LGBT — GHRS
Sexual Label, the Hogwarts Houses, and poorly performed mixed metaphors.
As someone who’s been asking themselves more and more questions about their sexuality lately, I find myself more and more dissatisfied with my choices in sexual categorization.
First off, definitely not “L”, as I identify as a male. Let’s pretend to not consider those WITHOUT salient gender identities, but whatevs (This takes “T” off this list as well).
“G”, dudes who like dudes. The first realistic possibility for me, but definitely not the perfect fit. I know I’m attracted to men, both romantically and sexually, and being that I identify as a male, this could work for me, were it not for the fact that I am attracted to women, and have been since sexuality became a factor in my life.
“B”. Since my senior year of high school, I've quietly identified as bisexual. I've never really been loud about the “other” side of my sexually, and still am not. Whether it be out of discomfort with the area(s) I inhabit or with myself isn't really important. But lately, like I said, I've been thinking about this more and more, and I don’t think “B” quite does it for me anymore. Straight up, how we define bisexuality is “someone who is sexually attracted to both dudes and ladies”.
Here, in my middle two choices, is where I find my biggest problem. The letters in LGBT only account for sexual orientation and attraction. Let it be noted, that I understand that these letter provide nice, comfy, cozy, subsections of identity for a lot of people, and to those people, I say, “Good on ya, mate”. I think in my situation, my sexual orientation comes secondary to people I see as potential life partners. I care less about who I dream of seeing naked, and more about who I dream of. Does that make sense?
I reached this realization in the shower, and no, not in a sexy way (see, I knew where you’re mind went). I had to ask myself “Well, could it be that you are just unsatisfied with the choices provided to you?”, and while that appears to be true, it still seems that the choices provided to everyone are just too rigid for my taste.
These letters are comparable to the Houses of Hogwarts. The brave and bold go to Gryffindor, the sneaky and slithery go to Slytherin, the smart and studious to Ravenclaw, and, shit I dunno, the gingers go to Hufflepuff, right?
Now go with me here. Even though the sorting hat detected traces of Slytherin lingering in darker parts of Harry’s mind, he still was sorted into Gryffindor, and his designation informed his time at Hogwarts thusly. This is to say that in being encouraged to herald the qualities of a true Gryffindor, he was passively dissuaded or discouraged from acting in any other house.
In this same vain, is it not true that Gay men face the same feelings when finding themselves sexually attracted to women? Or the same situation in reverse genders?
In our society, this is most commonly exhibited in closeted members of the community, but no different is this for anyone along the sexual scale. If we prescribe to the idea that sexuality is a scale, and not a notch on a belt, than these letters do more harm than good, trapping their identifiers in boxes.
In short, even if Harry’s a Gryffindor, that’s doesn’t mean he can’t get down with a little Slytherin strange, ammright?
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