California Stereotypes Essay

706 Words3 Pages
According to Webster’s dictionary, stereotyping is to believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same. Society thrives off making snap judgements about people and places. The process of stereotyping places, social classes, and people based on how they look, dress, or act should not continue. Though stereotyping a place may not seem as common as stereotyping a person, it has become an accepted practice to generalize an area based on it’s location, people who live there, and how it is portrayed. For example, when people think about California the things that come to their mind are the beach, sunshine, and Hollywood. Though California does encompass all of these things, it is multifaceted and cannot be narrowed down to only these. Because California has an array of beaches, people tend to believe that residents live close to the beach and go often, when…show more content…
Californians as a whole are constantly stereotyped by songs such as the Beach Boys and Katy Perry’s “California Girls” as well as by their diet. Many songs glorify the Golden State and make the people who live there all seem the exact same: tan, blonde, and beautiful. Though this is a very flattering stereotype, many take it offensively because they work so hard to be an individual it is insulting to be grouped into a category that the person does not belong to. Conservation is a topic that is emphasized and well-known that Californians feel strongly about. Seeing as they live near a coastal biome which contains a large portion of the world’s biodiversity, making eco-friendly decisions is expected of the residents. The whole nation plays a role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem, and blaming a certain state for the nation’s problem is unfair to the state. The unrealistically high expectations placed on people who live in California are demeaning and near impossible to attain and this process of stereotyping should be
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