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Avoiding Stereotypes
Avoiding Stereotypes
When a category of people—an ethnic or religious group, for example—is
portrayed as having one or perhaps several key characteristics, that is called a
stereotype. The characteristic might be a physical trait, as in the belief that Jews
have big noses. It might be a behavioral trait, as with the notion that all gay men
are promiscuous or all Russians are alcoholics. While such beliefs may seem
relatively harmless, they can in fact be very hurtful and even destructive.
In one sense, it is completely understandable that we have stereotypes of certain
groups of people. It’s part of how we come to understand the world. Most of us
grow up in societies in which social, ethnic and economic groups are divided
from one another, and people have little opportunity to learn about others who
are not like themselves.
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