About stereotypes and such.

When we mention stereotypes, we all tend to think of it in the negative view; 'if you are a gay, you must have rampant sex and have STI/HIV' 'If you are a are a guy and have sex with multiple sex partners, you must be a stud. However if you are a girl, you are a slut who cannnot keep your legs closed' Which of course, are not true at all! (But thats not our topic today to counter these stereotypes.)

In actual fact, stereotypes are used widely in daily life, as a form of general classification and of course, for humour.

In primary school maths problems, you would have a Malay friend named Ali, a Indian friend named Muthu and a Chinese friend named Xiao Ming; thats a stereotype. And Muthu would probably have a father selling Roti Prata, and probably Xiao Ming would have a father Ah Seng selling Hainanese Chicken Rice. Stereotypes? Yes of course. Would you actually argue people are being racist, that they Indians need not sell only Chicken Rice, and that there are also Muslim Chinese selling Halal food? There's a pebble in your shoe, stop, and remove the pebble before walking.


Seen this before? If not, time to get a chuckle:

Now, thats stereotypes; Blackberry users are businessmen, Apple users think they are oh-so-cool, and they think Blackberry users are old fashioned. Android users think they are super tech-savy. Entirely true? Not really, its vast generalization: there are school kids using Blackberries, and there are old aunties using Apple, and Businessmen using Android devices. And if you still have a strong opinion, repeat my advice as above: There's a pebble in your shoe, stop, and remove the pebble before walking.

Now lets look at some Engineer jokes: A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said:

"If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess". He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.

The frog then cried out: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do anything you want". Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked: "What is the matter ? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me ?"
The man said, "Look I'm a software engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool." 

Now now, we could all agree on that in real life, engineers would turn down a beautiful princess who would do everything for you (Including all your kinky fetishes in bed)




Now at Dilbert (For those not familar, Dilbert is a Engineer)

And of course, I have used various stereotypes in the below 2 blogposts, stereotypes that engineers are badly dressed, are boring people etc. Similarly, in the other blogpost, Girls get yourself a Engineer as an ideal partner (http://therealfakentu.blogspot.com/2011/02/girls-get-yourself-engineer-as-ideal.html) I also stereotyped engineers as being faithful to their partners, and being able to fix everything in the house. Of course, there are engineers who would be cheating on their spouses; Engineers like IT Engineers who are unable to fix leaking pipes (different discipline, remember?). Such Stereotypes do not apply to every single individuals, nor account for any group on the whole. Stereotypes exist because of people's perspection and also for generalization and classifying people for ease and humour. (Eg refer to my above example as Muthu Curry and Ah Seng Chicken rice)

And oh yes, if the pebble in your shoe is still really uncomfortable, do remove before walking.

On a lighter note: 2 more weeks of lessons before its recess week people!

What are your thoughts on stereotyping as a form of generalization and humour? Let us know through a comment below!