Freshman Daisy Lewis discusses how stereotypes affect people.
Photo by: Beth Jackson
By Beth Jackson
Stereotyping is defined in different ways to Plymouth High School students.
Manners are taught at the high school, yet some students continue to hurt others by stereotyping them. To freshman Anthony Ramirez stereotyping is, “Grouping and judging people because of the way they look, dress, what they believe in or even how they talk.” When thinking of stereotypes many may come to mind. When junior Nadia Baca thinks of stereotyping, she thinks “Asians are smart, black people run fast, all Mexicans are illegal immigrants, Americans are fat, French people smell and are rude, all British people are obsessed with tea and all people from the Middle East are terrorists.” To freshman Daisy Lewis, however, she thinks of different types of stereotypes. “Scene, goth, prep, jock, emo, loser, nerd, loner, stoner, outcast, and geek are the ones that I hear the most throughout the day.” With the many types of stereotypes, many feelings and emotions are sure to come with.
Junior Nadia Baca ponders over why people even use stereotypes.
Photo by: Beth Jackson
Judging people based on their looks or a first impression of them may be hurtful. Freshman Lauren Wiegand feels stereotypes are hurtful and can affect someone in a negative way. “It can really affect someone because it can be really derogatory and hurt their self esteem.”
Bullying is a word that may come to mind for some when they think of stereotyping. “Stereotyping can be calling someone a geek when they don’t want to be. Being mean to someone in any way is bullying,” said Wiegand. Wiegand is not the only person in the PHS student body that feels this way. “Of course bullying comes to my mind when I think about stereotypes. When someone is stereotyped, they’re put into a specific ‘group’ based on their physical appearance.” However, not all PHS students feel bullying relates to stereotyping. Junior Grace Hilty does not think stereotyping is a form of bullying others. “Stereotyping is just your first impression of someone based off of information that you have already know or have heard. It’s not like you’re intentionally trying to make someone feel bad with stereotyping.” There are a wide variety of feelings when it comes to stereotypes, and not everyone feels the same.