Stereotypes of Women

Stereotypes may be described as the result of cognitive procedures leading to the process of categorization, one of the most important tools our mind has to organize knowledge and deal with the complexity of reality. At the same time, however, stereotypes are the expression of values and are used to express a general idea of a certain social group, as if this agreement were preexistent, regardless of the stereotype. Stereotypes freeze the characteristics of a social group and block its potential for development during an interaction or narration. Stereotypes therefore offer a false simplicity of reality, since they condense a large amount of information and connotations. To be truly valid, they need to collect a wide consensus, and hence, once they are stated, they become ...