Yes, people under stress, or more accurately the duress of a chronic, barely relenting, and ubiquitous threat, are going to be reacting defensively in a reflexive manner, and that sometimes, especially for people who aren’t emotionally intelligent, means that they are going to stereotype.

Frankly, it is important to remember that there is a lot of cognitive load, trying to figure out who is a threat and who is not.

So, please have compassion in this situation, and recognize that many of the people you see as stereotyping or painting “men” with a broad brush are dealing with a kind of PTSD. Once you keep that in mind, it’s a lot easier to have a thick skin, and with compassion can even help them see things more clearly without being oppositional.