Blog Post #2

Blog Post

Throughout our lives, we are constantly surrounded by stereotypes. Whether it be centered around ethnicity, gender, or age, expectations and prejudice are shaping our daily lives. It has influenced all of us in decision making and forced us to do certain actions rather than others. It affects us far more than we realize. This is why when Carlos Andres Gomez wrote “For years I was daunted by the expectations, as though I had to live up to her idea of what she thought I was (although I knew that I was anything but)”, it really stuck out to me. 

For Gomez, he felt pressure into being masculine. He discusses being afraid of everything his entire life and how it made him feel looked down upon. I was a similar child, terrified of unrealistic things hiding in the dark. It haunted me constantly, so much so that my father would have to lay down with me until I fell asleep or else I’d be too petrified to fall asleep. And while my older siblings would tease me for being a baby, it was socially acceptable for me to be scared. I was allowed to, Gomez was shamed for his fears, no matter how perfectly natural is was for a child to be scared. We all face expectations. 

While Gomez and I certainly felt different kinds of expectations, we both experienced it. This has greatly shaped my identity in the world, both for myself personally and how strangers see me. It is these stereotypes that define me in society, people see me by their stereotypes of a white woman from California and they immediately make a decision about me. It changes how people talk to me and how they expect me to be. I have had many people tell me they did not expect me to be how I am because they had already decided I would behave a certain way prior to even talking to me. 

Because of all this, I relate a lot to what Gomez was writing about. I have always felt stereotyped by many people whom I meet and its a difficult aspect of life to deal with. It is weirdly comforting to know others experience the same stereotyping me and perhaps we can use this knowledge to refrain from doing so.