Is the binary dichotomisation of "straight"-"not-straight" really useful at all?

Question

I am intrigued by human tendencies to look for in-groups and out-groups; herd behaviour to identify with discrete categories or identities/labels that allow nomothetic extraoplation of the individual's qualities from those of the broader group.

Gender diversity is increasingly acknowledged in modern psychological literature, people varying in their interests or sexual preference not just between individuals but also within individuals over time in some cases. The clarification of this distinction from gender is important, but also emphasises the semantic confusion that arises when that gender reference point is moved (in transgendered conditions).

Basically, what I am asking is: does the binary distinction of straight or not really serve any useful social function or is it simply an overgeneralisation used to pigeon hole and discriminate?

Have we learnt nothing from the works of Milgram and Zimbado about the dangers of blind adherence to social straight-jackets?

Answer 1

the straight or not straight argument simply divides humans beings into two groups.... and as far as sexuality goes there are many many more divisions possible...

if a person starts out their sexual life as a straight and later diverges towards not straight.... what exactly has changed??

in the not-straight pile you would place all transgendered people, all bisexuals, all homosexuals, all the bi-curious people, all the non-sexual people and in the other pile would be about four or five people....
well okay maybe more than that..... but you get the picture...

it is never useful to place human beings in piles... or pigeon holes... or divide and categorise them in any way.... but science is such a beast about such things and needs things neatly labelled and boxed...

when you start to think of the study of human behaviour as being a science then you need labels.... for human behaviour... and the humans that behave in these ways...

as for a useful social function I doubt it because there is a good percentage of human beings that do not really openly consider and think of these issues in balance way... they think that because they are not-gay or not-lesbian that they are straight... and when straight is acceptable and not-straight is unacceptable in a social situation then such thinking and labelliing becomes even more detrimental to the people being labelled and to those who do the labelling..

consider these questions:
If a post-op male to female transexual has sex with women are they to be considered straight or not straight?
If a married woman has sexual encounters with other women to satisfy her husbands desires to be involved in a threesome is she straight or not-straight?
If a man has strong sexual desires for other men but never acts on those desires is he straight or not-straight?

human beings are not simply one thing or another... and it is often the case that sexualities change as people mature... if society accepts the straight/not-straight labelling then those whose sexuality changes throughout their lifetime are placed in a jeopardising position of moving from a place of acceptance to a place of non-acceptance or from non-acceptance to a place of acceptance..

Answer 2

Straight and not straight are merely words, they are pictures, not the thing itself. Therefore they could never truly represent a person.
As a society, it might not be a bad ideas to remove these kinds of words and language. They only cause seperation and then distrust and insecurity.

Answer 3

i agree with you absolutely. its not a good idea to have this dichotomy, of straight and not straight. what its relaly saying is " normal , and not normal" , which is discriminatory. think back in the times when pagans ruled the land and people were bisexual , but had no name for it. you went to bed with whom you wished, no one judged you for spending quality time in bed with someone of your same sex.
imagine how free a world woudl be if there were no " gay bars" , but that everyone felt confortable with their sexuality, that there were no labels! if you wanted to hook up with someone, you woudl go ask them, same sex, opposite sex, you'd approach strutting your stuff and ask. the person would either accept or deny you, " oh no thanks i'm not interested in girls really". and thats the end of that.

certainly we shoudl break with this terminology and stop alienating bisexuals gays and other " non straights" !