Social Life - Essay Example

In most contemporary learning intuitions, it is not difficult to come across students who are cast as lonely figures and living in isolation from the rest of the students. Take for instance the case of a student who keeps to herself in school. She has few friends, with whom they share similar traits, and with whom they do not enjoy the company of the rest of the students. Such students will always be spotted walking alone, sitting alone in the instruction’s library or recreational facilities, or having a virtually non-existent social life within the school culture. The common stereotype for such students is that they are children who are either orphaned, adopted, or have no biological parents for some reason, or generally that they come from abusive and broken homes. Family problems are therefore the first stereotype to be formed for such isolated students.

Research shows that this type of stereotyping may be actually founded on facts. It shows that more than fifty percent of the students, especially teenagers, who exhibited the aforementioned signs, came from families with a history of abuse and divorce. The majority of these teenagers were comprised of families whose fathers had walked out on them (Dennis and Erdos, 2000). The effect of this, therefore, is that the student becomes distant, anti-social, and depressed. This leads to poor performance in school and anti-social behavioral patterns (Teenage outcasts, 2011).

The preceding argument is not entirely true as it is based on existing misconceptions about teenage outcasts. This is because not all teenage students who tend to exhibit behavioral isolation come from problematic families. In fact, in some instances, such students came from good and well of families, and the isolation may have been caused by psychological factors such as shyness (Mosser, 2011). All that such students may be in need of is just some company so as to make them feel wanted and part and parcel of society. Stereotyping them thus only leads to long-term negative impacts that would always place them at a disadvantage, one that they may wholly never recover from (U.S News Science, 2010).

The second common stereotype revolves around the gay community. Majority of the people perceive gay people as having a tendency of exhibiting feminine traits. Any person who walks, talks, or engages in activities that are considered a preserve of the female gender is out rightly labeled as gay. It is not uncommon to hear most people referring to male fashion designers, stylists, or male hairdressers as gay. The stereotype here is that all persons of the male gender who engage in professions that are considered feminine are gay. The stereotype here is even extended to ordinary male persons who exhibit feminine tendencies or tend to lean more on female behavioral characteristics. This stereotype has been largely perpetuated by the media, which portrays all gay men as being extremely effeminate.

So, are these stereotypes about gay men being effeminate true? Research suggests that gay men actually do prefer some professions like interior designing, fashion, and hair coloring (Stossel and Binkley, 2006). In fact, professions like dancing and fashion require the creative touches of gay people, and it is no wonder that such professions are flooded with gay men. Michael Bailey, a psychology professor, argues that these stereotypes of gay men are actually true. He argues that gay men exhibited feminine tendencies during childhood and had a preference for feminine sex roles (Bailey, 2003). However, it is such stereotyping of gay people that has led to homophobic attacks and discrimination among the gay community. This form of stereotyping has long-term negative impacts on the perception of the gay community in society (Pre-existing notions, 2011).

This form of stereotyping is not entirely true. This is because it is merely a generalization that lacks elaborate research as to the accuracy of this hypothesis. The members of the gay community are just as diverse as other people in the community. There are just as many gay doctors, engineers, and attorneys. These stereotypes are thus only based on exaggerated perceptions of gender dichotomy. 

The last common stereotype in contemporary society expressed by the greater American population is that African Americans are great at sporting activities. That is, all African-Americans are great athletes. This stereotype has its origin in the American sporting culture, which is mainly dominated by African American athletes on almost all sporting fields.  African Americans have been able to dominate the majority of sports in America. This includes field and track, volleyball, football, and basketball, and are making major inroads in swimming as well as in golf. The question that then arises is whether this form of stereotyping is true, or whether it is backed by factual evidence.

It is quite clear from evidence gathered by watching sports that since the integration of African Americans into sporting activities, there has been a paradigm shift of sporting supremacy. African Americans have thus been able to dominate almost all the major sports in America, while only comprising a mere thirteen percent of the entire population. Perhaps the strongest evidence of this black supremacy in sporting activities is evidenced by the fact no white person has ever been able to run the 100m sprint race in under ten seconds, while African Americans have been able to achieve this fete at least thirty times (La Griffe du Lion, 2011). However, this stereotype is not true of all African Americans as not all of them are great athletes. There are even Caucasian athletes who are better than their African American counterparts. Ice hockey, which is dominated by Caucasians, also serves as evidence that African Americans are not dominant in all sporting activities.