Stereotype

October Knight

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LURKER MEMBER
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Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
Genres
Fantasy, Horror and Sci-fi. I'll try basically anything though. I also love strange and unusual RP genre concepts. Different is good!
STEREOTYPE

Punk rock, goth, emo, gangsta', nerd, jock, ect ect ect ect.

We've all heard these terms thrown around when describing different groups pf people. Sometimes we judge individuals based on their clothes, or sometimes we judge them based on the activities they take part in, but rarely do we judge based on personality. I hate that, but like almost everyone else on earth, I do it too....

So my question is

Have you ever classified yourself into one of these groups?
If not, have you ever been classified by peers into one of these groups?


 
I classify myself and identify incredibly strongly as a metalhead, and as such, am often classified as that, or at least popular constructs of said term, most of which I dislike anyways. I feel no shame in being seen as one, even with varying levels of accuracy as to the particulars and when I can, make very little effort to hide it (when the weather's nice, I'm almost always wearing a black US ranger jacket and a metal tee underneath it). Even amongst other metalheads, I'm usually seen as "that guy with *really fucking obscure* taste who listens to all the bands no one has heard of."
 
"that guy with *really fucking obscure* taste who listens to all the bands no one has heard of."

AGREED

And that is whats you so badass dude.
 
Man, you would have loved the old radio show Deathcult for Eternity I was running 2nd/3rd year on University of Toronto Scarborough's fusion radio. Just two hours of some of the most underrated and obscure metal out there. Practically every single show none of my listeners, metal or otherwise, were able to recognize at more than I think maybe 30% of all the bands I played. Stuff like Timeghoul, Manilla Road, Revelation (USA), Alhambra, Mortuary Drape, and a few non metal stuffs like Paginnini, Univers Zero, and Discharge would play for two hours every night. I nearly even got an interview with Paul Speckmann from mothafuckin' MASTER (USA) this one time.
 
Oh yes, I've always considered myself -and has been thought of by others- as a nerd. I'd always read in class, finishing books at what is considered insane speed. I love my Nintendo Games, like Zelda, Mario, and Pokemon. And since these games involve no bloodshed or firearms at all, they tend to be associated with the nerd group.

I never mind, truth be told, when people call me such, and I do, in fact, take pride in it. Even now, after being out of school, I'm still known as a nerd.
 
I'm was a loner. I dunno what that meant in High School but it somehow made me get a lot of friends with the actors of the school. So I guess I had that going for me.
 
Ive been classed as so much and classed myself a lot. mainly i was the outcast of the outcasts i just didnt fit in anywhere at least not in school. ive been emo, goth, metal, and nerd. but in alll reality i am who i am y put a class to it, though if i had to put a name to it im a nerd for rpgs of all sorts and to anime. out cast of the outcasts still stands though. i like my friends we just dont see eye to eye on alot of things. But hey who does anymore. :)
 
I think 'skinny jeans-wearing geeky type' works alright for me.

But seriously, these stereotypes tend to not apply very well. I'll use a friend of mine as an example for this. She loves dancing, clubbing and techno music, dresses like the most girly of girls you've ever seen and screams at the sight of spiders. Yet on a certain day of the week, she dons a Metallica t-shirt, pulls together a playlist and spends the evening hosting a rock night in town, where all kinds of metal is played, from Mastodon to Cannibal Corpse.

Stereotypes may reflect what the person looks like, but that's so superficical it's not even funny. I've had discussions with dupstep artists about classical music, and I know plenty of people who'll admit that R&B is a guilty pleasure of theirs, no matter what 'scene' they associate themselves with most.
 
My friends have and still call me a nerdy punk. XP

When I look in the mirror, I just see a person that no one can ever mimic. I'm so strange and unique that I can believe that no one can look or be like me; to every last detail. Some labels make sense, but others just don't. Labels are for soup cans, dammit!

I try to live up to the true meaning of punk... Piercings and Mohawks don't make you a punk. You gotta be part of the social movement! :3 I tend to agree with the messages sent through the lyrics of these old bands, also the newer ones. It's nothing like it was in the 70s, but nothing lasts forever. I'm quite sad that my little punk group died. We liked to influence our peers with our knowledge of punk; we were also a punk band (Me as the singer).
And yes, I am a nerd! It blows peoples' minds when they hear the nerdy things I've done and been through. I take after my Dad in that sense, and it's just what interests me. I've always been more of a tomboy (which people also acknowledged because of my cross-dressing) so my interests stemmed from preferring Nintendo, TMNT, dirt and worms, and action figures over dresses, shoes, make-up and dolls. ^^;
 
Like Rory, I was an outsider. Only, they labeled me 'emo' after some traumatic stuff happened and I tried to kill myself. Enough of that though. They knew nothing about me and didn't want to. They wanted the label.

The real me? Eclectic as fuck. Techno, metal, punk, whatever. Depressed, happy, angry. Black white green blue. Random dancing around town, yes.
 
Geek, converted into Awesome McBadass. You know how ultra-manly badasses can do stuff like eat rocks, shoot a sparrow in the eye, beat up a dozen ninjas, dance masterfully in ballet, and cook French cuisine all at once? And no one calls them out on the girly stuff? That's kind of where I'm standing.
 
Only, they labeled me 'emo' after some traumatic stuff happened

Sorry Kestral, they had you labled before that. Thats why we took you in, you didn't fit anywhere else.

Me I don't think you can place me in any specific spot. Nerd is the closest though, with a little punk. My friends and I (Kestral included) were a group of people that didn't fit in any one clique, we were outcasts of one type or another. There were some that tried to label us. they mostly called us nerds and geeks(most likely because we all were pretty heavy gamers) but we just ignored them. they were comfortable using their free will to choose to imitate someone else and cage themselves in a box of stereotypes, and we were happy being ourselves.
 
Lots of 'nerd' and 'geek' and and even a couple outsiders, nice group!

I have always considered my self a free spirit in a lot of ways. I enjoy a wide variety of things that make it really hard to place one particular label on me. Based on how I dress, again depending on the day, some people might say I have the 'Skater look", but that's mostly just cause of the hoodies (I am constantly wearing one) On other days people might call me a jock cause I am wearing running shoes and shorts, and other days maybe a metal head cause Im in all black with a metal shirt...idk, I try to switch it up. I like being original and independent.

As far as the nerd thing, I have always been a closet nerd......idk, just the way I am. Trying to get out there more with my "nerdiness" though.
 
My school is super laid-back and there haven't been any real "cliques" or somesuch in the four years I've been there. In my free time, I tend to end up hanging out with the kids who listen to metal, wear trench coats, and smoke pot but I'm not like that. I've asked people, and they don't really give me a type since they simply see me as very aloof and reserved (despite my best efforts to appear friendly). I would like it to know what group people place me in, since no one has ever really has an answer for me >> <<
 
I avoid stereotyping where possible, but if I had to stereotype myself, I'd have to be some kind of shut-in geek. It's not really in my nature to judge who a person is, after some of the bullying I've been through in my younger years.
 
I don't think I've ever been outright stereotyped. Yeah, some people treat me like a hipster because of my tramp chic style of dressing, but my LOL personality and my interest in music from dubstep to classical helps me transcend such labels. TBH, I am usually the one to stereotype people. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing (unless you're some kind of hater) as stereotyping is a valuable tool to help humans cope with people. If I see someone that looks like they're in a gang then I'm going to walk a little farther away from him, but it may turn out that he's a perfectly upstanding fellow OR that I just got my ass saved. There are good and bad sides.
 
I won't lie, I don't think "varied taste" automatically de-hipsterizes someone. As people who are pretty much into whatever's held up as chic/ironic/"classy" etc., the "I listen to everything" card is more often than not used as a way to hold oneself up as some "superior" music listener more interested in showing off than a genuine statement of taste-focus.
 
Nope I've never classified myself, nor has anyone classified me. What would you guys classify me as? What would we classify each other as?
 
I think it's a part of human nature to want to makes things simple. One way of doing that is by categorizing. Just as these tasty, tasty CHEETOS I'm munching on right now are categorized as snack food, people who wear black and keep to themselves might be considered GOTH, and so on. I think Grumpy and others are right though; stereotypes aren't terribly useful because people are too complicated to be labeled by one one word, people have different ideas on what exactly the different labels mean (when asking my friends what exactly a HIPSTER was, I received several different answers) and often they aren't particularly important anyway.

Coincidentally, people often label me as a geek. I am into some pretty "geeky" stuff (Lord of the Rings, Warhammer 40k, video games, some anime, etc.), but I certainly don't have the technological know-how that people often expect from geeks, and I'm relatively athletic (I play soccer and run regularly).