Why the Phrase 'Why Do You Feel the Need to Be Labelled?' Is Borderline Problematic

(Explicit language warning! Read at your own risk! xoxo Gossip Girl)

Hey guys, it's me, Pinar. Now, don't be angry at me. I know it's been a while, but I'm back, and I'm back with all of the hard-hitting content that you guys signed up for. Yes, that's right, I'm going to be in directing not only people I went to school with but also a lot of people in general.

But a phrase I've heard (in my opinion far too much) is, "why do you feel the need to be labelled?" and quite frankly it pisses me off. Now the first person that ever said this to me was someone who I considered to be a good friend, and she would say this to me quite often and I just took it like the champ (pussy) that I am. But now that I am not friends with her and the chances of her reading this are slim, I am ready to stand up for myself and the 1 in 4 Brits who suffer from a mental health problem, the 13% of Brits who consider themselves to be BME (as of 2011), the 11 million Brits who consider themselves to be disabled, and the 6.6% of Brits (over the age of 16) who consider themselves to be part of the LGBT community (as of 2017).

So now we move onto the 2 reasons that people who comment on other people for being labelled are problematic and one reason you shouldn't feel ashamed for being labelled.

Reason One:

It completely strips away the notion of privilege (ft. a long rant).

So, say you're a transgender man, bisexual, Arab Muslim, you've automatically got it a lot harder than your everyday 6'1" straight white man. So logically if you take away the labels, the world would be a great place, right? Yeah obviously it would be better, but we don't live in a fucking fantasy world, so people still label people. For example:

Barry aged 42 from Enfield hates the fact that he lives next to a gay woman but also hates the fact that she calls herself a gay woman so what do you want, Barry? What could you possibly want! As long as she's not trying to scissor you, Barry, just calm down Barry. And oh yea before you go "she shouldn't be prancing around a rainbow and snogging her girlfriend in front of Barry," why should she care? There is nothing wrong with being gay but god forbid Barry sees a nice lesbian couple walking hand in hand down the street and get all Brexit means Brexit on it because they might not look like the lesbians he watches on a lonely Sunday night after his wife has called him a sauceless sket and left to go to her friend Samantha's house leaving Barry at home with Brazzers and a flat half pint of Stella.

Bun Barry, we do not stan.

Because of people like Barry, it's nearly impossible to ignore the differences in people that they can't change, because it really feels like that for every one Malala Yousafzai there are three Piers Morgans and to me this means that if we all gather our differences and do a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers thing and stick them all together, we might just get to watch Piers Morgan crumble and cry like the baby he is.

Reason Two:

Why are you so offended by labels? (Told in rhetorical questions.)

Why do you feel the need to knock someone down when they're trying to explain that the reason they can't do something in the same way that you do is due to a learning difficulty? Does it make you feel like a big man when you tell someone that adhd doesn't exist and that they're just being lazy? Or when you tell someone that they can't possibly be depressed because they haven't been through half the shit you have and you're not depressed?

Like what could have possibly happened to you that makes you feel like you have the right to bring someone down for having problems that need to be treated? Why does it offend you when people have genuine problems? Do you feel like it's a competition to see who's got it worse?

And finally 700 words later, the reason you shouldn't feel bad for "being labelled."

You are valid and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

As always thank you for reading. Sorry it took so long. Love you. Bye. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx