Sexuality/identity
Feb. 18th, 2008 06:36 pmWhat we really need is not for society to accept new labels, new groups (homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality... various fetishes... polyamory) but to do away with the need for labels and groups completely. It's too complex, contradictory and fluid a thing, on every scale (and there are at least two different, intersecting scales here - strength of drive and type of attraction - and possibly more) to be categorised. And, while it's true that we always have to generalise because otherwise communication is impossible (reality is always more complex than the words that try to capture it, but we do need to talk about it nevertheless), I'm not sure that having more opportunity to differentiate really helps much, in this particular area of human experience. Having a whole *bunch* of minorities I could identify as does not help me.
Perhaps this is one area of life where we should just try to learn to live with the fact that... life just doesn't always *fit* all those neat little boxes we make up in our minds? That sometimes it really is amorphous, ever-changing, and possibly even weird beyond description... (and also, that this is a feature and not a bug. Repeat after me, society: DEVIANCE DOES NOT EQUAL ILLNESS.)
Cultural identity would be another such area.
We need fewer boundaries, fewer mental demarcation lines.
Oh, and I'd also like world peace, please.
Perhaps this is one area of life where we should just try to learn to live with the fact that... life just doesn't always *fit* all those neat little boxes we make up in our minds? That sometimes it really is amorphous, ever-changing, and possibly even weird beyond description... (and also, that this is a feature and not a bug. Repeat after me, society: DEVIANCE DOES NOT EQUAL ILLNESS.)
Cultural identity would be another such area.
We need fewer boundaries, fewer mental demarcation lines.
Oh, and I'd also like world peace, please.