It comes down to the ultimate flaws of labels.
Speaking on lesbians- look up the definition of lesbian. By the common written definition most women could be said to be lesbians at some point- or in a transient lesbionic state perhaps? And most lesbians could be argued to not be lesbians it depends on perspective. Consider that a label is generally only good for a given moment. Science suggests no states exist which are permanent but we can semi permanently apply a few labels- being dead implies strongly that one cannot become alive again for example. But many or most common labels are transient- applicable in a moment to a specific set of circumstances.
Complicating things is that definition game. A “lesbian” in theory exclusively has attraction to women- but… when? if you saw a man and thought they were a manish woman and felt attracted, would you no longer be a lesbian ever again? And of course, even if two people aren’t attracted to each other they can engage in sexual or romantic activity with members of the same sex, which by definition in this case means one can engage in lesbian activity without being a lesbian.
In common speech these things often all get jumbled up or definitions get changed to suit an individual- “oh- well it isn’t lesbian to do XYZ…” and where a label exists to define attributes, that label is effectively useless if the definition is subjective.
Here is a simple example for those who are having trouble with abstract thought:
If something is labeled “poison” you will assume you probably shouldn’t drink it straight from a bottle right? But what if someone decided to put the “poison” label on anything they think doesn’t taste very good? Understand how that could cause confusion? Mushrooms are fungus generally right? But what if you throw a party and ask your friend to bring fruit juice and they brought mushroom juice because they think a mushroom should be a fruit?
The problem isn’t that people have started brining in genders and sexualities that warp the meaning of labels though- most of you were already misusing the ones we had which is amazing considering that it was mostly a binary system.
We have to ask the purpose of a label- a word. What does it do? The internet likes to talk about how other languages have words for things English doesn’t- people often lament that English doesn’t have some of the very specific words other languages like German fro example have to express feelings. Most of y’all probably couldn’t use them right anyway.
The term “feels” became a popular slang term. It has no meaning. It means whatever the speaker wants it to. It’s a word for when there isn’t an appropriate word to describe a feeling or more often, because the speaker lacks the vocabulary to express their feelings and/or doesn’t want to show the vulnerability or eloquence to do so. The term relies on the speaker and listener inferring meaning.
That’s more or less how we use gender and sexuality words in wide society. That’s the primary source of upset at change to those vocabularies- confusion. Not knowing wether you will be understood or wether the other person will understand, and that doesn’t come from things existing- it comes from a person not using linguistic precision where they wish to convey a specific concept. “Get in the car/truck, we are going to the store..” in America the average family won’t take a car or truck to the store- they will take an SUV or similar vehicle.
It is generally sufficient in conversation to refer to a four wheeled vehicle as a car or truck as suits. It may be a van or SUV or cross over etc- but it is usually fine to say a general term.
If you own multiple types of vehicle and refer to them all as “the car” then your mileage might vary as to wether the person(s) being spoken to infer your intent. Where specificity matters it is generally best to use specific language, and you need to consider your purpose when selecting your words. What information is critical to understand and why?
Speaking on lesbians- look up the definition of lesbian. By the common written definition most women could be said to be lesbians at some point- or in a transient lesbionic state perhaps? And most lesbians could be argued to not be lesbians it depends on perspective. Consider that a label is generally only good for a given moment. Science suggests no states exist which are permanent but we can semi permanently apply a few labels- being dead implies strongly that one cannot become alive again for example. But many or most common labels are transient- applicable in a moment to a specific set of circumstances.
In common speech these things often all get jumbled up or definitions get changed to suit an individual- “oh- well it isn’t lesbian to do XYZ…” and where a label exists to define attributes, that label is effectively useless if the definition is subjective.
If something is labeled “poison” you will assume you probably shouldn’t drink it straight from a bottle right? But what if someone decided to put the “poison” label on anything they think doesn’t taste very good? Understand how that could cause confusion? Mushrooms are fungus generally right? But what if you throw a party and ask your friend to bring fruit juice and they brought mushroom juice because they think a mushroom should be a fruit?
The problem isn’t that people have started brining in genders and sexualities that warp the meaning of labels though- most of you were already misusing the ones we had which is amazing considering that it was mostly a binary system.
The term “feels” became a popular slang term. It has no meaning. It means whatever the speaker wants it to. It’s a word for when there isn’t an appropriate word to describe a feeling or more often, because the speaker lacks the vocabulary to express their feelings and/or doesn’t want to show the vulnerability or eloquence to do so. The term relies on the speaker and listener inferring meaning.
It is generally sufficient in conversation to refer to a four wheeled vehicle as a car or truck as suits. It may be a van or SUV or cross over etc- but it is usually fine to say a general term.