When we act a certain way, we are labeled; and if we act another, we are ridiculed for being different. This judgment comes from our parents, our coworkers, men, women, and even children. Society creates a set of strict norms, and anything outside of them has a strong stigma attached. We create labels based on stereotypes and use them to judge everyone around us. When we should be encouraging and empowering everyone to be themselves, we somehow we still get caught up in stereotypes and negativity.
If a girl dresses modestly she is called a prude, but if she shows more skin she is called a slut. If a girl likes Starbucks and thinks Uggs and leggings make a comfortable winter outfit, people judge her for being basic and say she is unoriginal, failing to recognize that she goes far beyond these surface things.
If a boy dresses nicely his sexuality is questioned, but if he puts no effort in he is called a slob. If a boy shows any sign of weakness he is called a girl because society does not allow him to show emotion, and defines boys as people who are always masculine.
People are reduced to stereotypes based on race, as well, and these are only perpetuated by social media trends. Religion is now a label some use to categorize people, and they assume that because one person of a religion acts in a radical way they all do. Many people in society sexualize being a lesbian, but if those same people saw a lesbian couple in public they would be quick to pass judgment. Gay culture has now become an attraction that a variety of people love to experience but then they base their idea of what every gay man should act, look, dress, and speak like based on one small fraction of the gay community.
People are constantly assigned labels by everyone around them based on how their outward appearance and interests are interpreted.All of these labels and stereotypes allow society to make us as only one thing, or write us off based on our appearances and interests. There is no label based on our personalities, our past, or our accomplishments. We are taught it is what is outside that matters to people and we must act accordingly.
We are so much more than the labels given to us. We are a sum of all of the unique things that make us an individual. The double standards and constricting ideas force us into a box and make us seem so much more simple than we are. Labels are for clothes, not people, and it is time we start treating them that way.
