Most people are always very quick to form an opinion. It is therefore no surprise that there are many stereotypes. Sometimes people use stereotypes so often that you almost start to doubt whether there is any truth in them… But is that true? We will tell you in this article.
To know whether or not a stereotype contains truth, it is useful to know what a stereotype actually means. In short, a stereotype is an exaggerated image of a group of people. Because one feature has been magnified so much, this image does not match reality. There are both positive and negative stereotypes.
Are stereotypes based on anything?
Americans are all overweight
Although not all Americans are overweight, the majority of people in the United States are. In 2021, 68 percent of the U.S. population had a BMI of 25 or higher. It is said that this is mainly due to Ultra Processed Food, or the extremely processed food that most Americans eat. These foods are big ‘calorie bombs’ with few healthy nutrients.
Women are bad at parking
A 2019 study by TanQyou showed that women park better than men. While 5 in 10 men have caused damage while parking, this is only 4 in 10 for women. Unfortunately, for women, an earlier study from before 2015 by Driving Standards Agency claims the opposite. This actually showed that women had more problems with parking. In short: we will most likely never get a definitive answer to the question of who is the best at parking.
All Belgians are stupid
The stereotype that Belgians are stupid is one big joke, just like Belgians claim that all Dutch people are stingy. The level of education in Belgium and the Netherlands is approximately the same, the diploma you obtain in Belgium is worth the same as in the Netherlands and the average IQ is close to each other. That has been debunked again.
Women don’t know anything about cars
It is clear that the car industry in the Netherlands is dominated by men. This may have to do with several things. For example, most girls are made clear from an early age that cars are more of a ‘boy thing’. Boys are therefore expected to know a lot about cars. Nowadays we no longer put this in boxes, so we debunk this stereotype. In conclusion: there are certainly women who know a lot about cars, but there are also many women who know little or nothing about them.
