Stereotypes, social groups & discrimination.

I hate lables, but so many people are just IN LOVE with them i cant help being called a punk or goth

In my school, i dont have a real name. Im "the gothic girl" or "red day" because i usually waer black&red and i love green day

the thing with labels though, is that too many people take them negatively. i mean,a label can be good to an extent, where, like most times, its taken out of hand. but if your gay, you gay, and people are going to call you a fag, same with if your bi. literally, its not a label, its more an insult and pretty much who you are. no offense, im one of yous.

the only thing to do about is education. id say thats pretty much the only solution. people put labels on things they dont know much about usually. one very simple example is when you dont what something is called, so you call it a thingamabob, or thingamajiger, or whatchamacallit?

zdf_jammin:

literally, its not a label, its more an insult and pretty much who you are. no offense, im one of yous.

Yes, that is what I hate...they're not really labels ..well, they are...but their mostly said as insults. And what I also hate is...

Me: I'm bored...what should I do? *Looks around, sees eyeliner and puts it on*
Some random girl: Are you a goth?
Me: No...
Random girl: Yes you are.

Dya see what I mean? It's like..that girl was telling me what I am. "Yes you are a goth." And she doesn't even know me. I know who I am...I just wish people would stop telling me I'm something else.

Stereotypes are a natural part of any society. Although in earlier times they caused awful things like hangings or burnings or executions, nowadays we aren't so severe. The worst thing that happens with them involve hurt teenagers that would normally pretend to be hurt anyway. No big loss, as I see it.

And most people rebel with "Don't label me! I'm not a soup can! You don't even know me!" but really, what else would we rely on to get a snapshot of a person's character before we really knew them? Sure, social discrimination can hurt someone throughout high school or college or whatever, but these days we have laws against them job-wise. So meh. Big deal, I say.

I'll copy and paste my comment from page 5 for the hell of it:

"Well, from what I've learned and experienced, some groups don't like others because the way they all act, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, even the color they paint their nails. A lot of people would say they are wrong to be in and to socialize with because bad things can happen but from what I've realized, what I've found out is that every person on this damn Earth is in a group. Whether it's all of the kids who go to band class at their school to the people who talk and joke around when they're at work. It's something you can't get away from. I've learned to deal and to most of the time, shut up about what I think because every time I try to say something like "I like to think that I'm in the punk category" I get shot back with a "No! You aren't punk, never have been, never will be!" or a "I hate labels. They suck and I'm going to push my views on you because they're correct and yours aren't." It makes me sick to my stomach that I can't choose what I want to do without a chunk of my confidence blown away. The only reason I don't mind doing these things is because these people are who I belong with. They are so much like me in so many ways. Most of the other groups are exactly what I'm NOT going for. It all makes sense to me and I don't see the harm. Say what you want about who I'm not but just think about who walks away as a bigger person. Not a bigger person in every way but just by difference of opinion and not using it in an idiotic way. Wow, this thing is getting long. Anyways, I don't mind the damn things and I think we should all chill about it.
-End of Speech-"

Hmm, I can't say there are any "social groups" at my school, not as far as I know anyway. Perhaps that's because we have a uniform, I'm not sure. There are different groups of friends, but it's not like: these are goths and these are preps and these are this and these are that. My own group of friends is pretty varied: I wear lots of black and I listen to bands most people I know have never heard of, someone else is very much into folk music and things like that, another one's very preppy and into fashion and stuff, another one's a bit nerdy perhaps, ... All of that doesn't matter, we're different but we're friends anyway. Now by "groups of friends" I don't mean like antisocial cliques, but just people who hang out together. But everyone talks to each other and everyone's friendly to each other. There are differences of course, but that doesn't cause any problems or hate. I get the feeling, but perhaps I'm wrong, that like a clear distinction between different 'kinds' of people is mostly something American.

There are a few social groups/cliques in my school, its like a heirarchy (sp?). Chavs (who are always the most popular, next to the 'Fresh kids'). Fresh kids, by the way, are just like the american preps. Then at the bottom of the heap you have the 'Moshers'. An assorted group of skaters, metal heads, retro kids, goths and miscellaneous outcasts (me!).

At my school we have loads of different groups of friends.... but all of the preppy people kind of group together, and are always the most 'popular'.
But then in my group of friends, there are loads of different clique things... and I find that we all group together within our group of friends, if that makes any sense.
It's quite odd really.

Nearly all of my friends are so different to me. I don't mind if I hang out with a prep or whatever if we get along and stuff. I don't really think it's fair to immediately not like someone because of what they look like and that's what ALOT of people at my school do. And they're seriously bitchy...I never knew how evil 12 year old girls could be.

I have huge interest in this subject.

Like how people form little cliques everwhere, and you get 'cool people' and etc etc etc.

And everywhere you go, there's a label for everyone.

You're a punk, emo, goth, chav, rocker, headbanger, gansta, nerd, teenie, popster, rejct etc.

And there's always people who like the people mentioned above, or hate their guts.

I used to (and still sort of am) be one of these people who are plentiful on GSB who hate teenies and chavs and whatever.

Then we did a Discrimination, Stereotyping and Prejudice project in Life Orientation.

It just made me think.

Everyone's a human being. I might not like their music, but that doesnt mean i hate every rap fan on the planet.

You cant judge a group of poeple without having had met every single one of them.

Now, someone quote my profundity and put it in their sig

Sorry, i tried, but its too long

From my experience it's true that the different groups don't like each other too much, depending on the group though.
But, if you're saying you are a punk/ metal head/ goth or whatever,
it's most likely ppl are gonna say "eww, lables." or "you are so not *whatever*".

All these social groups end up being something to lower your self esteem anyway,
if you don't find the people of "your social group" to hang out with.

descrimination doesn't really happen where I am.
I really don't care about the stereotypes and social groups.
And a lot of times I like them because they make the "lables are for soup cans" people squirm.

Eh..people get labeled all the time. Sometimes, they might go around labeling others and may not even notice it. Stereotypes are always going to be around, and people are always going to label each other. What can you do? -_-;

Faith:

I guess people are just scared of something they don't understand. So, even if you don't exactly know why that punk or goth in your school is acting the way they are - people still tend to descriminate against them on the basis of "Why are you not like everybody else?"
I've gotten that so much at school 'cuz I'm always wearing black, even though I'm not a goth, punk, satanist, witch or anything like that. People would still make fun of me. I think it's just that some people don't like those who are in any way "different" from the norm or from them (which could also be partual reason for racism and homophobia).

Probably some groups don't like each other because of something they do, or even because they are kind of supposed to. Like, you know, rock fans are kind of supposed to hate pop fans. Doesn't mean they all do, but still.
Maybe I'll say something stupid, but I do think a lot of people desciminate against goths/punks/something-else-"different-from-the-norm" simply out of jealousy. Everyone wants to be "special" or different, but not all of us have the guts to. I sometimes want to dye my hair in 7 different colors, but I don't have the guts to do that. So, I kind of envy people who can do that. I wouldn't discriminate against them though, I'd respect and admire them for the courage. But a lot of people hate those who can do that.

At my school there was a teacher who hated me because I was smarter than her daughter, which is fucking rediculous. Now here I'm hated simply for being American (they say we're all stupid)...I guess everyone needs to hate somebody.

I talk too much...

no, you don't talk too much. I admire your intelligence and I admire that whatever you say...it makes sense! I totally agree with you there...I couldn't have put it in better words, myself.

*Blue Star*:

Faith:

I guess people are just scared of something they don't understand. So, even if you don't exactly know why that punk or goth in your school is acting the way they are - people still tend to descriminate against them on the basis of "Why are you not like everybody else?"
I've gotten that so much at school 'cuz I'm always wearing black, even though I'm not a goth, punk, satanist, witch or anything like that. People would still make fun of me. I think it's just that some people don't like those who are in any way "different" from the norm or from them (which could also be partual reason for racism and homophobia).

Probably some groups don't like each other because of something they do, or even because they are kind of supposed to. Like, you know, rock fans are kind of supposed to hate pop fans. Doesn't mean they all do, but still.
Maybe I'll say something stupid, but I do think a lot of people desciminate against goths/punks/something-else-"different-from-the-norm" simply out of jealousy. Everyone wants to be "special" or different, but not all of us have the guts to. I sometimes want to dye my hair in 7 different colors, but I don't have the guts to do that. So, I kind of envy people who can do that. I wouldn't discriminate against them though, I'd respect and admire them for the courage. But a lot of people hate those who can do that.

At my school there was a teacher who hated me because I was smarter than her daughter, which is fucking rediculous. Now here I'm hated simply for being American (they say we're all stupid)...I guess everyone needs to hate somebody.

I talk too much...

no, you don't talk too much. I admire your intelligence and I admire that whatever you say...it makes sense! I totally agree with you there...I couldn't have put it in better words, myself.

Wow...thank you. I am so flattered, you have no idea.

Most people at my school really don't understad the diffent social groups.They think if you wear black t shirts that your goth or alternative.And they assume if you don't have a boyfriend then your a dork/geek/nerd.Also if you get A's in school they take atvantage of you by doing a project but you have to do all the work.

fruity:

Eh..people get labeled all the time. Sometimes, they might go around labeling others and may not even notice it. Stereotypes are always going to be around, and people are always going to label each other. What can you do? -_-;

i like your userpic! secret window rules