Stereotypes: What Are They and Why Are They So Prevalent?

Part 1 

Stereotypes are general beliefs about a certain category of people with regard to personality, preferences, or ability. They are also viewed as expectations that people may have or traits that are associated with specific groups of people with factors like nationality, race, ethnic or sexual orientation. 

I realized that people are different in my early teenage at around seven years when I noted that people originate from various races and ethnic origins characterized by unique physical characteristics, and different languages. We were playing in a children's playground when I heard two different languages from other young friends who I believe were Hispanic. I enquired the same from my mother who told me we have different races and ethnic origins. 

At ten years, I noted some sought of racial discrimination against black people since they were treated differently in schools and public places. Teachers were stricter on black children than fellow white children and were also denied admission due to lack of papers since they were migrants. In addition, I noted police harassment towards blacks and even how they were treated when arrested for minor felonies. Concerning sexual orientation, I realized we were different when I saw some children wearing dresses rather than long pants which I wore. Still, children of the opposite gender had long curled hairs, looked beautiful and were more attractive to male children. 

People of colour are often discriminated against whites because of their race. The black race is considered inferior and a minority group that is not attractive or rather does not please the white people who are the majority in developed countries. People of color are labeled ugly in the eyes of the white population, people who are inferior, and ought to be submissive to whites. The white people feel that the blacks are descendants of immigrants and should be deported back to their countries since they are competing resources unnecessarily with white population. 

Sexism is alive and well in our modern society. Employers often discriminate against women when applying for technical jobs such as engineering, aviation, marine and other fields which involve most of the manual work. On the other hand, there are jobs that prefer women than men such as human resources, secretarial, and nursing. Women are taken as a weaker gender and therefore some roles may not be fit for them. Salary for women is often lower compared to men of equal education and experience in some jobs in the US. Some people feel that they cannot work in companies where women occupy senior positions. 

The people who are LGBTQ often face discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Mostly, they are discriminated in public places like hospitals and schools, when seeking jobs, housing, and even when in need of police help. They are denied college or school admission, those employed may be sacked or get lower pay, and face offensive comments or verbal abuse. They are denied healthcare services and could also be discriminated against in courts. 

Part 2 

I was in grade five when the issue of stereotypes among people became vivid in my mind. One day I enquired from my grandfather on the issue since I could hardly understand why people conversed in different languages and why we have different races in our country. He explained to me the history of our country and how colonization brought foreigners to the United States. Different races emerged as a result of slavery, trade, and scramble for colonies by European powers that have now resulted in people with different characteristics. That seemed hard for me to understand at that time but as I grew old, I got to know the origin of different races in our country. My grandfather explained to me that we are descendants of colonizers and share ancestry from the Great Britain. The differences did not affect me at my tender age but now I feel we need to respect and accept each other despite of our different racial and ethnic backgrounds. This is because stereotypes are still evident in our modern society and should be condemned. It hurts me to see people being denied their rights to equal treatment just because of their ethnicity or race.