[Despite my better judgement I'm going to respond to this even though it is seriously off-topic.]
On 17/07/12 17:18, BGB wrote: > an issue though is that society will not tend to see a person as they are as > a person, but > will rather tend to see a person in terms of a particular set of stereotypes. "Society" doesn't "see people as" anything. We do live in/with a culture where stereotyping is commonplace, but the metonymy of letting the society stand for the people in it is inappropriate here, because it is individual people who *choose* to see other people in terms of stereotypes, or choose not to do so. You're also way too pessimistic about the extent to which most reasonably well-educated people in practice permit cultural stereotypes to override independent thought. Most people are perfectly capable of recognizing stereotypes -- even if they sometimes need a little prompting -- and understanding what is wrong with them. I speak from experience: it is entirely possible to live your life in a way that is quite opposed to many of those cultural stereotypes that you've expressed concerning sexuality, gender expression, employment, reproductive choices, etc., and still be accepted as a matter of course by the vast majority of people. As for the people who don't accept that, *it's they're fault* that they don't get it. No excuses of the form "society made me think that way". -- David-Sarah Hopwood ⚥
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