If you ever listen to your grandparents talk, it is most likely that at some point the well-known phrase: "In my days everything was easier, because.." and insert a shit load of arguments here. And to give them some credit, in many ways it probably was.
IT'S BECAUSE OF THE IGNORANCE OF THOSE DAYS, any politically correct individual will say, which again in some stretch is probably true. You don't see it, you don't speak about it. Many things were left undiscussed in most households, and there were no such things and mobile phones and the internet to indoctrinate you with ideas that are most likely not entirely your own. That was a parent's job back then.
But don't we make things entirely too difficult for ourselves these days?
In a way, I find it ironic. We live in a world where we're forced to accept everything and everyone, to think anything is beautiful, where disagreeing with the masses means you'll be lynched by a horde of politically correct teenage girls on hyper drive. But if it is acceptance we preach, how come there is only one justifiable opinion to accept? We fear box thinking and when asked we will all firmly deny the fact that we're guilty of that crime.
Meanwhile we continue to systematically label everything to an almost obsessive, compulsive degree.
The current abbreviation for sexualities other than heterosexual is LGBPTTQQIIAA+, standing respectively for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Intergender, Asexual and Ally. The plus indicating that there might be more. There is bicuriosity, genderfluidity and binary and non-binary, and to be honest there are so many terms that I can't keep track of it.
And is it really necessary?
Of course this is the moment where I'll probably be lynched, and you might think to yourself "what does this heterosexual white bitch know?" and you'd certainly be right. I don't know. I admit that being straight is easy. You don't need to define or defend who you are, or why you should be allowed to love who you love. There is no journey in which you question yourself, in which you struggle to understand why you feel what you feel, in which you might have to tell your parents HEY I AM STRAIGHT. because heterosexuality is called "the norm", even though that statement alone feels like an ancient, anachronistic dinosaur these days.
Of course our desperate need to define every aspect of our daily lives extends a lot further than sexuality alone. Religion, the colour of our skins, our high school clique, sorts of co-workers, Myers-and-Briggs' personality types, careers. We divide ourselves into factions and Hogwarts Houses (and yes I am guilty of that one), we are Team Edward or Team Jacob. We identify ourselves as Stefan or Damon, Marvel or DC. And we gang together with those who share a like mind. We associate weirdos with nail-biting, anti-social psychos, introverts as people who don't dare to say a single word, jocks as bull-headed jerks who make up for what they lack in brain capacity with muscle strength. And I can keep going like this for ages.
But if we are to travel from acceptance to normalcy (and isn't that what we hope to achieve?) we need to let the labels go. Because I don't care if you love men, or women, or intellectuals or sporters or even the blue people from James Cameron's awfully long-winded movie. And yes, that is scary. When we can't define ourselves by labels that our surroundings will understand, they actually have to look at who we are, rather than the tags we glue onto ourselves. The fact that I'm a woman who likes men does not say a single thing about who I am as a person. But if you're a guy who likes guys, it says equally little about you.
So why don't we start viewing each other as human beings instead. As the Breakfast Club once told us:
"We think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete and a basketcase, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question?"
IT'S BECAUSE OF THE IGNORANCE OF THOSE DAYS, any politically correct individual will say, which again in some stretch is probably true. You don't see it, you don't speak about it. Many things were left undiscussed in most households, and there were no such things and mobile phones and the internet to indoctrinate you with ideas that are most likely not entirely your own. That was a parent's job back then.
But don't we make things entirely too difficult for ourselves these days?
In a way, I find it ironic. We live in a world where we're forced to accept everything and everyone, to think anything is beautiful, where disagreeing with the masses means you'll be lynched by a horde of politically correct teenage girls on hyper drive. But if it is acceptance we preach, how come there is only one justifiable opinion to accept? We fear box thinking and when asked we will all firmly deny the fact that we're guilty of that crime.
Meanwhile we continue to systematically label everything to an almost obsessive, compulsive degree.
The current abbreviation for sexualities other than heterosexual is LGBPTTQQIIAA+, standing respectively for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Intergender, Asexual and Ally. The plus indicating that there might be more. There is bicuriosity, genderfluidity and binary and non-binary, and to be honest there are so many terms that I can't keep track of it.
And is it really necessary?
Of course this is the moment where I'll probably be lynched, and you might think to yourself "what does this heterosexual white bitch know?" and you'd certainly be right. I don't know. I admit that being straight is easy. You don't need to define or defend who you are, or why you should be allowed to love who you love. There is no journey in which you question yourself, in which you struggle to understand why you feel what you feel, in which you might have to tell your parents HEY I AM STRAIGHT. because heterosexuality is called "the norm", even though that statement alone feels like an ancient, anachronistic dinosaur these days.
Of course our desperate need to define every aspect of our daily lives extends a lot further than sexuality alone. Religion, the colour of our skins, our high school clique, sorts of co-workers, Myers-and-Briggs' personality types, careers. We divide ourselves into factions and Hogwarts Houses (and yes I am guilty of that one), we are Team Edward or Team Jacob. We identify ourselves as Stefan or Damon, Marvel or DC. And we gang together with those who share a like mind. We associate weirdos with nail-biting, anti-social psychos, introverts as people who don't dare to say a single word, jocks as bull-headed jerks who make up for what they lack in brain capacity with muscle strength. And I can keep going like this for ages.
But if we are to travel from acceptance to normalcy (and isn't that what we hope to achieve?) we need to let the labels go. Because I don't care if you love men, or women, or intellectuals or sporters or even the blue people from James Cameron's awfully long-winded movie. And yes, that is scary. When we can't define ourselves by labels that our surroundings will understand, they actually have to look at who we are, rather than the tags we glue onto ourselves. The fact that I'm a woman who likes men does not say a single thing about who I am as a person. But if you're a guy who likes guys, it says equally little about you.
So why don't we start viewing each other as human beings instead. As the Breakfast Club once told us:
"We think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us - in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete and a basketcase, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question?"