College Students! discussion

One of my favourite psychology classes this semester is Stereotyping, Discrimination, and Prejudice. It is very interesting and it covers so many controversial and conversation starter topics ranging from gay penguins and research showing a relationship between religion and prejudice. One topic we covered in the class was just talking about a time where you were unjustly labelled or discriminated against.

So I was wondering if you guys had any stories that you wanted to share. And this can be about anything, being a vegetarian, sexual orientation, being male or female, the way you dress, even being young or old (These were examples people used in class).

I'm a vegetarian and usually the first question someone asks me is "Are your parents vegetarians too?", and I say, "No", and that is followed by a "Then why don't you eat meat?", and then "So..what do you eat?". Maybe it's not stereotyping but it does get really annoying, because I've answered those questions countless times.

Also, I'm 23 but I barely look like I'm 16. So most people think I'm still in high school and when I tell them I'm in grad school half the time they don't believe me. Anytime I buy alcohol they always look at me funny/study my I.D., so I'm just waiting for the day someone refuses to serve me. But everyone tells me I'll appreciate it when I get older! haha

Jen..I'm in the same boat. I work in retail temporarily until I can find a big girl job..and I really do look like I'm 15. I always get it..customers will be like.."oh..you look like my daughters age..come help me"..and I'm like "how old is your daughter?" and they say 15. I'm always like umm yeahh..I'm 24..graduated from college..SORRY! but anyways..working in retail and looking young..customers are SOOO rude to me. It's funny because I had this one lady scream at me for no reason acting like I was a dumb little girl that didn't know anything..talking to her friend about how high schoolers working here or something. I was ticked so I said to my co-worker really loudly.."I'm so glad I went to college and graduated Cum Laude so I could deal with idiots all day long." That women kind of stared at me and then ended up in my line and what do you know..she was as nice as can be. Just because I work retail and I look young doesn't mean I'm an idiot.

I'll have to think of other ways. I'm just wayy too tired right now.

I'm atheist. Some people tread lightly around me with religious topics. Some are in awe if I don't make disparaging comments toward religion. I also get asked a lot of questions about evolution, but I've never studied it. I don't know if that's how people thought I spent my Sunday mornings growing up, but it's really not at all. I guess, what is the weirdest about it for me, is that other people have way more questions about it than I do. To be quite honest, I hardly think about it.

When I tell people that I've never been in a relationship before and that I am gay they always ask me, "How do you know you're gay?" I find this question to be annoying. To me it implies that I need to go be in a relationship or have sex with someone to know what I'm attracted to.So I as them "How do you know you're not gay?"

Jamie wrote: "Jen..I'm in the same boat. I work in retail temporarily until I can find a big girl job..and I really do look like I'm 15. I always get it..customers will be like.."oh..you look like my daughters a..."


I am also in the same boat. I have that baby face and I am very short. I am 23 years old and some people think I am 12 years old!

I'm discriminated against all the time for being blonde and having boobs. People treat me like I'm dumb and not going to amount to anything more than a piece of ass. It was strange because I knew I was smart, but it was hard to constantly prove myself to people. One mistake and I was back as idiot status. But I've overcome that because I've become a lot more confident and comfortable with who I am. If people don't want to accept that I'm smart and pretty, it's their problem, not mine.

I don't think that's simple stuff at all.

It reminds me about how in Constitution class the other day, the professor asked the females, "how many of you are feminists?" and less than half raised their hands. ...Kinda strange how the only way we got into law school is because of feminism! But feminism is unfairly stereotyped as well.

Yeah..........

WelL through no fault of my own, I happened to be born in Ireland. And it really p's me off when non-Irish people assume that people who live in Ireland are all alcoholics....and then theres the whole leprechaun thing....Oh, and apparently everyone in Ireland is Catholic as well, and that people who live in Ireland say 'Top of the morning to ya'. I have NEVER, not once, heard anybody say that. And I don't even drink! I know a fair few people who don't drink either! And the religion thing is a load of crap!

I wouldn't classify myself as a feminist by any means. But just because someone has blonde hair and a figure doesn't mean they're an idiot. Although, there are plenty of blondes with nice figures that are complete idiots. I'm one that feels that stereotypes have some basis in reality; but it's unfair to apply (relentlessly) the stereotype to a person.

Roisu, I know what you mean about stereotypes because of where you live. People are astounded when they find out that I'm from Oklahoma but I don't live on a farm. And even more astounded when they discover that I don't sound like a dumb hick. But I know a lot of people that do and are.

Saved By Grace wrote: "Well ... it may be just my brothers being brothers, but basically they think because I'm female I'm weak and that females in general, except for in movies, are incapable of fighting/defending thems..."

I can't stand men with that kind of attitude. For me personally, it hits a nerve and pisses me off when I here that kind of BS about women should be in the kitchen, etc. It's like dude, get with the times, women can do whatever the hell they want now.

In high school, we had either Trig or Trig-Pre Calculus for those who were planning on going on to Calculus. Our class for Trig-Pre Cal had about 30 students in in and 5 of us were female. No Joke: Our teacher asked us the first day how he could get more girls to sign up for the class, should he make it easier for the girls. I raised my hand and said to get more girls in the class, get someone else to teach it. I don't think he appreciated it, but it was the truth. Oh, and 8 of us went on to Calculus, 4 girls and 4 boys. Guess who the teacher was?

Respect, Tami! *imaginary high 5*! That teacher is such a gobshite.

You're dead right, Tami...although I wish women could still do anything they wanted without having to deal with sexist, neanderthal crap...and not just from guys either. Saved by Grace, that must be really annoying.

Wow! Roisu! I'm going to have to remember "gobshite." That is a truly fantastic word.

Lol! And if ya really want to sound like a buffer, ya have to say 'Arra sure you're just a big feckin' gobshite'!!!!

What colloquial phrases do the rest of ye use that other people mightn't have heard of?

What's a buffer?

We use "y'all" in Oklahoma. Like, "how are y'all doing?" Then there's "I'm heading to y'all's house right now." Lastly, there's "I was trying to teach you colloquialisms but all y'all were laughing at me."

When I was in the UK instead of saying: How are you? They say: Are you allright? I thought there was something wrong with me for the longest time because people kept asking.

A buffer is someone who is from the countryside. As oppossed to a sham, which is someone who lives/is from the city.

I love 'y'all'!!!

lol. I live in Utah, we use plenty of colloquials (I love that word).

I live in Clinton, we pronounce it Clin-un
Same with Layton, its Lay-un
Creek is pronounced crick (I do not say it like that though)
Milk is pronounce melk
Water is wader
We also tend to use a lot of substitute words. (Oh my heck, flip, fetch, frick'in, dang, gosh, crap, shoot, dagnabit)
If someone is really weird, most often you hear them called "different". Or you'll also hear "special spirit" hehe, that's a rather nasty "nice" way of criticizing someone.

We have a Miami, which is pronounced "My-am-uh."

I'm trying to think of what other weird things we say.

Haha, I'm a vegetarian, an atheist, and a vegetarian, so I get all kinds of stupid questions and assumptions all the time.

My mom is a lesbian which is apparently confusing for some people here is an example of a common conversation:
me: "my mom's partner owns her own business"
them: "Oh I thought you mom worked in the school I didn't know she had a business"
"well it is her girlfriend not a business partner"
"But don't you have siblings?"
"yeah"
"with the same dad?"
"yup"
"so she had the same doner for all your siblings?"
"she was married to my dad for 13 years"
"oh so do you like guys?"

My co-workers also refer to my mom's partner as her friend, roommate, or that lady who lives with us.

When I was in Texas this summer, people asked if we wore shoes in Kentucky. There is a grain of truth to this stereotype though.. I'll go barefoot outside, especially when I was younger. I mean, not to the store or anything, but out in the yard. Also, I've had a lot of people assume I LOOOOOOVE country music b/c I'm rural. Um, not exactly. I mean, it's ok, but I definitely prefer indie stuff.

Oh my we say such things in Kentucky/the South!
- Well, bless your heart (other variants include "little pea-pickin heart")
- A lot of older people (but younger people too) will refer to you as honey, sweetie, sugar, baby, etc
- I say "yall" pretty much daily
- We say we're "fixing to" do something
- Things are "over yonder"
- Cattywompus is one of my favorite colloquialisms which basically means "off kilter"
- Of course we pronounce things much differently than people from the North and West. In fact, sometimes it sounds like a completely different language if you aren't used to it.
- Sometimes people stereotype southerners as slow talkers, but I know many many people down here (myself included) who speak so fast (but that's more of a country accent than a Southern accent)

I'm a girl who's majoring in Engineering... I definitely feel like I stand out! There are usually a few other girls in my classes but its mostly guys.

I am doing a project where we are building an off-roading vehicle and then get to race it- I'm the only girl on the project. It's definitely intimidating, to the point where I almost didn't join the team, but then I realized how stupid that was. I joined and am basically having the time of my life.

Has a stereotype ever stopped/come close to stopping any of you from doing something?

No, but I have had a few experiences similar to yours. The whole, you are female therefore you don't understand vehicles. :)

Twice in highschool, I got the boys' vehicle "unstuck" while 4x4ing. and at least one other time I remember, got their car/truck running after they killed it. So fun!

I usually take my car to the same mechanics every time I need something done because the owner is a friend of the family. They take good care of our cars but it drove me crazy because every time I took my car in there they would fix it and then not tell me what they had done. They wouldn't even tell me if there had been a problem at all! They would tell me what my bill was and then tell my dad what they had done to the car! I hated that. They seemed to think that because I was a girl I wouldn't understand.

I still know more about cars than a lot of guys do. I actually had to show a guy how to jump his car once, at the University campus! I've also had to help guys change a tire on their car, and I thought that was something that every driver knew how to do.

You call AAA right? :)

Well, that is the best way to fix a flat tire. :)

haha, AAA is the best way to fix a tire... when you have AAA. lol.

lol, love it

I almost got ripped off at this one place. They were trying to tell me I needed all these extra things done on my car! They tried to get me to buy all new tires. They WERE fairly new tires. So I told them that actually, they just need to be rotated... and I haven't been back lol

Ashley, my roommate is an engineering major too, and she says there are only one or two other girls in her classes...she is also a cheerleader, no one ever expects her to be an engineering major haha

An engineering major that is also a cheerleader, that's pretty awesome.

Thats great! haha

One of my best friends is also an Engineering major, and her husband is a liberal studies major, so she's one of the only girls in her classes and he's one of the only guys

I think the worst stereotype I got stuck with was one summer in Albuquerque, when I was 17 or so, I was "dating" this really cute 22yr old guy who invited me to a college party (which was a new experience for me) where he introduced me as being French (I'm half French and live in Switzerland): Throughout the evening, no less than six guys (friends of my date) asked me to go with them to the bedroom/bathroom/closet to hook up..

When I refused I was treated to "but I heard French girls were up for everything"... I'm far from being a prude but I was so sick of being the French girl by the end of the evening! And honestly I was a little shocked that these "friends" of my date were so forward when I was clearly at the party with someone else!

But Kelly, Congrats to your roommate for beaking the cheerleader stereotype! Yay for her!

On man. As soon as someone who is very religious finds out that I'm an atheist, they get this look on their face, like, "Oh no." It's like for one second I change from a normal person to that scary monster that their preachers have told them about. It's just for a second usually. But it's still kind of sad.