genderqueer:

ladybambino:

(via queersecrets)

I wish that people would stop using the term ‘labels’.  ALL WORDS ARE LABELS.  IN ORDER TO CONVEY ANY SORT OF INFORMATION TO ANYONE YOU HAVE TO USE WORDS AKA LABELS.  IF YOU WISH TO LIVE IN AN UNINFORMED SOCIETY THEN COOL. NO WORDS/LABELS NEEDED.  I know that people who say they don’t want labels are well meaning and are trying to get at a real problem but they are simplifying the problem.  The problem isn’t with words but with a lack of words.  Our society tries to get people to explain their identity by using one restrictive word rather than many because our society doesn’t give a shit about individual identities.  So instead of saying “labels are bad!”  we should be advocate the use of more labels (words) in order to better privilege individual identities.  and if something isn’t complicated, then there is a large chance that it is not grounded in reality.

Unless we come up with 6 billion new words to uniquely identify every single person on this planet, no one will ever be properly defined, which is a problem because people do get fixated on labels. Oh, you’re black/Jamaican/a woman/a lesbian/whatever? Then you must look exactly like this or have exactly these opinions or behave in exactly this way and if you don’t you’re dishonest/confused/being offensive to REAL black people/Jamaicans/women/lesbians/whatever and you can’t be part of their/our community. Or Odin forbid you start out with one label and move to another. TRAITOR. People in the US have a relationship with identity politics unlike anywhere else.

I’d much rather have an uninformed society where people learn about others as they go rather than make assumptions.