Sticks and Stones
To begin, I just want to say that I'm not a dispassionate person; anyone who knows me fairly well is aware of how fervent and heartfelt I am when I'm expressing my points of view, but I'd like to build on the thesis of my last post, which lambasted those who puerilely kick up a fuss about being labelled with a word whose accuracy they don't want to acknowledge.
First, let me fill in a little background information. In my last blog entry, I had been speaking specifically about those who claimed not to be gay despite fitting the defintion like a hand in a glove, but now I want to broaden the scope of that argument a little bit because of a recent incident. A new friend I've been talking to misunderstood a saying I used and seemed to feel I was implying he was a "slut." Now, whether or not he's a slut, I don't know, but he's the same great guy either way; it's not as if how many people he's slept with would make me think him less kind, less interesting, or less handsome, and I have no idea if this will even come up again in our conversations, so this post is not aimed at him. In fact, it's mostly aimed at someone I once knew but haven't talked to in over a year.
Mixing together what I've said so far, I want to illustrate this concept. I really like a lot of things, like watching anime, learning languages, and bantering with my great friends. There are a lot of people who really like sex, to lots of varying degrees and situations and with or without "strings attached." I say if it makes you happy, more power to you! But if you've slept with a number of people, including strangers or pick-ups, then you're a slut. Please, don't get indignant and defensive about it; it just is. Although someone who calls me a "fag" might mean to add a connotation of distaste or disapproval, the basic meaning is accurate. I'd argue that such a person shouldn't feel so negatively towards gays, but I'm not so insecure, susceptible, or frivolous that I'm going to get heated up saying the label isn't true. Some people might refer to this as the duck test; if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck!
To be fair, a response might be to ask if one could choose a nicer or less emotionally charged word, but I'm skeptical there, too. For instance, those who take offense at being called slutty probably aren't going to like being called promiscuous either. The truth is that they're offended at any acknowledgement of their behavior whatsoever because someone somewhere thinks badly of it, and so we'll never stop scratching words off the politically correct list.
Ultimately, those who are comfortable with themselves know that it is not the words that are problematic. I know people who don't get bothered about the word "slut" anymore than I'm bothered by the word "otaku," but they'd rightly defend themselves vehemently against anyone who attempted to infringe on their choice of life.
Names are just words, and don't we all know about those already? We used to recite it as children...
First, let me fill in a little background information. In my last blog entry, I had been speaking specifically about those who claimed not to be gay despite fitting the defintion like a hand in a glove, but now I want to broaden the scope of that argument a little bit because of a recent incident. A new friend I've been talking to misunderstood a saying I used and seemed to feel I was implying he was a "slut." Now, whether or not he's a slut, I don't know, but he's the same great guy either way; it's not as if how many people he's slept with would make me think him less kind, less interesting, or less handsome, and I have no idea if this will even come up again in our conversations, so this post is not aimed at him. In fact, it's mostly aimed at someone I once knew but haven't talked to in over a year.
Mixing together what I've said so far, I want to illustrate this concept. I really like a lot of things, like watching anime, learning languages, and bantering with my great friends. There are a lot of people who really like sex, to lots of varying degrees and situations and with or without "strings attached." I say if it makes you happy, more power to you! But if you've slept with a number of people, including strangers or pick-ups, then you're a slut. Please, don't get indignant and defensive about it; it just is. Although someone who calls me a "fag" might mean to add a connotation of distaste or disapproval, the basic meaning is accurate. I'd argue that such a person shouldn't feel so negatively towards gays, but I'm not so insecure, susceptible, or frivolous that I'm going to get heated up saying the label isn't true. Some people might refer to this as the duck test; if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck!
To be fair, a response might be to ask if one could choose a nicer or less emotionally charged word, but I'm skeptical there, too. For instance, those who take offense at being called slutty probably aren't going to like being called promiscuous either. The truth is that they're offended at any acknowledgement of their behavior whatsoever because someone somewhere thinks badly of it, and so we'll never stop scratching words off the politically correct list.
Ultimately, those who are comfortable with themselves know that it is not the words that are problematic. I know people who don't get bothered about the word "slut" anymore than I'm bothered by the word "otaku," but they'd rightly defend themselves vehemently against anyone who attempted to infringe on their choice of life.
Names are just words, and don't we all know about those already? We used to recite it as children...