to wonder if the concept of sexual orientation is obsolete now?

[Alameda]

although obviously some take great pride in their sexual identity I can't see much point to the whole gay/straight/bi thing, given that many people move from one category to another throughout life

just wondering what the actual point of it is now that we accept same sex attraction is not a crime or an illness

"... Also since out society is so enormously hetero ..."

but then you say:

"... the media books institutions etc were presenting heterosexuality as the "norm" all the time .."

which seems reasonable.

oh so there is an association between gender nonconformity and later homosexuality, although obviously not everyone who is gay has signs of gender non-conformity it is still a good predictor

but I suppose that is sort of the point, sexual orientation is developmental?

I know this sounds bizarre but there are some people including myself who are not that fluid with their sexuality and dont feel the need to be.

alameda where do you get your idea of your post of 18.46 from? You seem to be responding to something but I'm not sure what.

I agree that sexuality labeling is outdated.

I believe that people are attracted to personalities, and that everyone has the posibility of being gay/straight for the right person.

I also believe that having different standards for same sex couples is exactly the same as when women and black people were treated as second class citizens.

Eventually the world will catch up.

oh from one of the references in the blog I think, sorry bit mentally scattered etc., was just sort of thinking and posted as if having conversation with myself

maybe was anecdotal retrospective thing, you know, how people say 'I never liked playing with dolls' when discussing sexual attraction in later life?

obviously they are not the Same Thing

Oh please. It's a straight world, look around you. Where are the gay characters in literature and media without it being a big issue? Where are the gay love songs in the charts? Nowhere.

I think you'd need to change society in a vast way and do a lot of studies before you could conclude whether gender non-conformity was an indicator of sexuality or not!

My gut says not , FWIW.

There's nothing wrong with describing how people see themselves - gay/straight/bisexual or another descriptive word. No different to describing a person as having long brown hair, or being tall. Some people might "move category" but surely then you just change the descriptive word - just like you might then describe someone as blonde instead of brunette if they'd changed their hair colour.

I think Sardine makes very good points about discrimination and the need to define particular groups who experience it.