Earstretching.net

How do you deal with stereo types? I get called emo a lot because of the type of music I listen to andhow I act. I get called weird or mean. Thisis not my fault, I have a high-functioning form of autism called Aspergers. People with Aspergers can seem mean or rude without really meaning to. This also means I get very obsessed over things, right now it's earstretching. Normally my obsessions are passing, but how do I convince family and friends that

1. This is not me being OCD obsessive
2. I'm not doing it just cause dudes in hardcore bands have stretched ears
3. Because my friends have stretched ears.

P.S. If you can make sense of my rambling, I applaud you.

stereotypes come with anything in life...imagine being a heavily tatted black man with stretched ears in a mainly caucasion area...i hear all kinds of shit but oh well life goes on im to old to care how my appearance may or may not effect those in my presence...

Neat man. Thanks.

i think the best way to combat stereotypes is to prove them wrong .. sometimes people expect me to be like some really mean inconsiderate chick cause I have so many mods I prove them wrong by being very nice and polite and very considerate even if they are asking rude questions about my mods ....they usually feel kind of stupid in the end when they realize I dont fit into their stereotype lol

No matter what you do in life, how you dress, or what kind of music you like you will be judged. The best thing you can do is be yourself. Don't change who you are to fit into what people consider normal. Hold your head high and be the best person you can be, if people can not accept you the way you are then move on. They are not worth sacraficing your values or your individuality.

Well :/ Having Asperger's already puts you in a bad spot as far as misunderstood intentions go.
All you can really do is be straightforward and don't get sore about it. If people want to judge and/or dislike you for things beyond your control, they're going to. You have to choose how to react.

By the way, about family disliking your stretched piercings... My parents really hate mine, but as long as I wear simple jewelry in subtle colors, they don't pay a lot of attention to them. I don't know about anyone else, but as soon as I switched to plugs from tapers, my mom stopped fussing about them. :] Best of luck!

Hey,

I think the reaction to this question is pretty positive. I think there are a lot of idiots around who are happy to voice their negative comments about other peoples appearances and choices. If people don't like what you wanna do, wear, pierce, tattoo, whatever, than that is there problem - not yours.

The other responses just go to show that for all the dumb people, there are lot of nice people around, who will accept you for who you are and what you wanna do.

My family weren't keen on me stretching my lobes, but I'm taking it slowly and people seemed to have stopped saying anything after the initial fuss!!

Hope that helps?!

BC

Thanks guys. Also, Big Chicken, I LOVE your screen name.

HI i don't listen to them, I've had a mohawk from the age of 14-21 then i got dreadlocks which i love, i have tattoo's piercings etc, and i listen to heavy metal always have always will. i get called freak goth :s goth so far away from me lmao. I'm now 26 and couldn't careless, you find its the immature people who say things. But to be honest i wouldn't worry about stereotypes, i never have. I wear what i want and look how i want, as long as I'm happy, and my partner doesn't mind, to be honest he doesn't care lol. But don't worry about it, stereotypes are pointless as i say never judge a book by its cover.

Yeah,unfortunately,people are always going to stereotype other people,no matter what.Or assume stuff about you that may not even be correct based off of stuff that really doesn't make you who you are,as in the case where people assume you're 'emo',when you'd probably be way happier watching a Harry Potter movie as opposed to watching some emo band.I'm the same way;even though I may have stretched ears,piercings,& tattoos,the stuff I like is alot different than people may assume.

But as far as what your family & friends think,alot of times,when you're young,people assume that when you like something,especially like stretching your ears,that it's just a 'phase'.So they'd likely think the same whether you had autism or not.Or,they just assume you're doing it because of certain reasons,when you're not.I know I had my ears stretched as a teenager,& took them out & let them shrink-I'd listened to everyone else & assumed I'd be happy when I was older,but I missed them too much for many years,so finally did it again at the age of 30.My ears are 1/2" now,& weren't nearly that size when I was younger,but at least I wouldn't have had to start all over again from scratch had I just kept them in.But people are always going to assume that it's just a passing thing that you'll regret when your older.They'll eventually realize that it's not,but in the meantime,if it's something you really love,then you should do it.