Quote:
Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
That's exactly how stereotypes are created and furthered, though. Predicting and assuming that someone will be "how you expect them to be" based on your past experiences of "other people of that sort". The idea that "Gay men are so much fun!" but "Lesbians aren't fun to be around" is just as damaging as saying something like "You're Asian, so you must be really clever!" or "I wouldn't hang around black men... Black men tend to be so aggressive".
It's the very definition of pigeonholing and "judging a book by its cover", and I've always thought of you as the sort of person who is more likely to take each individual as they come rather than "lumping into" easily digestible personality archetypes?
In MY experience of gay men - and I have some very good gay friends - they would find the sentence "Gay men are so much fun to have as friends" to be patronising, sweeping, shallow and impersonal.
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You do realize that you are doing what I did? you are using your experience to suggest you know how gay men feel.
There is nothing patronizing about suggesting someone is fun to be around. Our middle son is gay and he doesn't find it patronizing knowing he makes us laugh and that we find his company fun. If that's shallow, so be it, I can live with that.