Joshua Aspiring Journalist

A stereotype is a form of prejudice that is directed towards a certain group. Stereotypes can be either positive or negative, however they are mainly negative. Stereotypes can come in many forms such as, cultural, social, racial, gender and religious. Examples of stereotypes could include ‘the innocent child’ or ‘all children are fussy.’ Both of these quotes are not factual, making them stereotypical.

People have struggled with stereotypes for hundreds of years and it can make it difficult for people to live a ‘normal’ life, as it could affect their chance of being employed, or even could increase their chances of being arrested or being assaulted. An example of this being when an American police officer murdered George Floyd in May of 2020, which led to the use of #BlackLivesMatter across social media platforms peaking at an average of over 1.2 million uses a day and gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Many people try to remove stereotypes from culture, the people who promote this radical movement are normally left wing. However the left wing focuses on the minority stereotype, so that these minorities can finally live without people having a prejudice against them. An example of the effort to remove the stereotypes of minorities can be seen in the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009, this act made it so that more attention would be given to crimes that were based on the victim’s actual or assumed sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability. This would later be updated to Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which would protect victims of racial hate crime. And more recently, the Hate Crime and Public Order act which was updated in April of 2024, to protect victims of age and sex characteristics of hate crime.

Even though these acts may protect many people from prejudice and stereotypes, there are many stereotypes that they failed to mention. For example when you think of a paedophile you will most likely think of a man, it is estimated that only 10- 20% of paedophiles are female, this may be because sexual crimes of violence are less likely to be reported and even more less likely to be prosecuted. We normally only hear about it if the act was perpetrated with a male accomplice or if the perpetrator was a teacher or celebrity.

More examples could include, when you think of a person eating fast food you will probably think of someone struggling from obesity, or even when someone is struggling from mental health issues some people may think they are not trying hard enough to overcome their mental health. Removing stereotypes of minorities is extremely important, however the stereotypes of people who are not thought of as minorities are less heard of and are crucial to remove, any sort of labelling can affect someones life.

A way the government could combat stereotypes could be taking a deeper dive into them and looking at everyone who has is affected, not just minorities that normally spring to mind.