To Identify or To Not Identify

As we sit any where in the world and watch people go by we label them intentionally or not. As we begin a new class and meet new people we label them; they are gay you can hear in their voice, she is preppy you can see it by her clothes, he is shy because he is so quiet. We judge them based on how they walk, talk, dress and look. So many labels for a person we will never know or will barely know but we makes these assumptions without really ever getting know people and if we do our ideas of that person are either confirmed or shattered. 

But why do we have this need to make assumptions about people? 

Why do we feel the need to label them?  

I label myself as a bisexual, feminist who is pro-life. I am shy, a nerd, I fit into many fandoms, and I am a woman. Labels I feel that fit me. Therefore, I feel we have a need to label because we try to label ourselves (like I did above), if we able to label others then we can connect to them or distance our selves from them because they are different. It gives us the ability to connect or disconnect. One label that is very interesting and has been used badly in the past (sometimes present) but I think in the right context can be empowering is Queer.

Queer in the past has been used as an ugly hateful word to tear people down for being different but are we not all different? No two people are the same, we can connect because we label our selves the same the same but we cannot be the same as that person because our labels will vary. I find that the label of Queer to be an umbrella term, "Given the extent of its commitment to denaturalization, queer itself can have neither a foundational logic nor a consistent set of characteristics" (96). By identifying as Queer and it being a term that is trying to break the binary system, anyone can use it. It breaks that naturalized terms we use to identify one another; straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, etc.  When a person says they are queer we usually think they are saying they are gay but in recent years they could be saying that they identify as gender fluid or that they will not conform to what other sees them as because they do not fit the terms we use. They do not feel fully any one term so they will say they are queer.  It gives a person that identifies as queer a justice that cannot be given when labeling with other terms. In saying a person is straight it gives the illusion that they can only be attracted to the opposite sex but what if they are attracted to the same sex at different points in their lives. They aren't gay and they aren't straight but they can be queer. 

The only problem with using this term in today’s society is that it has been used in negative way for so long can it be reclaimed? 

I think it can because as I went to look up the definition and uses of it in a negative light the Urban dictionary gave it the definition of, "Originally pejorative for gay, now being reclaimed by some gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons as a self-affirming umbrella term".  It is already being reclaimed and giving restorative justice to those who want to be self affirmed in their label and no longer torn down by those who would use it to hurt them. Therefore, I think it is a term that can be used in this society to mean much more than it seems. It can mean that I don't fit into a binary that society has given me I fit into this term of queer because it has no consistent set of characteristics and is always changing just like I am. 

I am different, I am Queer. That is the real meaning of queer and how it should be used.