It is being weaponized in that way too. For example, Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro went on rants about asexuality recently, claiming that labels such as demisexual had no basis in reality and described experiences that are common to everyone. If you follow their argument, people become unable to use labels that communicate their preferences and experience.

Even when it isn't being weaponized, I don't think you should claim certain labels are unnecessary unless you've engaged with the reasoning behind the people who use them and form a reasonable argument that isn't "back in my day people didn't have so many labels."

[–] Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Some people are weaponizing that language" is a VERY different statement than "anyone who uses that language is almost certainly weaponizing it". You're alienating allies by accusing them if being enemies.

[–] Umechan@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

“Some people are weaponizing that language” is a VERY different statement than “anyone who uses that language is almost certainly weaponizing it”.

I never said that. In fact, I ended my last reply with "Even when it isn’t being weaponized". I said people who say things like "queer people are obsessed with labels" and "I'm not cis; I'm normal", which are both disparaging comments, are more than likely doing so in response to encountering identities and experiences outside of cishetnormativity. It's one thing to say that there are a lot of labels used, and you find some of them either dubious or unneccessary, and another to say that people are obsessed or making up labels for attention.

Whenever people say that someone's choice of labels is simply attention seeking or naive, how often are these people actually listening and engaging with the person's reasoning for identifying with the said label, and show give actual evidence for said attention seeking? In my experience, the only argument I've seen being used against labels that people identify with is "I've never heard of it nor do I understand it, therefore it's not real." Claiming that "queer people are obsessed with labels" is a broad generalization that comes of as a knee jerk reaction.

You’re alienating allies by accusing them if being enemies.

All I'm asking is that people think whenever they feel the need to dismiss others and gatekeep identities from people. In my experience, this seems to be based more on people's gut reactions rather than science, facts, or logic, like they claim it is.

Whenever I've seen people disparage certain labels like non-binary or demisexual, they never seem to have actually listen to someone with said identity and engage with their reasoning. It's far more common for them to decide that they're attention seeking, deluded, or mentally ill.

And if people are going to be allies, there are going to be times when they need to examine their behaviour. Any self-proclaimed ally who says that "I have nothing against queer people, but why are they so obsessed with labels?" needs to re-examine their arguments just like anyone who says "I have nothing against women, but why are they so emotional and sensitive?" or "I have nothing against black people, but why are they so violent?".