Let me explain how my life is going- I am drowning in a sea of schoolwork. Literally. The other day I woke up with Hindi vocabulary flashcards under my pillow and Operating Systems notes tangled with the quilt at the foot of my bed. Hence, literal drowning. That same day, I made it halfway down the elevator before I realized that I had my TI-84 in my hand and not my phone.

You might want to call me a nerd at this point.

I kind of want to call myself a nerd at this point.

But, please – don’t.

I mean, left to my own devices, I will watch Lord of the Rings – repeatedly- for the rest of eternity, until I become one with the couch.  And at one point in my life, I could probably recite the names of all 151 (or 150 or 152 depending on where you stand in that debate) Pokémon in proper order. Our society, which is so content to package and label people, would happily have me thrown me into the “Nerd Herd.”

But here’s the thing: I am sick of labels and I am sick of people seeing me through the lens of various stereotypes. I’m no psychologist, but I understand why stereotypes exist. They help us navigate the treacherous slopes of the social world through simplifications. So, sure, stereotypes generally come from an origin of “truth” and sometimes a joke or two at some generalized-group-of-people’s expense can be funny. Right?

However, I’m telling you from personal experience that constantly having people trying to chop me up and sort me into various boxes with labels such as “nerd”, “vegetarian/vegan”, “tomboy”, “girly-girly”, etc. is not pleasant. I’m used to dodging and ducking and dealing with tags, both negative and positive, on a daily basis; I’m a woman in Computer Science (it’s an occupational hazard). However, despite the thick skin I’ve developed, the onslaught of stereotyping I’ve been bombarded with this semester has become particularly annoying.

Technically, it’s my own “fault” because of the hobbies I chose to pursue. I have a raging love for storytelling, reading, and writing. So, this semester I decided to be more aggressive with pursuing my passions. This venture ended with me doing a bunch of things that make me happy, but confuse other people. Let me elaborate:

 1. This semester I’m enrolled in RHE368C - the University Writing Center Internship course. The UWC is an absolutely wonderful place on campus where students (for free of charge) can go to improve their papers, but more importantly their writing skills. I’m training to become an undergraduate writing consultant at the facility.

2. I am also a writer for Spark Magazine, UT’s student-run fashion publication. This means I get to write interesting articles about fashion and work with a team of editors, stylists, hair & makeup specialists, photographers, and models to make an article come to life.

3. I’m writing for this blog, which is awesome.

Obviously you see a common theme here – writing. It’s been very rewarding to do these things that I love so much. And it’s been extra rewarding to meet all kinds of interesting people outside of the CS/Natural Science/Engineering bubble that I naturally exist in. I’m not immune to being a stereotyper, but I work very hard to make sure those stereotypes don’t actually influence my perception of the other person. It goes something like this: She looks a lot those cheerleaders from those vapid high school movies, but that doesn’t mean she’s actually anything like them. I actually make myself think that. Trying to rid myself of preconceived notions helps me see people for who they really are. meeting all these Rhetoric & Writing, Humanities, RTF, Retail Merchandising, etc. majors has been genuinely interesting and eye opening. It’s very cool to actually see what “other” people are doing. 

Even though it’s often unconscious, these “other” people seem content to stereotype me. I’m having the wonderful experience of simultaneously being glorified and revered as some genius (not true), yet treated as if I know nothing outside of the realm CS + math + science. Yay? In once instance where I was meeting people and exchanging introductions this happened:

“Hi! I’m Meghana I’m a 3rd year Computer Science major :) ”

 “…Oh, wow really! You don’t even look like one! What are you doing here?!?”

Gee thanksssss! Somehow I feel like you insulted my existence, life choices, and intelligence in several different ways. I’ll see myself out now and head to the nearest windowless basement and glue face to a computer screen.

In all honesty, not everyone is like that. I have met plenty of open-minded people. Even the one’s who tend to affix labels to me are not mean, but perfectly nice victims of stereotypical thinking.

It still rubs me the wrong way. What continues to rub me the wrong way is that I’m stereotyped by my fellow math, science, engineering, and Computer Science peers. YES YOU! People who know what I do on a day-to-day basis and who are acutely aware of the homogenous image the rest of the world has about our field. You all know that CS majors are unique and like and dislike different things. Yet, some of my peers seem bewildered by the fact that I would spend a good portion of my time frolicking around the liberal arts part of of campus.

I have hopes that eventually these stereotypes will fade. I don’t want people to think I’m some sort of abnormality, but that anyone from any background can choose to pursue anything that interests them. However, for now I have to deal with the situation of not feeling like I quite fit in because some people can’t cast off their preconceived notions. Sometimes I want to shake everyone and scream: I am more than just your generalization of who I’m supposed to be! If you’re going to label me, then make sure it’s a unique label – one that no one else on earth has!

But that’s not how the world works. So in the meantime, I shall don my armor and slay as many stereotypes as possibly by unapologetically being myself. And in the meantime, I encourage all of you to leave your labels in the back of your mind to collect dust when you interact with the world.

Happy Thursday :)