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(Sign seen on a disabled toilet door in Ikea Dublin. My guess is that it\u00b4s a neutral gender toilet, but I haven\u00b4t been able to confirm this. To me, it looks like a person carrying two Ikea boxes...)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The topic of labels is quite complex; I can see how one could argue for or against them. But before we get deeper into this topic, it\u00b4s good to remember that our brain is not designed to help us be happy, but to help us survive<\/strong>. And in order to ensure this crucial mission is accomplished, it has evolved to optimise its functions, developing patterns that allow it to make decisions very fast with while keeping energy consumption low<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This ability to quickly interpret and \"classify\" situations (and people) has been tremendously helpful to us humans across many generations; at the end of the day, we are alive today because all of our ancestors <\/strong>managed to survive at least enough to reproduce, that is, on multiple occasions, they were able to identify potential problems and move away from them<\/strong>. And that included evaluating each person they found as \"friend\" or \"enemy\", as \"one of us\", or \"one of the others\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another positive side of all these patterns and mehchanisms<\/strong> is that they help us to understand the world around us<\/strong>; we could say they arrange to put together a model, a set of stories, that give us a highly simplified but very understandable version of a reality that can be very, very complex<\/strong>. And that makes us feel good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem is that the exact same mechanisms get us into trouble sometimes<\/strong>, for several reasons. First, because, in order to simplify, our brain needs to necessarily alter and reduce the information<\/strong>, through generalisations, distortions and omissions<\/a>, which may not matter much in certain contexts, but in others, it does, paving the way for prejudice, stereotypes and misunderstandings to appear <\/strong>(in a future article, I\u00b4ll get into more details on cognitive biases, a very meaty topic!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second: following this logic of trying to increase the chances of survival, our brain benefits from not being too trusting<\/strong>: if I bump into someone I don\u00b4t know, and I mistakenly classify them as an \"enemy\" when they\u00b4re not, that\u00b4s OK, I will survive regardless, but if I mistakenly identify them as a \"friend\" and it turns out not to be... The consequences can be terrible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And a third point that\u00b4s also related is that humans are tribal beings<\/strong>, it\u00b4s in our blood. In terms of evolution, belonging to the group, to the clan, provided you with protection<\/strong>, this way increasing the chances of survival. And we have inherited that tribalism<\/strong>, seeking to fit in with the group, judging how others fit in or not, highlighting our similarities with \"our people\" and accentuating our differences from \"the others\"<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After explaining all this, let\u00b4s get back to the topic of labels. I hope the reasons why we use them so much are a bit easier to see now: simply put, we are wired to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the fact that we\u00b4re programmed to do it doesn\u00b4t mean we do it well; today\u00b4s world is a lot more complex and sophisticated than that of our ancestors, so we need more sophisticated thinking tools<\/strong>, as well as learning to know when to get out of autopilot mode because the occasion requires more attention and intention from our side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u00b4s why investing in our own personal development and growth is really important, so that we can make more conscious decisions that bring us better results in any aspect of life<\/strong> (or rather, in all of them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n And as we make progress in our path of self-discovery<\/a>, we will find words and concepts that will help us understand ourselves better, adding nuances and explanations to our identity<\/a><\/strong>. The concepts included in LGBTQ+ may be some of those labels, as are the personality profiles described by the Enneagram, and so many other things... <\/p>\n\n\n\n Giving things a name helps us understand and accept them<\/strong>, and from that point of view, labels can be really positive at certain points in time. But the important thing is not to cling to our labels too tightly, not to identify with them too much, because then they stop being a point of reference to become a limitation, and in many cases, an excuse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you think of this? Are you in the process of putting any labels on or off?<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"