Sterotypes

Stereotypes
Alicia R. Prince
PHI 103
Renee Levant
January 22, 2012

Stereotypes
When walking out in public it is only human nature to use stereotypes to judge or put people in categories. Stereotypes are found everywhere in today’s society and form how we do most of our thinking. I often find myself using stereotypes and being stereotyped myself. Being a Army wife we live in a diverse culture and I use stereotypes to determine who I associate with and who I don’t. There are a lot of stereotypes found in the military culture and lifestyle. While some of these stereotypes are wrong and misjudging they are still there and form how many people think. The three most common stereotypes I find that surround me are that women do not belong in the military because they are the weaker sex and are not strong enough, obese people are lazy and lack self-control, and people on welfare are uneducated and unmotivated. People use arguments such as dogmatism, to explain these stereotypes even though they are weak in nature.
Since I have been living the military life style it has allowed me to get an up close and personal look at the stereotypes that surround women in the military. Women are often stereotyped to be weak, lack motivation, and overall are not very accepted in the mainly men military world. Although the challenges that surround the women of the United States military are not as bad as they once were the women still face an uphill battle among their peers and coworkers.
During the 1970’s the military extended their admissions to women. However, this has progressed slowly because of the stereotypes place on women. Out of all the military only fourteen percent are women and only two percent of women hold rank as an officer or higher (Boldry, Jennifer; Wood, Wendy; Kashy, Deborah A, 2001). Most of the stereotypes that surround women in the military are gender related.
The argument used for the stereotypes held against the women of the military is dogmatism....