Why would anyone want to embrace a stereotype?

I do get people just want to be who they are. But...we have decades of media saturation whereby we know the cultural stereotypes of virtually any group from gays to blacks to asians to rednecks to latinos to blondes to chads.

WHY would anyone want to embrace any of those stereotypes for themselves?

I mean, if you are a gay guy in a rural town, why would you voluntarily wear that yoke?

Are people not able to step outside of themselves and see reality? See themselves as others may see them? Does it matter?