Why do you think many stereotypes are false ?

I don’t think that,because there are many people say that.

Stereotyping or labels, puts people in a one size fits all mold. It basically says this group is all alike. What is false about it is that as individuals, there may be circumstances, thinking, belief system that we don’t know or don’t see in the snapshot we see of that person/persons. It’s funny we all want to be seen for our own individual selves, but we’re quick to group and fit others into a catagory Unfortunately in one fashion or another we are all guilty of it consciously or subconsciously.

A stereotype is made to characterize people under one category, but all people in the group aren’t exactly the same so it’s useless to put everyone in one group. Now, cliques and stereotypes are completely different, maybe you have those mixed up?

I just don’t believe in them. Just cause someone likes a certain style of clothes or makeup or hair doesn’t make them something their not, it’s just their outside appearence. No one really labels by their personality.

they are not false, they are lifestyles

There are, in fact, people who are - or seem - stereotypical. That is where stereotypes come from. You observe people. Then you find a visible characteristic and you link it to a non-visible characteristic. Happens to everyone automatically. But that is misleading yourself, basically. We categorize in order to make the world easier. You can’t know everyone. So you sum up groups of people and make assumptions about them, based on what you know about other folks of the same group.

Let’s look at this example. You go to school. There are three naturally red-headed girls in your year. They all happen to be shy. Then you meet a new red-headed girl. You will automatically assume that this girl is like the other three red-heads you know and you will approach her, expecting that same behavior. But then you will notice that this girl happens to be extrovert - that is a stereotype smashed.

Stereotypes arise in everyone. You can’t be free of them. All you can do is make yourself aware that your stereotypes are in fact stereotypes and that every new person you meet might be able to smash them by being completely different.

You will also find that getting to know people will create fractions in stereotype groupings. I’ll use this example: US-Americans have stereotypes about each other. There are regional ones. The people from New England have stereotypes about the people from Texas and vice versa. Americans of different skin color or cultural background will also be stereotyping about each other.

Now go to any person from an overseas country (such as Timbuktu) and ask them what they know about Americans. They will have their stereotypes on Americans in general but they will not have stereotypes about black Americans from Texas or about Spanish speaking Americans from California. They might say things like “All Americans are very rich and own firearms.”.

You can apply the same to almost every country in the world. French people from rural regions will believe that people from their capital Paris drive aggressively. People from southern France might say that People from northern France are dumb. People from northern France might say that people from southern France drink way too much. But everyone outside of France will have stereotypes about France and the French in general, often extremely different from the local stereotypes.

And that is the key to smashing stereotypes: Getting to know new folks. The more people you really get to know, the smaller your stereotype groups break down. If you were able to really know everyone in the world, then you’d have no stereotypes, because everyone would be their own group. But that isn’t possible with 7 billion people.

But if you travel a lot, you will notice that people in Venezuela are different from people in Argentina and that people in Argentina are different from people in Brazil. And thus you break down your general “south American people are…” stereotypes to national ones. If you travel any nation a lot, you will get to the local stereotypes.

And if you feel your old stereotypes breaking down to smaller and smaller pieces regularly, you will one day start to expect the unexpected and be aware that your stereotypes can and will be smashed any time. Which is good. As it opens your mind.

‘Cause you get to know them without looking for them. You should refuse anything you didn’t “find out”, if that makes any sense XD lol