Sexuality labels gone too far?

I'm getting to the point where I hate labels all together. Yes I'm gay I like men but I'm still a person why do we need to separate people based on sexual preference?

 

I agree. It's ridiculous how people always want to categorise everything.

 

I agree with you. But I like saying I'm graysexual because I truly believe in the asexual continuum and how useful it can be.

 

I agree they're going too far. Just love whoever you wanna love, no one should be able to tell you that you cant.

 

I am on the fence about this.
On one hand, I think that having a word to communicate your identity to others is a powerful thing, and it really help us define ourselves. I know this feeling when I came from a culture that didn't have any word for the concept of transgenderism. When I finally had a word to call myself and explain who I am, it made me very happy.

On the other hand, I think there has been people that let a label to be the ONLY thing that define them, and it becomes a bad thing. A person is more than just labels, but in the pursuit for a place to belong, some has forgot that it is ok to be themselves without having to fit in another label.

 

Some labels can be a bit too much. But I think labels like hetero and homoflexible are useful for some people.

 

If you don't like labels, fine, don't use them, but that doesn't necessarily make them invalid just because you have an issue with them.

I also don't feel it is fair to compare it to the 'old generation' because now, with sexuality talk more out in the open as a general thing, it's only natural that things would branch out with people's feelings being more complex than it used to seem.

And that is all I'm going to say here.

 

When they're trivial, we can simply ignore them. It causes harm to practically nobody - frivolous labels aren't actually dangerous. The anger expressed about this issue can sometimes feel like a waste of time.

 

first I'm neutral on this topic and don't really have an opinion but to give you a little contra because there is a majority of pros here:

How would you feel if someone declared your label invalid?

 

Can you please give a link to the Brene Brown article, it sounds interesting.

I believe that you are misreading the situation slightly. The need for labels doesn't come from a growing sense of entitlement but more as a result of a weakening of the stability of identities in consequence of globalization and loss of religion which started during the end of the 19th century. The freedom and openness of the modern western world comes at a certain price because we've abandoned many of the ideas that served as key components of identity in the past.

One way to cope with this destabilization is by creating labels that come with schemta that help us navigate the world and make the world more predictable. The reason why many of these labels originate in online communities is that internet communities have become a major source of stability with people using online identities as substitutes to their real life counter parts...

 

I'm also on the fence a little.
On the one hand, invalidating someone's identity because you don't like that it's too complex/think people will laugh/etc is ridiculous.
On the other, I'm not sure who it benefits to use such long labels.

 

In a certain way I feel 'obliged' to use extra labels and qualify my orientation, because as a Kinsey 5 I feel that I am not entitled to simply call myself gay, but neither do I feel that bisexual is genuine. These days I tend to just go and call myself gay anyway, but is has caused me a lot of anguish. It is madness.

I think this has to do with the fact that in a world where you were either straight or gay and bisexuality was not really recognised: the grey zones of the sexuality spectrum were simply absorbed into a gay or straight identity, whilst today the boundaries between identities are more strictly policed.

Now gay and straight are relegated to the edges of the spectrum, whilst all in the middle is claimed for the bi identity- which has become a term so broad that it does not describe anything very specific, whilst at the same time being read socially as 'capable of being heterosexual' and hence it necessitates for people to qualify, subcategorise and over-analyse their particular spot on the sexuality spectrum.

In addition to the narrowing of gay/straight spheres of influence on the spectrum, what happened is that socially there is a greater need for people to live 'authentically'- so not only does a label/category signify how they are perceived socially due to whom they partner with- or are known to sleep with, but now people feel obliged to show the world exactly who they are/what their exact preference is- to carry ever longer descriptions of how their preferences work, because only then will they be entitled to be included in one of the pre-prepared identities.

For me those labels are not really 'identities': they are "qualifiers"- some thing to describe yourself by when asked specifics about your actual orientation.

 

As far as I see, people can label themselves as whatever they want, so long as they don't make a big deal out of it.
You love who you love and that's great.
As someone who uses what might be seen as one of the more 'new wave' labels, I'd say that as long as you don't let it define you, you should be fine. It's not harming anyone, as far as I see

 

For some reason a lot of people think they deserve to be so extra super special, that they create idiotic terms and labels for themselves.

And yes, it's gotten to the stupid stage.

 

I think I love you.

The fact that the plethora of labels is a byproduct of a generation raised to believe they are all unique and "special" is what I've wanted to say on many of these topics but I was afraid I'd get in trouble!

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Also, why do we have this same topic every few days?

 

I'm a special, special snowflake

I agree with this thread. Especially in regards to the article above. White, cis-gendered straight people trying to find something to make them 'unique' or weirdly enough, 'oppressed' in some way. Just leave it, no one is buying it for one second.

 

I think the trouble with labels is that some people can't find one to fit who they are. I don't want to categorise myself as wholly one thing or the other. I am just me, I will like who I like and I will dress how I like and I am my own label. Sexuality and gender - Paris91. It's as simple as that for me.