Teenagers hit out at stereotyping

Young people believe they are being treated unfairly due to stereotypical notions associating them with crime and sexual promiscuity, a new survey has revealed.

Teenagers said their treatment was often unequal and unfair in comparison with the way adults are treated in public places.

The report ‘Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People’ from the Equality Authority and the National Youth Council of Ireland found young people felt they were being treated differently to adults in the education system, in shops and in public places.

Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, said: “Stereotyping is about putting labels on a group of people. It is about establishing fixed and unyielding characteristics for young people that make no allowance for personal choice or for the diversity of young people.

“Young people are stereotyped as idealistic, as irresponsible or as given to excess. This has practical consequences for young people in terms of their views being dismissed.”

Brian Lenihan, the Minister for Children, said society had a responsibility to improve the relationship between adults and young people.

Mr Lenihan said a small number of young people experienced struggles which brought them into conflict with their families, communities or the authorities.

“The picture that emerges from this research is that young people feel that they are perceived in a very negative light by adlts – that the actions of these few outweigh the positive actions of the many. As a result, their institutional relationships with adults are for the most part unequal, troubled and rooted in stereotypical ideas,” the TD said.

Mr Lenihan said children and young people were being given the opportunity to become involved both at local and national level through the Comhairle na nOg and Dáil na nOg.

Mr Crowley said: “The gardaí are seen to hold a low opinion of young people and to have poor relationships with them. Security staff in shopping centres were seen to automatically regard young people as suspect. Some teachers are perceived as lacking respect for young people and as allowing young people no say in decision making within the school.”

The research, which involved speaking to around 90 young people from different parts of the country, contained 10 recommendations on how to tackle the stereotyping of young people.

The focus groups found most young people felt the media stereotyped them in a negative fashion by associating youths with crime, delinquency, drug and alcohol problems and sexual promiscuity.

Most of those surveyed felt politicians dismissed young people as unimportant.

Mary Cunningham, director of the National Youth Council of Ireland, said young people should be consulted on issues which will affect them.

“It is important that the voices of young people in this report are listened to, and that the feelings of not being respected, not being listened to and not feeling relevant are addressed,” she said.

The report recommends investing in new and improved resources for young people at local levels, working with school councils and a focus on tackling the stereotyping of young people on training programmes for gardaí, journalists, teachers and security staff in shopping centres.

Mr Crowley said there was an urgent need to extend the provisions of the Equal Status Acts on age grounds to people under 18.