Saturday thoughts

First off, here's an interesting read: Notes from A Unicorn is the "confession" of a bisexual man who explains how difficult it is to be "bi" in this world (well, in his case, in the U.S).

Me, well, I think that the world would be slightly better if people stopped identifying themselves, and others, through sexuality...among other things.

Anyway, identity has nothing to do with boxes and labels, it's complex, changing, personal and singular.  Picking one component to identify oneself is dangerous because it's a simplification. Reducing the mystery that is a person to any "marker" is the first step towards de-humanizing people. Identifying anyone according to the supposed group to which they belong is the way genocides begin.

Embracing the same "logic" and labelling oneself  to fight discriminations and find acceptance in society seems paradoxical, to say the least. It isn't a reversal, replacing shame by pride, as some would like to believe; it is the same pattern, the same trap, all over again.

I do believe that "I'm me" should be the only valid answer to questions on identity, the only way to achieve equality; and the real tolerance is to accept the others as singularities, not as part of some community. But it seems that very few are ready for such acceptance and openness.

On the other hand, wanting to fit in and expressing what is expected from you, reproducing old outlines, or wanting the others to confirm our narrow views, are also human features.