Is skin colour, gender & sexuality a valid way of assessing people

"Is skin colour, gender & sexuality a valid way of making a first impression of people? For instance you could say he is a black man therefore more likely to be a fast runner, or a brown man therefore more likely to be a good sole proprietor or computer programmer, or he is a white man therefore might be good at engineering.

Or you might say he is male therefore reasonable at maths or she is female, therefore good at reading people's body language and feelings.

Or you could say he is gay and therefore likely to be aware of the latest fashion trends, or he is straight therefore more likely to have children."



Urm, no?! That is such an old fashioned view! Maybe you need a reality check, I would have thought that in this day and age that we would be able to accept that people are of different race, religion, gender and sexuality yet we don't have to fit into any sort of personality or class system that is deemed fit by the minority.

Yes, it's common sense. You don't have time to learn the "unique snowflake" personalities of the entire population so you go with the information contained in stereotypes, which generally holds, and if you accumulate more data on a particular individual then you can adjust if necessary. Wilfully ignoring known trends because you subscribe to the communist doctrine that prejudice is evil is just symbolic of low intelligence.

To what extent are stereotypes useful? Although stereotypes tend to have a degree of accuracy, many don't, and some derive from crude caricatures. You obviously don't have time to learn the unique personalities of the entire population, but it's evident that many people don't conform to their stereotypes. Therefore, in most cases, it's not very sensible or useful to make assumptions about individuals based on the stereotypes of a race/gender/sexuality. Using OP's example, assuming gay men on the whole are more aware of the latest fashion trends, and this forms part of their stereotype, it would still be stupid to immediately assume that any one gay man would be more aware of them than any one straight man.

If the first thing I learn about someone is their sexuality then I am certainly going to stereotype them.

If the first thing I learn about someone is their sexuality then I am certainly going to stereotype them.

When you talk about "this day and age" you talk as if the politics sensibilities of today are set in stone. They are not. There surely could be some practical reasons for discriminating for example the use of enhanced police stop and search for races which are more likely to commit crime, or the use of enhance airport security checks for young men deducted to religions that might pose a higher risk, or perhaps questioning for BBC employed celebrities who are seen with young children.


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