I have started to hate the term “identify as”

[TheletterZ]

“Identify as” is completely meaningless and is starting to really annoy me.

i don’t identify as a a white middle-aged straight woman with brown (ok greyish) hair and eyes. I simply AM those things. They are facts that are real and unchangable. (Well apart from the age thing and that only changes in 1 direction)

I can dye my hair but as I have to keep doing it, it just underlines the fact my hair is brown/grey.

“Identify as”implies choice. I didn’t choose my sexuality, it just is. No one does. My sister didn’t claim to be a lesbian (with all the prejudice that goes with that) she simply is one. No choice is involved.

There is a clip on twitter from Elliot Page saying ‘30% of young people identify as LGBTQ+’ which shows how ridiculous the statement is. From my limited understanding LGB is around 5-10% of a population. So who are the other 20%? People who just claim to be part of the ‘community’ to feel special.

Sorry for the rant, I use my name on twitter and as a teacher I have to keep my views quiet and bite my tongue.

Maybe a good reply to 'I identify as ... insert identity here...' should be 'Oh I used to love playing 'pretend' as a child' and then change the subject. 😉

I think all this doesn't come from a bad place, it comes from wanting social justice.. but it's just gone too far and I'm glad it seems like the younger generation are realising that.

I'm applying for jobs at the moment and several have asked if I "identify as disabled" which pisses me off so much, because it implies that as I could also identify as not disabled but my eyes still wouldnt see properly no matter what I identify as

Interestingly the firms who ask this advertise themselves as "disability friendly" but it turns out they are only disability friendly if the disability doesn't need any reasonable adjustments.... So not disability friendly at all

Ironically the ones who don't ask what sex, gender, sexual orientation or disability I "identify as" have actually been the most disability friendly 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Totally agree OP.
And as for the 30% who "identify as" LGBTQ+, I remember a woman I know who is one of those 30%, she'd say she's a nice binary lesbian but in reality she's just a woman married with a guy who wears nail polish.

I have to just say that I'm a man, I'm suddenly in a gay relationship, unbeknownst to my DP who as far as he's concerned wasn't gay when he woke up this morning and is now among the 30%

Yep, when people say “I identify as” I usually mentally change that to “I’m not”. I also file the person saying it under People to Avoid because the next minute they’re spouting crap about how they, a ‘gender-queer demi femme aromantic lesbian’ are officially The Most Oppressed Ever - when they’re actually a privileged white man.

“identify as” was appropriated from language used around disability. For over a decade people have been asked if they 'identify as disabled' by large companies, because its a personal decision.
There is no register of disabled people, and some people who have a disability don't consider themselves to be disabled at all.

Unfortunately now some people have decided to identify as disabled, and this probably isn't going to end well for disabled people. There is no central register because we all know how that turned out the last time.

What on earth??? Oh boy.

I've been fighting this bullshit since 1984.

I think this comes from a very bad place, given the amount of really awful behaviour and activity from those who peddle this nonsense.

I think Danni Minogue mainly identifies as "someone with a "queer" reality show to promote"...

Just imagine if we were all told that we have to refer to colours according to someones 'subjective opinion' on them?

So anyone with colour blindness could dictate to everyone else that trees are actually 'red', so we all had to refer to them as being 'red', even within schools, nurseries etc?

It's just fekkin madness !

I'm afraid I'll always challenge any 'biologically male' person who enters a female only area and I'll always challenge changing 'pregnant woman' to 'birthing parent' etc, because it's lunacy to try to enforce the 'opinion' or 'views' of the few upon the whole of society IMO.

I couldn't care less how other people 'identify' etc, that's their business, and I fully support their entitlement to choose, and I'm happy to say 'his', 'her' etc but I DO very much mind when they try to insist that I ( and the entirety of our society!) have to change MY 'views' and 'identity' to assuage their feelings when they couldn't give a shiny shit about mine? i.e I'm not changing my 'view' that a person with a penis is a man, a person with a vagina is a woman, and unless you've got 4 legs and fur then I won't be calling you a fekkin 'cat'.

According to my teen at one point pretty much half her year was identifying as LGBTQ+, including herself…. Now she like many of her friends have come through this phase, so in a way “ identifying” is perhaps quite accurately reflecting young people’s willingness ( even a keenness perhaps ?) to “ try on” these special identities for a time before they mature . In one way it’s good as those kids who are always going to be bi or gay will have a softer environment to experiment in but equally may be less good for those who have other challenges eg. Autistic girls identifying as trans.

"But if that's the case, then identity must remain undefined as it's continually in a state of flux. How can you then use "identity" as a way of establishing someone's position in society in respect of rights and obligations? How can you reliably ascertain the "degree of oppression" that any individual suffers? Any law requires some kind of objective tool for identifying people."

@JustSpeculation Yes, I agree - individual views of the self (I am clever, I am pretty, I am charismatic) run into social opposition all the time. Being able to hold onto your self-perception has been framed as being a matter of good self-esteem for oh, decades now. And generally that's not a bad thing. When someone approaches a potential romantic partner, she needs to have a sense of being a worthwhile partner herself, because if she gets turned down she'll need to be able to pick herself up and try again with a different person. This is core idea of resilience.

BUT. It's quite a harmless thing to think of yourself as perhaps a little better looking, or a little cooler, or a little cleverer then you actually are. What we gets you through the day, etc. Where we're running into problems is when individuals decide that their entirely uncorroborated sense of self MUST be recognised by society & other individuals AS A MATTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS, OR ELSE.

And lo and behold, this uncorroborated sense of self is not only unquestionable and avoids social co-creation, it actually comes with loads of power and privileges! No wonder it's worth declaring yourself the most vulnerable person etc etc - it's like donning a suit of Teflon armour.

Absolutely. I referred to Mussolini in my first post, but I wasn't wrong. Mussolini's corporatism divided people into economic/ political estates. POMGIT (post modern gender identity theory - I just made it up) divides them into estates based on - nothing.

What you're missing is that bisexual people exist (regardless of whether or not they prefer the term queer to bisexual) and they are no less bisexual for being in long-term relationships.

The word ‘Identify’ to me means when you identify a type of plant or insect.

When a person in an interview (or whatever) starts going on about identifying themselves my mind switches off. I’m not even reacting to it anymore I am just bored.

From a 40 something women.

That's what the letter B is for and it's not an identity.

I dislike it. A lot.

You can also 'identify' as having had trauma apparently, does rather seem to minimise those who actually did. I guess I could identify out if it then? Might be easier than all the therapy I've needed!

I'm feeling quite sad at the moment.
A young woman (late-20s at a guess), an explorer, an adventurer, a passionate and energetic leader, who's brave, strong, healthy, creative and interesting, who cares about the planet, who seems to be in a stable and supportive lesbian relationship, and whose expedition stories I sometimes follow on social media (>60K Youtube followers), wrote a post last night saying that she now 'identifies as trans non binary' with they/them pronouns and had top surgery a couple of weeks ago.
I'd always thought of her as a brilliant role model and she's gone and done this. I hope she doesn't live to regret it and I know it was her choice but . . . And what on earth is 'trans non binary'? I'd love to permanently ban the phrase 'top surgery' too and replace it, in this sort of case, with something a bit more accurate like 'breast amputation'.

My brain is going to explode. It would be really helpful if you could please share a sentence using 'positionalities' in its correct context.

Waiting with trepidation.

"There is a clip on twitter from Elliot Page saying ‘30% of young people identify as LGBTQ+’ which shows how ridiculous the statement is. From my limited understanding LGB is around 5-10% of a population. So who are the other 20%? People who just claim to be part of the ‘community’ to feel special."

OP, you admit that you have limited understanding, so why don't you try listening and improving your understanding before making snap judgements based on little knowledge?

I think this is the nail on the head to be honest.

Although I also think being LGBT+ is an identity, as they are not externally observable traits.

I'm bi. What proof do you have that I am? None, you'll just have to take my word for it that I'm attracted to both men and women. I won't lose any sleep or any of my rights if you don't believe me. I have previously identified as straight before I found that I was attracted to women, and the way dating men is going I'm not ruling out deciding that I'm a women-only club.

I can say that I identify as a Turkey, that doesn't mean you are compelled to agree that Bernard Matthews is my daddy.

The kids have been led to believe that it's cool to have a special identity, that they can identify as something that is demonstrably factually untrue, and that people not falling over themselves to agree with the kid's own special identity is "literal violence". That is why we are in this mess.

If everyone is special, then no one is special.

LG and B are not identities, they are states of being.
T and all the + things are identities that are chosen.

I wish people would stop lumping them together.