Stereotypes

Melissa Hyman

Stereotypes

“Once you label me you negate me”. Whether born in an abandon shack or in the room of a public hospital, someone somewhere has fallen victim of some form of stereotyping; whether it was being the nerd in high school, or a street gangster on the corner of Old Montgomery Road. Many, stereotype without even knowing and many others intentionally stereotype because of one’s appearance, ethnicity, past, company, and so on and so forth. Being from a culturally diverse city me myself have been stereotyped in ways I previously stated such as being too fat to be one of the best dancers in the world, and ways I will record in the remaining of this essay.

To begin, at the age of seven, I began to fall in love with the art of dance. I begged my mom to enroll me into a dance school because I wanted to be the best dancer in the world. My first day of dance class was uniquely unpleasant; I ran up to my teacher and told her I want to be the best dancer in the world! She smiled at me and the whole class laughed. I heard one of my dance mates say “you’re too big to be a dancer” my eyes instantly filled up with tears as I ran out the dance studio to my mother waiting in the lobby. According to my peers because I was not slim and lanky, I was unfit to be the best dancer in the world.

At the peak of adolescence I grew to learn that actions, friends, appearance, beliefs, and even your sexual orientation (just to name a few) played a major role in the ideas of stereotyping. People tend to stereotype when they don’t really know who you are they pass judgment because of what they see or hear about you. I have witness people being stereotyped on many occasions. My friend back at home decided to tryout for the Atlanta Hawk’s dance team. Personally I believe my friend is one of the best all around dancers in the nation. Immediately after her audition my friend discovered that she was not chosen to become a prospective member of the dance team because the...