Why should non-heterosexuals (for lack of a better term) have to state their sexuality? How many of you heterosexuals explicitly state that you are? Why should those of us who are not heterosexual have to do so?
If you think we should because we aren't the majority, why the flippin' hell does it matter anyway? What difference does it make to you if we aren't heterosexual?
If anything is wrong, it's people making assumptions about people's sexuality.
Comments
rustifer says…
March 28, 2006 21:50:44+01:00
What I hate is how some attribute of my lover affects labels for me- in other words, my mother's partner is a woman, which causes my mother to be labelled a Lesbian.
My views on sexuality tie into my views on reincarnation in such a way that it doesn't matter the shape of the body of the person you love, you still love the same person. So why does the fact that the body of my mother's partner is female affect what we call my mother?
I hate that.
Geoffrey Sneddon says…
March 29, 2006 10:49:13+01:00
I whole heartedly agree on that. It has absolutely nothing to do with her.
Matt says…
April 15, 2006 21:03:50+01:00
Well ive had to state that I'm hetrosexual before, I dont see anything wrong with having labels for sexuality, it does make sense for classification purposes. However, the problem arises if people are labeled wrong or in a way they find offensive.
If any of you watch South Park, you see that homosexual men are often called "fags" and other names which could potentially be offensive. This is the kind of labelling if any that we should get rid of (that and being labeled wrong). Then again, I can't say much becuase I abosultley love that show.
Classification is very important though, becuase assumptions will always be made. If you consider that about 10-11% of the population is homosexual, why is it then wrong for me to assume that someone I meet to be hetrosexual?
Geoffrey Sneddon says…
April 15, 2006 22:40:43+01:00
As far as names like "fag", it can depend completely in context, if done in a comic context, it can quite easily not offend.
As far as assumptions go, bare in mind at 10-11% is still 1 in 10 people (I, myself, am part of an even small minority).
Matt says…
April 17, 2006 02:22:15+01:00
I agree with what you say, thats basically what I meant, maybe it came out wrong. But no matter how you look at it, "homosexual" is always going to be less offensive than "fag" if nothing more for the fact that it is a work intended for classification, not a derived slang term.
In many cases sexuality doesn't matter. I can quite easily meet someone with out saying "hey, are you hetro?" "are you gay?" "are you bi?" becuase it doesn't bother me. If they want to tell me then they can.
My point is that if you feel cumfortable with your sexuality, having to state it shouldn't be a problem, if anything you could feel proud. I can proudly say i'm "straight" or "hetrosexual", I know a fair few people who would say "I'm proud to be bisexual" or "I'm proud to be gay"...
on another note, about 1/10 people are using firefox for browsing the web (or slightly less, not entirely sure)... Now if I go round a mates house for the first time, I wont automatically assume he's using firefox... I'll assume he's part of the 9/10 who use (most likley) IE. I may be wrong, and I will find out in due time, but up until I find out there was no harm me thinking that he used IE... I know this is waaay off in regards to sexuality but I feel the same way there. If someone I know isn't shouting about their sexuality then I'll just assume they're straight and then be corrected if need be.
. says…
May 7, 2006 12:27:26+01:00
If making assumptions is wrong then human beings are faulty machines. Making assumptions is part of life and, in fact, I'd say a necessary part of life. It's simply not feasible to start from a philosophical zero point every time you want to perform an action or start thinking about something.
Geoffrey Sneddon says…
May 29, 2006 12:26:05+01:00
If you meet someone, let's take an equally unimportant fact like religion, do you make an assumption about that? I for one don't.
Jamie Rees says…
May 29, 2006 12:28:19+01:00
At the end of the day, it's down to who you are. If you're homosexual, or hetrosexual, or asexual, or bisexual then fine - no one should have a problem with that.
As Matt said, I also would automatically assume that someone I meet in the street is hetrosexual, because that is the majority in society today.
No one should have to be questioned on their sexuality or be asked what they are if they don't want people to know. However, having said that, I'm 100% hetrosexual and I'm not afraid to say I am. Hetrosexuality is only regarded as the norm for some people because it's the majority in society. There's nothing wrong with being gay or bi or whatever, it's just who you are. I find it annoying when people judge others because of their sexuality being different from one's own or whatever.
'nuff said,
Jamie.
Tom Francis says…
October 25, 2006 18:59:51+01:00
Geoffrey, are you gay?
Geoffrey Sneddon says…
October 26, 2006 13:45:06+01:00
To quote myself, grammatical error and all:
Curtis says…
March 14, 2007 21:01:07+00:00
To me, it's only important to those who you want to be with romantically. I feel really bad for entertainers tho, because they are viewed in the public eye... everyone wants to know everything about them, and feel like they have that right... wrong! Say what you want,the hetrosexual population, especially males are obsess homsexuality. It's really not a big deal, being gay to a gay person if they accept themselves. They live like much like any hetrosexual person would. Go to school, work, pay taxes.... like any another person... it's not a big deal.
X says…
November 2, 2007 21:02:07+00:00
Personally, If you meet somebody and engage in a conversation, your interested in them, you want to know about them. But you can't blindly ask people about their personallity, you slowly see that come through as they tell you about their various experiences, and interests. It's about as Important as asking, did you go to uni? well unless your homophobeic of course....
In todays society, descrimination is at a low.
Look back through history and you'll plainly see how bad things used to be, Homosexuality used to be illegal, black people used to be slaves, the list is endless. My point is Sexuality discrimination, nay all forms of discrimination are rapidly on the decline. As with everything, it will take time for it to be completely eradicated, Slavery was abolished in different countries at different points in history. I feel were reaching the end of sexual discrimination, and hopefully one day people will read about it in disbelief, just like slavery, and hopefully poverty,
Bon nuit
jimmy says…
November 7, 2007 16:28:29+00:00
Hmm i kinda agree with u guy's.
I hate labels! Sexuality is a natural instinct and like all instincts they were not created to be classified by humans, they are to complicated for a human to fully understand, especially sexuality. I think of sexuality as who you find attractive, regardless of gender. I myself am not religious and for a fact, hate religion. I understand people need faith and the 'idea' of a God, but the whole concept has so many counterpoints, I just cant accept it. take this website for example http://fallwell.com/index2.html there are some horrific stories about religion and sexuality...
to get back on topic, I personally am a very confused person sexually, so much so that i've given up trying to anylise and categorize it as I don't believe my case is that simple that a simple word can sum it up. We see homosexuality in the animal kingdom for one, that proves the instinct in the matter.
I am a strange case, so if you can be bothered reading, go ahead : I first realised I was different from a very young age as I didn't find lesbians interesting at all, in fact i thought it was a bit gross... then I was fascinated with homosexuality, more than 'hetrosexuality'. But I read the internet stories and understood being a teen was no time to decide my sexuality as my hormones are to uncontrollable to let me decide at such an early stage in my life. So I went through teens getting interested in men but this was also a case of jelousy for physical attraction in some cases, that lead me to more confusion making me wonder if I wasent gay, I enjoyed flirting with a homosexual friends but never did anything,,,,blah blah to skin a chapter or 5 I'm now just 18, and Ive tried a sexual experience with another man but I wasent really in to it, and felt guilt afterwards... Then again during my teens i wasent really in to girls in a sexual way, I was always more friends and found the thought of sex with a woman wrong as i percieved them as more delecate and a man more sexual. Well ive written loads already but basicly my sexuality changes with mood, I 'think' I prefer men physicly, but am not sure if its jelousy, where as I am actually a common case of teen love with my best friend, a girl...So ive realised i would prefer to love and marry a woman, but i find the idea of sex with a man more attractive but only when i'm horny...and theres the catch, i'm a very asexual person, unless i'm horny, then you dont want to know what i'm like... But I've never acted on this as its not like my self as a person. But I am coming more to terms with women sexually... and I have not told any friends about this.
So really I've given up classifying sexual attraction as I've tested and contemplated for years and really it just depends on my mood,,, If I fall for a guy thats fine, I would prefer it to be a girl, its strange... So yeah I really dont think it matters as its very different in every person, I'm hetro/homo/bi/asexual depending on my mood, its one extreme or the other, but I'm not going to live my life wondering either way... I'll do as I please and make sure I enjoy ever step!
sorry for the super long post XD believe me that was holding back.
Geoffrey Sneddon says…
November 7, 2007 17:07:45+00:00
@X: In all honesty, I doubt I'd be living that differently if homosexuality was still illegal. Very little has really changed since it became legal, sadly. The only real difference would be the small number of people who know wouldn't mainly know, and there wouldn't be anything on the web about it.
@jimmy: That was holding back? Peh. If I held back so many POVs it would still be around five times the length of that! :) All I'll really say is that eventually you will settle down one way or another.