Nerd? Jock? Geek? WHAT?

Well, my Sem I marks came out a few days ago…and I’ve been officially branded a nerd. Or is that supposed to be a geek?

Fine, both. I never got the difference, anyway.

So that’s what I’ve been pondering about: stereotyping. It happens everywhere: school, college, at work…everywhere you’re labelled as a walking-talking specific brand of ‘human’.

It’s funny how quickly we classify people into these ‘categories’ when we first meet them…many times at first sight, even before talking to them! Flirty, muscle-bound hunks are dropped into the Jocks section for girls to drool over; pretty girls with three layers of make-up and expensive accessories are bound to hog the spotlight as the Popular Chicks; the socially-awkward science whizzes who top almost every class and are Presidents of language or chess clubs are dubbed the genius Nerds/Geeks; and everybody else who doesn’t fit into any of these categories is forced into a separate selection of categories in the observer’s mind.

Personally, I hate these tags. And by the word ‘hate’, I mean in the extreme.

Every person has a mixture of qualities and characteristics. One or two of these may be more dominant than the others, but that doesn’t mean that the person should be identified and classified (with crude taxonomic tags) as a specimen showing one particular characteristic feature.

Though some people enjoy having a tag on them, I feel that, in the end, the tag causes a negative effect on the individual. The popular girls are always considered academically weak and treated accordingly; soon enough, they begin to BELIEVE that they are no good with studies and don’t make an effort…even worse, they blame their stereotyping for their academic failure.

Nerds and geeks are always the centre of ridicule, and hence tend to stay away from social arrangements for most of their lives…they lose their self-confidence, and are under the belief that they are boring and ugly individuals, incapable of attracting anybody’s attention. They were unable to explore their other interests or likes, since even a mention of taking dance classes or the like would cause an instant onslaught of jokes, making them embarrassed. And they would eventually drop the idea and stick to their circle.

People don’t often break the stereotype barrier; it usually takes a lot of determination, courage…and cotton plugs to stuff the ears with. But most of all, it takes a different environment, where he/she’d like to start over with new people and with a clearer view of their own identity. Then they’d be allowed to indulge in other activities without having the pressure to stick within their ‘limits’.

Speaking of which, I NEED to shake off this geek image everyone’s got of me right now. Perhaps a dance contest would do the trick…