When Do Labels Become A Bad Thing?

I think labels become a bad thing when you live by them or you're forcing them to fit you.

I was born with an intersex condition so I had some back and forth with people arguing over if I should be treated as a girl or a guy. In the end I tried both and figured girl fits me the best, also I found out I have female internal organs, had a corrective surgery to sort out my genitalia to no longer be ambiguous as well as remove my ovaries to remove the cancer risk they posed. I then ended up having periods caused by me taking progesterone. (It's to keep my womb healthy, yes, even with my ovaries removed I haven't escaped periods!)

The reason I'm saying all this is because it brings up a very good point, for a while I wasn't sure if I was classified as transgender or not, in some circumstances yes, in others no. The best word to describe it is intersex, but given my condition has been fixed, it's sort of a redundant title. I still bring it up to describe my childhood but that's about it. Since my gender and biological sex match (and have done since birth, minus a little deformation) I call myself a cisgender female who's had a disorder of sexual development/DSD.

I call myself that because that is the best way to describe myself. At the end of the day that's all labels should be, things to call yourself to help people easily understand an aspect of your self, your past, present or future. Since "cisgender" literally translates to "not transgender" I think that fits well and describes me perfectly, if people want more in depth I can use the label "intersex" to describe my past condition and some of the issues I faced in childhood unique to someone with a DSD. Perfect use of labels!

When labels are a bad thing is when you force yourself into them, an example would be me saying I'm British, then proceeding to try and fill all the stereotypes, it's not me, that's when I'm describing the label, not the label describing me.

So in short, labels should be things that relatively accurately describe you and act as a starting point for conversation. Labels shouldn't be things you try to emulate or live by. ^^

 

I've said this in another thread: labels become bad when they define you rather than describe you.

To me, the very essence of being defined is being limited: there is a clear list of characteristics that set you apart from everyone else. If these were different, you would not be you.

When a label starts to set limits, that is when I believe they become bad.

 

I agree with this. I know some people don't like label at all, and that's fine because it's their choice, but personally I think some labels are good because they're helpful for communicating things to other people. Some people take them overboard though.

 

Labels are bad when you're gay or lesbian and hate having to put an effort into inclusion by memorizing more than, like, four words.

 

Always?

 

When people insist they know your label. Like for example.. those who know that I'm a guy but will still call me a woman and use all the female pronouns, regardless.

 

I knew there would be something about race in here...!

I think labels are good when they describe you and, in reference to Pret Allez's post, the general population understands what they mean (i.e. they aren't just created out of nowhere to describe you completely unique special snowflake experience). They're important for communication. I think they become bad when they take on particular connotations or develop stereotypes. However, I don't know if its possible to have labels without stereotypes... hm... I guess they are good when they have an objective definition behind them that invokes no particular emotions, positive or negative, but are just factual descriptions.

I don't think its bad if she doesn't want to be labeled as African American. I think her point is that she simply wants to be seen as human, rather than a particular race. I don't think she is denouncing her heritage, but I didn't watch the entire thing. Let's be honest... she's a celebrity, so her race hardly would matter in hiring or court cases so not sure why you bring that much. In our society, celebrities of any race > poor people of all races.

 

Labels are bad when they're being used as an insult.

 

I don't know if I can agree more! I was struggling to find words to post here and you just said it all.

 

when people are going by assumptions saying you should be under this label that label when they dont even know you .

 

A label is good when you create it yourself and it reflects who you are. But when the people around you start to label you, they generally are not doing it in your favour. I love my label, generally because it is MY label that I made for myself "The super flamboyant gay diva hugavore". But, I hate the fact that people often assume that a label is forever and can not be changed, or is not at the least flexible...I mean..I am 100% gay...But I'd still fuck Jennifer Lawrence!

 

Well said...very well said.

 

I think Raven was right. I'm just person that loves another person. The sexual plumbing is no one elses business

 

I have to agree with the notion that once you let a label define yourself as a whole, that's when it becomes a problem.

 

Why are you complaining about race again?

Also, its hard to take your linguistic concerns as genuine, since your profile gender and orientation are explicitly about making fun of other users.

 

I like the "labels should define you rather than describe you" answer. But since im obnoxious and dont like using other people's words....

Labels aren't the problem, bigotry or inability to adapt is.

I tend to think that labels are a good thing. They get a lot of hate, especially these days. In my completely non-professional opinion seem to be a very important psychological skill. I would argue that labels are one of the biggest reasons language exists. Before you can communicate a concept you need words to define it. Those words may never fit 100% but it gets the idea across. The same applies to people. Using "gay" as an example, if one for instance is looking for a partner (one of the few times that being gay is really anyone elses business) it's a lot easier if you can define yourself as homosexual or straight.

Basically, no label will ever be 100% accurate, as words are subject to interpretation. The downside is when people start trying to tie too much to a label, or refuse to think about labels dynamically. Until we come up with a more accurate mode of communication, labels are a vital part of society.

The other main issue is when someone isn't willing to correct themselves when they are wrong. As has already been said, for instance, insisting someone is male/female after they have asserted otherwise. However this is also a seperate issue that would apply even without labels.

 

I just think labels are a personal choice. Because of our need to describe and categorize everything, we want people to use labels that we create and standardize to help us make sense of our world, so when we see someone reject labels, they're going against our neat little system and we find that alarming and counterintuitive. But it's up to her if she wants to reject certain labels. I've had trouble with labels before, like "demisexual" and what not, because most people don't understand it and I don't know if it's even worth using most of the time. Same goes for "Aspie". That's not a label I ever want appended to me even though I do have Aspberger's. Because make so many judgments when they hear that word that their opinion of me is probably made up the moment they hear it. So you can see why I don't want to use it. And I don't feel like I "owe" anything to people with those labels. I won't deny being demisexual or having Aspberger's, since those are facts, but they're not usually labels I will throw out willingly.

 

The main point is, to use the most annoying "shaming" term invented, she is more privileged as a celebrity the the average joe of any race.