Are generalizations sometimes okay?

[Anonymous]

People say you should never generalize, because everyone is an individual and it's unfair to judge them by averages or statistics of their group as a whole.

While I agree that generalizations are always harmful and prejudiced, aren't there times where they are also reasonable to use for safety?

Consider sexism. It's bad to generalize all men or all women as being a certain way, yes—but what if you're in a potentially very dangerous situation? Shouldn't you take every available precaution, even if one of those uses a generalization? If you're a woman being followed walking alone at night, and you see ahead of you on one side a group of women and on the other side a group of men, wouldn't it be safer to approach the group of women for help?

Even though this uses generalizations–as this individual group of men could be safer than this individual group of women—people usually think that in potentially dangerous situations like this it is okay to use generalizations for safety.

I agree. I think it is okay to use generalizations for safety, even though generalizations are bad and prejudiced and should not be used in other, non-dangerous situations (such as romance, business, and social activities).

[Chazmatazz269]

Yep, absolutely necessary, in fact. Every human being on the planet right now is only here because their ancestors made broad generalizations about the nature of foreigners, ultimately leading to their tribe’s survival. This is the evolutionary origin of racism. It’s in our DNA. We wouldn’t be here without it.
Stereotypes exist for good reasons. We can use them effectively to protect ourselves from bad actors of various forms. Only a person whose intent is to take advantage of you would hold it against you for protecting yourself. People who actually care about you should understand if you express yourself properly.

[Asker]

That sounds more like xenophobia (prejudice against foreigners) than racism (against a specific race), but I think i understand what you mean. In the case of safety it's okay to make assumptions, because it's not a situation where you can afford to prioritize things like fairness. Reasonable people don't expect you to prioritize fairness in an urgent/dangerous situation.

[maj1nall]

Just as five fingers are not the same, not every person is the same.