is it necessary to apply labels to different sexualities?

Question

many ppl say that you shouldn't put labels on what our sexuality is, as each of us are different and we should "be who we are"
but isn't it still necessary to identify those we can communicate with more closer to and what not?
for me, im labeled gay, but for others they could be ranging from gay to bi but not exactly either but rather in between or only have tendencies or fetish's, and therefore labeling someone doesn't really work at all.

BUT if we couldn't label people as Bi, or homosexual, or straight then life would be so much more difficult to communicate.

what is your opinion?

Answer 1

I've told this story here before, but it's relevant here.

I've liked both genders since I was old enough to know there were two genders. But when I was 14, I felt so weird! I liked girls, which wasn't appreciated at my school, but I also liked boys, so I couldn't even be a full-on dyke! I didn't know what I was!

Then I looked up another word that began with "B" in the dictionary, and found "bisexual." It just changed my world. I still didn't like it, but I felt much less weird. After all, a *word* had to be invented for it! That meant there had been more like me and would be others!

It's good to have the word, and since others will label you, it's best to label yourself, too.

Answer 2

I keep sowing love and compassion but I keep harvesting anger, injustice, hate and indifference. No your analogy doesn't work. The changes don't come like that, in a miraculous fashion, they may actually NEVER come in a lifetime's duration. These words are just an easy way to soothe the ego and give it hope in a seemingly hopeless world. The truth however is much bitterer than that. Many people out there are good hearted and they always get hardships jealousy, animosity and failures in their lives. I mean the greatest example of them all and which completely disproves your theory is JESUS. Look at it for a moment. Jesus was the embodiment of Love, he definitely sowed positive energy and feelings around him and look at what he got in return!!! What did he harvest? A "nice" crucifixion!!! The worst and most humiliating kind of death during that time period (Roman Era). If that doesn't convince that your analogy is wrong...I don't know what will. Furthermore, to say that sowing hatred will bring us hatred implies that we shouldn't do that and I think this is very unrealistic and selfish. If we were not meant to feel hatred in this world, hatred would not exist. It would never be experienced. We would be pure souls without negativity BUT we are not and that's why we are here and not on another dimension. Negative emotions exist b/c they are NEEDED in the grand scheme of things. We should not view them so negatively. They are our GUIDES as much as positive emotions are. Nothing in Creation is useless or 'bad'. Everything is Good and has a purpose. So you shouldn't reject negative emotions. They are a part of us and we should befriend them, not avoid them. The more you avoid them, the more they approach you and demand to be heard. So it could actually be the opposite of what you're saying: "When you don't sow hatred, you harvest more hatred"!!! because you ignore it and refuse to accept its existence and respect it for being what it is and playing its proper ROLE in this reality we are living in.

Answer 3

The labels just need to be accurate; and the labeled need to be less sensitive about other people's shorthand expressions. Indeed, when people stand up and say yes I am Gay or Bi or whatever, the label sound less dismissive. I was surprised to hear the label, "Breeder" levelled at married people, but then I thought, so what its just a label.

Answer 4

We name (label) things purely for communication purposes. If you are gay, you are going to want to know if someone else is gay before you become interested in them. How else will you know unless they tell you they are gay? Labels are how we find things and people. When you are sick you want a building labeled hospital. When you want to get a college degree you want to find an institution labeled college. You wouldn't ask directions to a building for either of these, would you? You would say hospital or college. Communication would cease without labels.

Answer 5

I don't think you can really label anyone. It's hard but you just can't do it. Pretty much the only way to define that person by their sexuality is to say what they say they are. I personally don't call myself a lesbian, I prefer the term dyke but some people don't like that term. I guess like everything else it's about perfences. As far as being more difficult to communicate I don't think someones sexuality has anything to do with it. People are people and we love who we love.

Answer 6

Well it's empowering to label yourself, because it is a means of identification. (When other people try and label you, it tends not to be such a good thing.) I don't think people should worry too much about labels as they do.

Answer 7

No, because, if it were NECESSARY, to label someone like, say, David Bowie, you'd never be done with it. But for some whacko reason, humans just LOOOVE labels! (????)

Answer 8

I am, and always have been, a pro-label kind of girl, because I think that they're good things. Of course, they have the capacity to be bad, and I understand why some people would eschew them, and that's absolutely fine. But I hate it when anyone gets down on people who use labels. I've seen people come in here asking legitimate questions about their sexuality, trying to understand themselves and the GLBT community- and they just get shot down by self-righteous people screaming "Why do you need to label it? Can't you just be yourself?!" It's sad.

Labels give us tons of good things. First and foremost, they give us a place in the world. Labels are part of identity, they give us a sense of who we are. People feel stirrings of patriotic pride in being able to say their nationality, feel a deep sense of roots and family and ancestry and heritage/culture in being able to claim their ethnicity . . . and some people feel a deep sense of who they are is rooted into their sexuality and who they are able to love. All labels- all creating positive feelings inside of people. Not to mention that labels help people rally around one another. It's when someone steps up to an identity that they start to see it as real and viable. Gay rights didn't blossom from people saying "I'm just me!" and eschewing labels- they said clearly, in a strong voice "I'm gay- get used to it.". Claiming that identity and label was- and continues to be for many- a source of strength and a way to visibility. Even now, transpeople who choose to not identify by the label of trans somewhat aid in trans-invisibility (though who could blame them?)- but the transmen and transwomen who stand up and use that label educate the world around them about transsexuality. And lastly, but not least, labels help us understand the world and serve a practical purpose. Someone can say "Oh, I don't like labels." all they want, but that does absolutely nothing for the woman who is trying to date him, for example, and wants to know if she's a viable option for him.

In the end, I think labels are wonderful, but only when self-generated. I don't like it when people label others, because labels are helpful only inasmuch as they come from a person to describe him or herself. Otherwise, it's simply a perpetuation of stereotypes, and worse, it boxes people in. And that is the wost part about labels- instead of being used positively, they are often used to nail people to the wall, where they struggle in the awful confines. The man who is predominantly gay but may have the slightest attraction to women- a Kinsey 5, say- may struggle against the confines of the label of 'bisexual', which doesn't feel right to him. So if he chooses to call himself gay because it's more comfortable, or claims the label of bisexual even though the rest of the world won't understand it the way he does, or if he decides to do away with the whole mess of labels anyhow- all are fine by me, if they come from him.

It's funny- there's a good scene in "The L Word" where Moira (now Max), the only real butch amidst a sea of feminine lesbians, identifies as such, and is shot down when Shane says "I don't believe in labels, you know, we should just let people be what they are.". And it's silly, because Shane is effectively denying Moira to be what she is- what she says she is- a butch. That's always how I've felt about people who keep on saying "I don't need labels."- they are almost always denying the power that labels can have for others.

So I'm proud of people who are able to live without labels. Good for you. But don't knock me and others for using them.

Hope that helps!

Answer 9

A gay is a gay... a bisexual (no label) isn't, a bisexual is just so horny that they will have sex with anyone or anything....

there should be 2 labels, Gay and Straight

but if you really think about it, it isn't really anyone's business what sexuality they are, unless it is their partner...

Answer 10

They tell us that gays dont have a choice.......I can see that some men are more effiminate than others I have no problem with them......BUT when it comes to males and where to put thier schlong they do have a choice...... Whats up with that?