Stereotypes

The stereotypes are very evident in our lives as we use them to picture different people in different countries with one identity. It's the preconceived image of a person or a culture, and it can be responsible for prejudice and intolerance among different peoples. It is right to say that stereotypes are one way to label people in an attempt to understand them.

 

It is usually seen in different cultures and how they see another people, but it also happens inside of societies. In fact, everyone you see can be embedded in one stereotype and this is completely normal since it's how we try to find people with the same interests as us in the middle of a crowd. It starts to be harmful to people when you stick to the stereotype when it comes to meeting new persons; it starts to reflect in the society's media and interests, and can mislabel an entire group of people.

There are many examples of how this works today, because even with our progress in technology, we still suffer from various conflicts, going from ethnicity to gender and even age groups. The one I'll be talking about is gender, because it is still a problem in all world: it is about how one gender is superior to the other; in the case, how males can be superior to the inferior, weak and unstable females.

It isn't explicit and many people believe that we already achieved equality, which is completely wrong. Women are seen as sexual objects nowadays and it's evident in advertisements, movies and all types of media we see around.

Examples:

"The effect of Axe."

Why is it harmful?

First, because it values women in sexual context only, and degrades them in all the other ones. Women are seen as a prize for you if you use some kind of deodorant or their implicit sexual attraction to a "sandwich" seen as what makes it good.

It only reflects what people look for in women and it's the cause and consequence of it in an never-ending cicle. It is important to educate ourselves and to hear what the affected group thinks and feels about it. Stereotypes can be good to make us have an idea of what the other's culture is, but it can never be our final image of them, nor the one that we stick to understand their values.