I'm in public I'm somewhat gruff. ...I've been called rude.
I think it's similar for most people. We have many faces depending on where we are, and whom we are with. There's nothing dishonest about it either, it's just natural human behavior. |
I think its true what Saro is saying about how people act depending on the situation they're in. When I'm with my friends I can be really girly, wearing dresses and make up. But I also am working on a culinary degree and for anyone whose never worked in a kitchen before it's a male dominated profession.
Every kitchen I worked in was filled with men and they're pretty raunchy, saying things most guys would never say if they're girlfriends/wives were listening. Basically I have to be tougher when I'm working in a kitchen because a sign of weakness just gives men something to look down on you for. It's just far easier to let out my more 'masculine' side which has plenty of raunchy jokes itself and leave my 'feminine' side for later when I'm out with my friends. |
Personally, I don't like stereotypes. I'm a girl, but I act very much like a guy. (I've worn a suit to formal affairs purely because my friends were looking forward to seeing me in a dress. Fufufu.) However, I agree with sarofset. Everyone acts differently depending on who they're with. Sure, guys may be told they're not allowed to cry, but I don't know a single guy who doesn't have one person he can break down in front of. As for eliminating masculine references in writing, I don't care if it offends people. It sounds better to me to say "he" rather than "it" or "they". And it's definitely faster than writing out, "he and/or she" :P. |
I must agree about the whole writing thing. And I find that the writer usually picks their own gender to use for the pronoun. For instance in one of my how to books about making jewelry the guy who wrote it used he whenever he needed that type of pronoun, and in Silver Ravenwolf's books she uses she exclusively. Or at least she used to.
I don't think it's meant to offend anyone, it's just easier and sounds better to write it that way, since we only have one nuter pronoun in English and it's considered insulting. lol. |
@Sarofest; I agree with the sex of a character in writing. Though I often write from a female point of view, or omniscient point of view, I do write from the male point of view, too. :yes: I also often role play as male characters, which I've almost grown to prefer.
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I saw someone mention that it's different in the south. If they're talking about the southern states of America....they're wrong.
I don't fit into feminine (except extremely rarely) and I don't really fit into the masculine category. I'm not going to go out and work on a lawn mower or car. It's hot and I have no clue where my oil stick is (since I got a new car). I just know where the other fluids go. But I don't dress up and put make up on and all that. I'm not going to put on a fake appearance like that in the hopes that people will like me. Apparently I fit into the lesbian category when I've never dated or ever wanted to be with a female. So, I'm stereotyped by my gender and the fact that I don't act fully like my gender. -quits typing before it becomes more of a rant- |
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