Fight The Stereotype

Community Voices: Ella Springer

Dear World,

We spend so much of our lives worrying about what others think, stressing over what people will say or do when they meet us. Adults love to say that teenagers spend too much time stressing over what others think. But if you ask me, adults stress over stuff like this as much, if not more than teenagers. Think about how many times you see adults stress about what their bosses will think of them. We all stress over what people will think of us.

We care so much about what others will think of us and we still hurt the people around us just because they are different. Why? I’m not sure. We bite our nails over people thinking we are weird because we are different and then we turn around and make fun of others who are different than us. It doesn’t make any sense.

Our society has made it so that we are born into a story, we are born into a personality, we don’t get to make many of our own decisions and we have to be the person we were “meant to be”. By “meant to be” I mean we are forced to fall into certain stereotypical categories from the moment we are born.

Think of when you were a little kid, think of the gender you were born with, whether or not that is the gender you identify as today. Within weeks or days of your birth you were most likely given something pink if you were born female or something blue if you were born male, princesses for girls and toy trucks for boys. From practically our first breaths we are forced to be something that will shape us throughout our lives.

Many times, in defense of injustice, people will try to use statistics to make stereotypes seem okay. People will say that more men play sports or that more women work in nail and hair salons. These may be true, but why? Because we are raised this way, we are raised to believe that boys play sports and girls do hair and paint nails. There is nothing wrong with either of these activities, but both girls and boys should grow up having equal opportunity in both.

How can we break these chains of stereotypes that hold us back? We don’t let the stereotypes get to us, we don’t let them control us. As I stated earlier, we are scared to be different. In order to break these chains we must make sure the people around us don’t have reason to be scared. We must support our friends and family in whatever future they strive for. In exchange, our families and friends will support us. Everyone has a dream, we must give them the ability to make it come true.

Yours,

Alle Faller

“Stereotypes happen. I try not to embrace them or ignore them.” - Danny Pudi

Ella Springer is a student in our Middle School who blogs under the pseudonym Alle Faller. She is interested in social justice, creating change, and sharing her voice with the world. Her mission with her blog, “Dear World,” is to inspire, create change, and share her journey.