On Being Transgender - Part II
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-being-transgender-part-ii.html12/15/11
Monica Roberts
While nearly everyone hates "labels," they serve a valuable role in social organization. I have identified three basic classes of labels. In order of their value to a social group they are: Organizing, Defending and Contempt.
We often label ourselves in an effort to get our needs met. We use labels to advertise our primary alignment/position within a social structure and what our needs are as part of that structure. By advertising our label, we seek other people of similar alignment and needs to form voluntary associations. In Unity there is Strength. These are Organizing labels.
The very act of labeling ourselves implies the automatic creation of the "not-us" label for outsiders. We may perceive that some of the not-us are preventing us from getting our needs met and we label them as an enemy by using a specific term.
