Sterotypes and Labels

I feel as if I'm the only one who finds the labeling system to be deficient and just plain silly. Many people are falsley accused of being "emo" for listening to a certain band "prep" for wearing polo's "punk" for wearing a spiked bracelet and "nerd" for being smart.

I listen to a ton of metal, punk, alternative rock, electronic and modern classical. So does that make me "emo"? NO!

I wear (and like) preppy clothes. Does that make me prep? HELL NO!

I am obsessed with vampires. am i goth? Nope

I dyed my hair purple (well, it's back to natural blonde). does that make me punk? nope

I am happy and very hyper all the time does that make me scene? no

I know a ton of random weird facts and love anime/manga am i a nerd >_> <_<

See how stupid the labeling system is? If you make a list, I highly doubt anybody can fit in to one category. So everybody, learn to focus on what makes you happy and how you think about yourself... not what everybody else wants. You are yourself and you should be proud! BE UNIQUE!

I listen to alternative, rock, punk, and some metal, and can't stand really poppy stuff. I'm definitely not "emo."

I dress more like a prep, but I don't consider myself that either.

I agree, labels are really stupid. I'm just myself.

Don't pay attention to labels, they are only used to describe someone's personality and shouldn't be taken too seriously. No one ever fits into a mold 100%, so just remember that.

So, based on the labeling system, I am a

PREMUNKERD (preppy emo punk nerd)

XD

Labels may be funny or helpful to some people, but they have also ruined my life. I enjoy writing depressing poetry, like black, and was somewhat depressed a couple years ago, so I was labeled emo. Even though I've tried to convince people that I'm not, they still call me emo, and make fun of me and avoid me because of it. It made me more depressed that my "friends" started avoiding me, which only made it worse. I was so sick of people checking my wrists to see if I cut myself that I actually did start cutting myself. I became suicidal and almost ran away from home because of it. Labels may help people remember a person they just met, but they should only exist for that reason, not to describe a person's personality.

I've only ever been labeled as popular because everyone everywhere knows me. No one wants to label me. Sometimes labels are a type of bulllying if you don't want to be called it and I don't like bullies. So no one calls me anything that I don't want to be called.

drawakangaroo: Never let anyone tell you who you are. And those people were never really your friends if they were that selfish and rude. You can't let people know that what they say gets to you. Their like rabid dogs. Once they smell it they keep on going. They find humour in a breakdown.

huggybear: Premunkerd? XD

Labels?

Hmm, it really depends on the person and if I'm comfortable around them or not.

Usually, my labels are poles apart. It's either the quiet one who's blunt to the point of rudeness, or the outgoing, overtalkative girl who's blunt to the point of rudeness.

Either way, they know I'm blunt. If I have something to say, I'll say it. However, most of them need to know me more before they learn that I"m always blunt, to everyone. If they don't know that, they get offended and defensive easily.

And when they know me a little bit more, they add optimism, honors kid, rank 3 in the whole grade, and a year or two younger than everyone else to my label. They don't figure out I'm younger than them until later, so most of the time, they don't believe me. I practically have to pull out my class schedule and show them my date of birth -.-"

This year I'll be in tenth grade, and I'm planning on removing that label about me being evil or mean or killing dreams xD I'll only bring out that side when it comes to competition. Then I'll have to put my game face on.

I listen to rock,punk, metal (actually everything that's too hard for my eardrums) but because Ilike some kind of music doesn't mean that I'm emo or punk. I listen to it because I like. YOu shouldn't pay attention to all these labels, because you are who you are. Labels are such an immature thing. and you're write no one can fit into a category because we are all different.

XOXO
PUdin

Here here!

xD I felt like using a medieval phrase. But you have to remember that labels are important when it comes to creating characters in your stories. Characters have to be consistent and loyal to the traits you give them. Of course humans are more complex and don't fit into any one single category. If we had to fit into a single character, I think I'd probably go in the "other" bin. Hopefully they have sandwiches there.

-Shina

I have no idea what a prep is. Is it an American thing, or do I just not pay any attention to life?
Anway, labels are funny. It's impossible to sum up someone's personality with a single word, and yet people try to do so. I find it hillarious.

I listen to punk rock and electronic. I am known as "the wierd funny one who is best friends with the other wierd funny one"
Thinking about it, I have hung out with most of the "label" groups in my school. i have been in with the popular crowd *UGH*. With the people who think they are cool because they are totally different from everyone else - therefore becoming like everyone else. With the more nerdish people. With the druggies (and I'm not labelling here). I have been with the emos and all. Actually, the only people I haven't been with are chavs, and that's cause they hate me! And now, I just have my best friends and we aren't any label.
What I'm trying to say here is, um, I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say. I think we have a bit of everything in all of us really. (apart from the chavs, they are the spawns of satan xD)

I thank... uh... that I go to this school for gifted kids. I mean, at the second school I went to, before this one, everybody was in a clique. You were either a sweet little brainless idiot, or you were a jock. Forgive me for preferring a book.
Labels suck. I listen to rocky music and love eyeliner. I am neither an emo, nor a punk, nor a nerd.
Though I do like the term 'headbanger'.

Stereotypes are stupid. With that said, it's easier for younger kids to get into them and use them as reference points. This is because they don't really think about the fact that there are so many ways to break the stereotypes in teh first place.

I'll begin with myself. I listen to hard rock, metal, art-rock & art-metal, classical, punk, hardcore punk, grindcore, jazz, noise, ambient, dark ambient, etc...that right there is quite a list. There's no reason why someone should be steretyped on that.

I was once a grunge/skaterboy, and I smoked and did all that rebellious stuff in high school. I quit all of that bollocks for the sake of wrestling, and I've maintained a cleaner lifestyle thanks to boxing. I'm glad that more kids these days are realizing that stereotypes are only what you make them to be. And really, they are nothing.

I go to a selective school, so there aren't the usual geek stereotypes like in most of my friend's schools. Intelligence doesn't really play a part in social groups weirdly, every group is a total mix.
It's weird thinking about the American stereotypes that we see in Britain at the cinema, or in US TV shows, It's very different cliques here. Chavs for example. Do they have a US equivalent?
I do, of course, get the lesbian stereotype applied to me. It gets people who like to label very confused.
"So, like, what? You're gay? But, like, you can't be. You're all girly and have long hair and wear super cute dresses."
*facepalm*

The cool thing about about stereotypes is, though, that they're so fun to break. xD Not just in real life, but in writing, too.

Labels shouldn't be taken seriously. They're silly, like you said, and they should be used in silly ways. My friend and I make fun of each other and call each other "geek" and "emo" because of some character traits we have, but of course we aren't serious and we don't fit either mold perfectly. Nobody does. So get over it, labelers. (If that's not a word, it is now).