The other day, the kids and voulenteers from Circle of Friends paid us a visit, to help educate people about special needs and why things like it happen. Much of the time, it occurs when as an infant, they undergo physical trauma. It was interesting to see how people with sensory issues other than my brother see, hear, and feel the world. My brother has Aspburgers, a form of Autism that is less severe than most others. He is very attached to things like Legos and sea creatures (Mostly Sharks!) and gets very territorial when it comes to people trying to tell do anything concerning his hair: brushing, washing, and cutting it. He has a very short fuse, and tends to have emotional breakdowns when people tell him he is doing something wrong or tell him to do something more than once. It was good or us to hear about the people who are gifted with the ability to see the world the way it was meant to be seen: without labels, without prejudice, and being able to stand out.
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In our ever-changing world, it is only natural for the people who are different to want to call themselves something that represents them. This brings up the question, “Do we need new ways to identify gender and sexuality?” The answer is yes, we do need new ways to identify gender and sexuality to fit in with our evolving society. Sasha Kolodkin, a transgender man-to-woman, says on gender labels, “But use of the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ is very confining. When you have to choose between the two, the complexities of your identity are lost. It's like looking at a painting in black and white instead of color” (Schulten 11). People should be allowed to represent themselves any way they want to.
It's in human nature to want define themselves and fit in with others. Adding new identities to the L. G. B. T.+ community to accommodate the people who aren't identified by an existing term will not hurt anyone, and will only help people who aren't sure who they are and are searching for themselves. “Who is harmed by people trying to express themselves better? I don't see the problem” (Alix 2). René Alix asks and answers his own question . People don't hurt anyone by defining themselves; everyone else shouldn't be so opposed to people wanting to find the right way to express themselves. For years, new terms have been added to the Q-munity (the Queer community), starting in the nineteenth century, when equality was far from everyone's minds. Before 1892, the term “bisexual” wasn't used, and before 1914, it had not been used in its current context, meaning feeling attraction to both males and females. Before then, there was just the term “homosexual” in use since 1868, meaning attracted to the same gender. Even back then, people who felt different wanted to fit in with a group of people with similar interests. Michael Schulman wrote in his 2013 article Generation LGBTQIA, “The core question is... who they are– that is, identity as distinct from sexual orientation” (Schulten 3). This is an age-old question that he answers: Who am I? If people want to find new ways to identify themselves, to feed that primitive want to fit in with a group, what does that have to do with anyone else? The people who would condemn people for wanting new ways to identify themselves also use different ways to show who they are. All people think and feel differently, so terminology that applies to some people will not appeal to others. René Alix said on this very matter, “People who feel constrained by the old terminology are trying to express how they, personally, feel” (Alix 2). People try to fit in, no matter how difficult it might be to find a group they fit in with. Alejandro Fuentes, a young man who is scorned by the comments on his blog about this topic, said “Despite differences in culture, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, or sexuality, we are all human beings living on the same planet; so instead of having all this hatred in the world, we should learn about the differences in people” (Fuentes 5). He acknowledges the fact that all people are different, so we need to recognize people as their own person, even if that means using new terminology other than lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersexual, asexual, ally, and pansexual. If people feel like they don't don't in with other people around them on personal matters like what gender the are and what their sexuality is, then we need new ways to identify gender and sexuality to accommodate those people. People should be able to fit in using any terms they feel fit them the best, no matter what anyone else says against them. Works Cited Alix, René. "Do We Need New Ways to Identify Gender and Sexuality?" Do We Need New Ways to Identify Gender and Sexuality? - Quora. Quora, 19 Dec. 2016. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. Fuentes, Alejandro. "Do We Need New Ways to Identify Gender and Sexuality?" Recognizing Self-Identity. Weebly.com, 30 Mar. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2017. Schulten, Katherine. "Do We Need New Ways to Identify Gender and Sexuality?" The New York Times. The New York Times Blog, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. |
BENJAMINTHEGREATI am a bisexual transgender who can get very political and triggered at unjust things, especially things towards people in the LGBT+ community. ArchivesCategories |