Psychologically speaking, labels and stereotypes come quickly and easily as a survival mechanism. Being able to categorize things allows us to understand our world better and first impressions are lasting because the brain doesn't care to dwell on little things like this day-to-day when it could be doing other things. In other words: racial, sexual, gender (whatever other social issue we have now) stereotypes are natural.
We naturally distinguished men and women from each other. It is an obvious distinction. Once humans evolved we started to create roles for these men and women and it was just easy to go along with the stereotypes and not question things. The stereotypes and labels of men and women (yet somewhat logically created) were just natural. The reason why I say it was somewhat logical is because men are naturally built to do more physical tasks like hunting and gathering, fighting and building while women have bodies to bear children. This has nothing to do with the mind, this has to do with the physical body: what we can look at. All can be agreed here that this seems like a rational label to give to men and women based upon their physical bodies.
We kept this categorization around and with society evolving, we do not have that lifestyle anymore where a man is the breadwinner and the woman is the caregiver, at least not all the time. Why? I will mostly argue it is the economy. One person working in a 2 adult household with children is generally not enough money, unless that one person is working a high-paying job. Also, let's face it, women probably didn't like being cooped up in the house. Also, men may not always enjoy spending less time with their family.
Whatever the reason, my point is that these labels and stereotypes came naturally because of a natural survival mechanism we have to categorize things in order to move on from dwelling and learn quickly.
These stereotypes are not necessarily a bad thing until they start affecting people's lives negatively. For example, once people started recognizing they dislike gender roles (which were natural stereotypes) it became difficult to break the stereotype because people are defensive about their preconceived notions. "No, my idea is correct". I have a theory that generally: nobody likes to be wrong. People will go to great lengths to not get in trouble and not be incorrect. This isn't necessarily a theory, but it does seem like an accurate predictor of actions amongst most people.
These stereotypes are therefore hard to break.
By saying these stereotypes are natural, I am not arguing they are correct. We have created societies which is essentially deviating from the natural. If we never deviated from the natural we would have no laws, societal structures, and may not even be alive. Societies themselves are a survival mechanism. Surrounding yourself with other people in groups and those groups just expanding and expanding with the population. Think of this:
I am a Canadian
I am a Canadian living in Northern Ontario
I am a Canadian Woman Student living in Northern Ontario with her boyfriend
Like I can keep breaking it down or making my relationships more general. My boyfriend and I fight together first, then people in my area, then my province, then my country. Really, it works this way, pretty much. We surround ourselves with people, naturally, as a support system, to aid our lives and to not die. We join a society like me in Ontario, Canada and expect to pay taxes to your country, city and province in order to receive things in return. It is all a support system.
So really, governments, laws and things like this are actually natural survival mechanisms.
Honestly, everything we do, we do just to stay alive. You want a relationship for the support, you watch TV to experience emotion, you eat to nourish yourself, you get a job to gain other things like the food you eat, pay your rent or mortgage, etc. Really, everything we do has a purpose in our life. Even me, sitting on the couch with my laptop writing this helps me survive. Why? I think by writing this maybe even one person out there could be inspired to dwell on what I also dwell on. I don't know. I write this to hold a mirror to society, in a sense. That is my job here. How does it help me live? It is almost a release for me, as well. It helps me release my thoughts rather than torturing myself by keeping them within.
Can you think of anything we do that DOESN'T help us stay alive, improve our quality of life or do as a defence mechanism? I sure can't.
We naturally distinguished men and women from each other. It is an obvious distinction. Once humans evolved we started to create roles for these men and women and it was just easy to go along with the stereotypes and not question things. The stereotypes and labels of men and women (yet somewhat logically created) were just natural. The reason why I say it was somewhat logical is because men are naturally built to do more physical tasks like hunting and gathering, fighting and building while women have bodies to bear children. This has nothing to do with the mind, this has to do with the physical body: what we can look at. All can be agreed here that this seems like a rational label to give to men and women based upon their physical bodies.
We kept this categorization around and with society evolving, we do not have that lifestyle anymore where a man is the breadwinner and the woman is the caregiver, at least not all the time. Why? I will mostly argue it is the economy. One person working in a 2 adult household with children is generally not enough money, unless that one person is working a high-paying job. Also, let's face it, women probably didn't like being cooped up in the house. Also, men may not always enjoy spending less time with their family.
Whatever the reason, my point is that these labels and stereotypes came naturally because of a natural survival mechanism we have to categorize things in order to move on from dwelling and learn quickly.
These stereotypes are not necessarily a bad thing until they start affecting people's lives negatively. For example, once people started recognizing they dislike gender roles (which were natural stereotypes) it became difficult to break the stereotype because people are defensive about their preconceived notions. "No, my idea is correct". I have a theory that generally: nobody likes to be wrong. People will go to great lengths to not get in trouble and not be incorrect. This isn't necessarily a theory, but it does seem like an accurate predictor of actions amongst most people.
These stereotypes are therefore hard to break.
By saying these stereotypes are natural, I am not arguing they are correct. We have created societies which is essentially deviating from the natural. If we never deviated from the natural we would have no laws, societal structures, and may not even be alive. Societies themselves are a survival mechanism. Surrounding yourself with other people in groups and those groups just expanding and expanding with the population. Think of this:
I am a Canadian
I am a Canadian living in Northern Ontario
I am a Canadian Woman Student living in Northern Ontario with her boyfriend
Like I can keep breaking it down or making my relationships more general. My boyfriend and I fight together first, then people in my area, then my province, then my country. Really, it works this way, pretty much. We surround ourselves with people, naturally, as a support system, to aid our lives and to not die. We join a society like me in Ontario, Canada and expect to pay taxes to your country, city and province in order to receive things in return. It is all a support system.
So really, governments, laws and things like this are actually natural survival mechanisms.
Honestly, everything we do, we do just to stay alive. You want a relationship for the support, you watch TV to experience emotion, you eat to nourish yourself, you get a job to gain other things like the food you eat, pay your rent or mortgage, etc. Really, everything we do has a purpose in our life. Even me, sitting on the couch with my laptop writing this helps me survive. Why? I think by writing this maybe even one person out there could be inspired to dwell on what I also dwell on. I don't know. I write this to hold a mirror to society, in a sense. That is my job here. How does it help me live? It is almost a release for me, as well. It helps me release my thoughts rather than torturing myself by keeping them within.
Can you think of anything we do that DOESN'T help us stay alive, improve our quality of life or do as a defence mechanism? I sure can't.
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