9781422283820

12 CONFRONT I NG STEREOT YPES

were portrayed in the media. To him, it seemed like all gay men squealed like girls, were obsessed with body image, wore women’s clothing, and talked with a lisp. That wasn’t Ed. “I’m not a skinny little gay boy,” he says. “I’m a big guy. I’m not like the characters they show on television or on the news. So for a little while, that made me wonder if I was gay, because I didn’t fit the way I was supposed to. I thought I was supposed to be something else. It was confusing.” When Ed finally realized that being gay didn’t mean he would have to fit into a set image, he felt more comfortable with himself and his sex- ual identity. He was able to embrace his homosexuality and come out. But he isn’t the only gay person who has been confused by the stereo- types that exist in modern culture. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a stereotype is a stan- dardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or un- critical judgment. Put more simply, it’s when someone defines an entire group of people by just a few characteristics. In most cases, stereotypes are negative or highlight only the most extreme elements of the group. They overlook the more complex aspects of the individual people that make up the group. “I’m much more than just a gay stereotype,” says Wesley. “All people are more than the generalizations we sometimes give them. I hate when people do it to me, but I realize that I do it to other people, too.”