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So I came across this very lesbophobic tweet, and I found myself incredibly annoyed by it so I want to complain about it. The tweet is copypasted below.
Lesbianism has always been about queer attraction to women. Excluding men is based in bioessentialism and radfem ideology, and is antithetical to queer liberation.
Lesbianism has always been about queer attraction to women. Excluding men is based in bioessentialism and radfem ideology, and is antithetical to queer liberation.
If you wanna make it your whole personality that’s fine, but come up with your own label.
I'm sure I don't have to explain why this is horrifically lesbophobic and disgusting. But I do want to talk about how these sentiments make me feel.
I see some "inclusionists" say this in an attempt to defend the existence of bi/pan lesbians. Personally, as a bi lesbian this has always made me so profoundly uncomfortable.
I think the people who get really defensive about the idea of people who identify as bi lesbians because we like men are really misguided. First of all, not all bi lesbians actually like men, but outsidde of that policing self identification is so incredibly disrespectful. If the ways another person explores their identity makes you uncomfortable that's something you need to deal with, it's not on them.
But saying excluding men from your sexuality is somehow bigoted is beyond disgusting and I can't even begin to wrap my head around this idea. Believe it or not, not being attracted to men is possible! Not everyone who isn't into men is doing so because they are repressing some secret desire. It's insane to me that these people call themselves inclusionists when they are just uncomfortable with the idea of lesbians existing.
And I think some people find it really difficult to reconcile the idea that some lesbians do experience attraction to men with the fact that that's not how lesbian as a word is defined, and it makes me want to scream because I find it quite simple.
The cultural understanding we have of certain terms =/= Our individual relationships to them and how we apply them to ourselves. That's it. It literally is that simple.
Being in denial of the fact lesbian is very much a word associated with women exclusively feeling attraction to other women is a bit ridiculous and incredibly disconnected from reality. We do need these definitions to give people a helpful tool for self identification. This is the definition we should operate with generally.
That being said, sexuality is a social construct, and that does mean some people will simply not be able to label themselves with simple language. And sometimes that does make people resonate with words that they may not fit the definition for, but language as we apply it to ourselves is different to how we use it to describe collective experiences. Queer labels are there to give you language to describe your feelings, they aren't rulebooks.
Some lesbians aren't women and that doesn't make them lesser lesbians nor does it magically change the cultural and societal understanding we have of lesbian as a word. Literally just apply that concept to bi/pan lesbians.
I am soooo tired of people having these discussions. I hate how arrogant people online act, as if they could understand my identity better than me. And I also hate the people like the shithead who made that tweet using "inclusionism" as a way to disguise their lesbophobia.
I'm sure I don't have to explain why this is horrifically lesbophobic and disgusting. But I do want to talk about how these sentiments make me feel.
I see some "inclusionists" say this in an attempt to defend the existence of bi/pan lesbians. Personally, as a bi lesbian this has always made me so profoundly uncomfortable.
I think the people who get really defensive about the idea of people who identify as bi lesbians because we like men are really misguided. First of all, not all bi lesbians actually like men, but outsidde of that policing self identification is so incredibly disrespectful. If the ways another person explores their identity makes you uncomfortable that's something you need to deal with, it's not on them.
But saying excluding men from your sexuality is somehow bigoted is beyond disgusting and I can't even begin to wrap my head around this idea. Believe it or not, not being attracted to men is possible! Not everyone who isn't into men is doing so because they are repressing some secret desire. It's insane to me that these people call themselves inclusionists when they are just uncomfortable with the idea of lesbians existing.
And I think some people find it really difficult to reconcile the idea that some lesbians do experience attraction to men with the fact that that's not how lesbian as a word is defined, and it makes me want to scream because I find it quite simple.
The cultural understanding we have of certain terms =/= Our individual relationships to them and how we apply them to ourselves. That's it. It literally is that simple.
Being in denial of the fact lesbian is very much a word associated with women exclusively feeling attraction to other women is a bit ridiculous and incredibly disconnected from reality. We do need these definitions to give people a helpful tool for self identification. This is the definition we should operate with generally.
That being said, sexuality is a social construct, and that does mean some people will simply not be able to label themselves with simple language. And sometimes that does make people resonate with words that they may not fit the definition for, but language as we apply it to ourselves is different to how we use it to describe collective experiences. Queer labels are there to give you language to describe your feelings, they aren't rulebooks.
Some lesbians aren't women and that doesn't make them lesser lesbians nor does it magically change the cultural and societal understanding we have of lesbian as a word. Literally just apply that concept to bi/pan lesbians.
I am soooo tired of people having these discussions. I hate how arrogant people online act, as if they could understand my identity better than me. And I also hate the people like the shithead who made that tweet using "inclusionism" as a way to disguise their lesbophobia.
