Feature > Stereotypes and labelling

Much theory and debate surrounds the concept of stereotyping but whichever angle you approach it from, the existence of stereotyping itself is not in doubt. Stereotyping is a natural function of the human/cultural mind says Nachbar and Lause (1992), stereotyping allows us to simplify a complex reality and subsequently gives us the tools to make judgement calls on how we act in given situations.

We identify a priest, for example, and we immediately make assumptions about him based on our stereotypical classification of ‘priest’ – we then interact with him in a way appropriate to that stereotype. When he swears at us and lights up a spliff we can’t help ourselves – we’re shocked – it’s not what priests ‘do’. And therein lies the pitfalls of stereotyping – it doesn’t allow for individualism – instead one size fits all.

Another problem with stereotypes is that the assignment of a stereotypical label also has an effect on the person being ‘labelled’. People ‘adapt’ to the label being foisted upon them. If you treat me like a social outcast, it is likely that I will begin to consider myself a social outcast and then begin to act like one, thereby assuming the label that you gave me in the first place.

In labelling theory, being labelled is to be ‘discovered’. Prior to that discovery a person is not labelled but is merely indulging in ‘rule-breaking’ behaviour, which on its own need have no further consequence for the person doing the ‘rule-breaking’. It is when the ‘rule-breaking’ is ‘discovered’ and a label is assigned that the consequences occur. Thus we see women choosing to stay in the closet (i.e. ‘rule-breaking’ behind closed doors) rather than assume the ‘lesbian’ label (and therefore being ‘discovered’) for the ‘lesbian’ stereotype is, for the most part a negative one.

Adoption of the lesbian label can perhaps, for many women, be a matter of choice – it is not like gender or race for example, where physical characteristics usually allows for immediate stereotyping. If the lesbian stereotype is generally a negative one, why would I assume it for myself if I don’t identify with the negative traits inherent within the stereotypical classification? It’s a dilemma for many women who fancy women, because in terms of the lesbian stereotype – as with all stereotypes – there is no room for individuality. Although society insists on imposing the ‘one size fits all’ stereotype of ‘lesbian’, in reality one size definitely doesn’t ‘fit all’.

Those it does fit though have, in the past, been seen to be disparaging of those that it doesn’t – but just because I am less like the prevailing ‘lesbian stereotype’ than you, does it make me any less of a lesbian? To the broader society, variations don’t seem to matter – if I display the lesbian label then the lesbian ‘brand’ must fit me, snug or not. We are all one and the same in society’s eyes. And it doesn’t seem to matter how many non-stereotypical lesbians are out there offering new-style stereotypes to choose from – no, it is the old negative-comfort-style-stereotype that society seems to fall back on time and time again.

In its extreme form this perpetuation of ‘stereotype’ can have tragic consequences as witnessed by the recent murder of Jody Dobrowski. Let us hope that something good can come of his death and the subsequent landmark sentence for his killers. Jody was not murdered because of who he was but of whom he represented – he displayed his gay label with pride and was murdered for it, his individuality played no part in his death, his label tragically took centre stage.

It is this potential loss of self that perhaps keeps many lesbians and gays in the closet. If the danger of accepting a label is that we may lose every identity other than that label, it is entirely understandable that some of us choose not to wear it. Stereotypes have their place, and our natural instinct to categorize may well in itself be morally neutral, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the consequences of being labelled will be as equally neutral.

This is a tiny snapshot of an enormous field and we can’t possibly do justice to the whole debate of stereotypes and labelling theory here. If we’ve whet your appetite though there are lots and lots of resources to read – just google 'stereotypes' and enjoy!