Sexuality labels are a common topic of discussion these days. People often use labels to describe their sexual orientation or identity. It’s a way for individuals to express themselves and find a sense of belonging within a community.
But it’s important to remember that labels are subjective and can be limiting.
Sexuality is a complex and fluid spectrum and it’s okay if someone doesn’t fit into a specific label.
Respect Self-identified Sexuality Labels
Sexual orientation and identity can evolve over time. Let’s embrace diversity and create a world where everyone is accepting sexuality, regardless of the labels they choose or don’t choose to use.
The other day I was providing advice to some poor soul on FetLife who was feeling isolated by using Social Media.
I agree that sexuality is something which is meant to be so liberating but it can be quite isolating at times too.
Like this lad, I had spent many hours searching for other people who were similar to me.
I looked at their memories and spoke to them on a regular basis.
But eventually I became basically depressed because you’d see these groups, people. And realise that whilst you knew them, you really never knew who they were at all.
Labels can be so debilitating at times
One of my primary concerns of the queer community is the labeling of other people.
You label many people through their gender, you can identify people through their sex and you can label yourself as a subset of culture.
Examples of this can be; feminine, butch, masculine, gay, bear, twink, otter, jock, leather, cub, cis-gender, androgynous, asexual, bi-gender, fluid, gender queer, dyke, lipstick lesbian, intersex, pan-sexual.
It goes on and on and on.
Sometimes hard to find a particular label that suits you
When you do it gets put into the overarching umbrella term of queer. That is both good and bad, dependent on the situation.
One of the other commenters on this fetlife post had discussed the idea of intersectional feminism. I was intrigued by the concept as it was not something I’d been used to.
Intersectionality
Refers to the ways in which subsets of a particular group overlap, interact with each other through varying social identities. And related systems such as discrimination and/or oppression.
Essentially, in the case of feminism, it understands that there are different types of women
Whether those differences be through performance of gender, sexuality, skin colour, religious beliefs, age etc.
It recognizes that an older black woman whose a lesbian will have different issues to a white, cis-gendered middle age woman.
What tends to happen in social politics is that these more marginal groups such as lesbians, black women, older women etc, will often get forgotten in the race towards gender equality and their voices will get drowned out.
Similar things happen within the queer community as well.
I have long argued that there is inherent homophobia even within the queer community itself.
It’s one thing to say that they’re pro-gay relationships but discriminate within their lives/profiles etcs by stating ‘Nothing personal, I don’t like femmes’, ‘masc only’ etc.
Intersectionality acknowledges that there is no singular experience of identity.
Just because you are male, queer, female doesn’t mean that you have experienced the same as others within your social group.
It is something that social activists often forget.
Marginalizing the very groups that they’re trying to support, albeit not always realising that it’s occurring. This makes it difficult for social advocacy as it often appears that there are ‘different’ groups essentially fighting for the same, yet different things.
It’s difficult to wrap ones head around a multidimensional social platform
But it is an essential discourse to consider in order to approach and effectively support marginilised groups.
We have personalities separated from our sexuality that are so unique and so different. Placing people into labels, takes something away from the unique experience each individual has.
Although labeling can group similar people together, it can also create a boundary between people by separating them through stereotypes.
Some stereotypes can also be subconsciously connected
This means our brain create a network of links between events and information that we have learnt through our lifetime. For example, if I had a balloon that popped in front of me, my brain could link that to a happy surprise or even a fearful memory.
So the next time a balloon is in front of you, you may naturally become scared or happy due to the network that was previously created in your brain.
Is it possible that even though labeling of people exist, that we can personally learn to separate our sexuality from our social identity which will create a more welcoming and open community.
Author: Stephen Smith – BA Of Social Sciences, M.Ed
Sex, Sexuality & Genders of The Future!
The other day I was reading a book and a question was posed.
Are people a product of their genes or of their environment or as the academics put it Nature Vs Nurture?
I wondered how that applied to many things including sexuality. With science rapidly improving we are able to dip into and alter the gene pool and genetically modify everything from crops to humans.
In 2015 scientists altered the DNA of human embryos, genetically modifying them using a method called the Crisper technique.
Welcome to the Brave New World where science fiction written in 1931 is becoming a reality.
With the technology available today scientists and doctors are now be able to change a person’s physical, intellectual. And possibly even mental capabilities through this engineering.
It will allow in the future the riddance of many hereditary diseases and allow man to play god.
Regardless of where your stance is ethically on this it does pose some uncomfortable questions.
- Under What circumstances could this genetic engineering take place?
- Who would qualify?
- Would it be only used to correct ailments and deformities or would it be optional for parents to choose the color of there to be born child’s hair or eyes?
- What controls will be put in place?
- Will it be used to improve intellectual abilities of the masses?
What about SEX?
The sex of a new-born child can be genetically engineered to that of the parents, or viewing into the future, the buyers/creators choices.
So that is all well and good but how about sexuality and sexual preferences. With sexual revolution in the late 60’s and early 70’s tolerance between sexual preferences, now being politically correct genders, was practiced by most.
It was still accepted that there was a man and a woman. But the expectation that relationships be solely between a man and a woman were broadened. There were the straights (some being closeted straights).
And the LGBT community was formed which stands for Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual.
In the 90’s the LGBT acronym was expanded to LGBTQ the Q standing for Queer or Questioning.
In the year 2000 this new gender equality world there were 63 accepted variations of gender rather than that of a man and a woman.
Question of gender equality was raised and debate began as being a sex positive community what additional genders should be included. In the United States the acronym became LGBTQQIP2SAA whilst in the United Kingdom it became LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA.
This has been expanded further still and some acronyms carry 26 letters which is just absurd.
Sensible gender accepting people now simply use LGBTQ+.
In Australia we are currently in the middle of a plebiscite for same sex marriage.
Controversy has raged with many members of the public who thought that the vote was to allow a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman.
Many are still not aware that there that included in this vote are over 100 genders. And the vote is for the legal right for one human being to marry another human being regardless of sex, sexual preference or gender.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I will vote ‘Yes’ and I am an advocate in same sex marriage
But even I struggle with a gender that is described as a ‘Feminine Male That is Attracted to a Bisexual Hermaphromale’. In any event different strokes for different folks and certainly in principle and in practice.
So where am I going with this?
If we can genetically engineer the sex of a child and there are now over 100 gender identities where does the future of sex lie?
Will government regulate what gender preferences there are available?
- So, will there be scope to tailor make and custom build your future child’s gender?
- Will gender society become more fragmented in the Brave New World that can be a reality? And there become gender exclusive communities, or cities or will we come back to strict definitions of a man and a woman?
There is nothing natural about genetic engineering but is it possible that nurture may overcome genetic engineering?
Scarier still the technology to clone humans already exists. So why has a human being not been cloned officially?
Who knows what has occurred off the record?
Your baby boy has just died, would you not love to have the exact human clone produced from his DNA? It is not easy to clone primates but with enough money and resources it would be.
The reason is that commercially it is not viable to clone a human, and some would throw in the ethical argument.
Most humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes that are basically identical and found in almost every cells nucleus.
Differences between humans are caused by genes that segments of DNA that make each human being unique. But as this DNA is passed down from mother and father to offspring there are traits will be unique to them which allows for DNA testing.
Believe it or not DNA testing will accurately test for family ancestry for at least 5 generations. If the gene pool is strong enough up to 700 years. So we are not all from the same gene pool.
Livestock Cloning
Intrexon a bio-tech company has been cloning sheep, cattle, pigs and pets for years.
The average price to clone your recently passed canine it about US $100,000 but that is a small amount when you consider cloning a successful race horse.
Buying one that is bred can cost millions of dollars – however will the racing authorities allow you to put a cloned horse on the track?
Well perhaps not! However in 2013 Polo star Adolfo Cambiaso rode on a cloned horse, their team winning the Argentine Polo Open.
So what happens when in the future if we start cloning human beings?
Imagine the same scenario as before but rather than just losing your baby boy you also lost you sweet daughter. You were a nucleur family – husband and wife with son and daughter.
Distressed beyond belief and in your despair look at cloning as an option but because of the cost involved you can only afford to create one.
You cannot make the choice so you choose to use DNA from both. Forget about the moral and legal injustice that a clone is not born so therefore cannot be considered a human being.
can Cross-cloning be done between the same species?
Theoretically most experts agree that the result could only be female in sex. But hang on a second, cloning creates an embryo. Scientists genetically engineer an embryo to make changes, including sex.
Do you see where I am heading with this?
Let us hope that we do not enter this brave new world. But if we do what will it mean for sex, sexuality and gender options?
Meet Stephen, a bold and opinionated cis-gendered gay advocate for gender equality and sexual education. Join him on the Adultsmart blog for fearless insights.
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