Complexity in Comics

Amanda Brooks has discovered that getting involved with sex worker activists makes her more aware of diversity. I get my consciousness raised by the enlightened and ennobling world of comic strips.

The comic We the Robots reminds us that since there are different types of people, there must be different types of hookers to service those people.

Most of us view strippers as a stereotype. But now, thanks to Something Positive, we can choose between two stereotypes.
Stereotype A
Stereotype B

And it's only fair to let a stripper deliver the ultimate put down.

You can tell I'm all progressive n stuff, because I have three stripper stereotypes instead of just one or two. There's stereotypes A and B from the two links above, plus everybody's all purpose stereotype, the X with the heart of gold, where X is one of hooker, stripper, or corporate general counsel. My life is much better with three stereotypes, because I don't have to work as hard at pigeonholing strippers or corporate lawyers. No matter who they are, I can fit them into a predetermined category and make assumptions about them.

Facetiousness aside, we all deal in stereotypes and assumptions. It's a way of dealing with the fact that everyone is complicated, and there's only twenty four hours in a day, and most of them have to be spent doing something other than trying to understand a world full of complicated people. The problem is not so much that we use stereotypes as a time saving shortcut, but that we end up mistaking the stereotypes for reality.