Say? What's With All This Labelling Anyway?

We've all been labelled. It seems to be this wierd obsession to de-humanise ourselves and that's kind of scary cos I thought we'd left de-humanising to the anti-Semites, but maybe I was wrong...

I've been known as The Anorexic, The Anorexic Goth, The Waster, Blue haired Girl, you name it.

The reason I become a Goth was because I wanted to be part of a collective identity that pretended to be individualistic, when really it was anything but. Let's face it, there aren't many different shades of black, and my so called 'friends' were always looking down their noses at people who dressed normally, labelling THEM as Kevs or Chavs, and wondered why people wanted to kick their snooty heads in.

I stopped being a Goth because I wanted to be a myself. I got sick of the verbal abuse I suffered, but also, I just wanted to wear some fucking colours and not look like a complete dork whenever I went to the beach. Trench coats and Dock Martins are really impractical when the it's hot.

It's such a shame that people who decide to leave behind a collective identities are often seen as traitors, and even lose friends, because it shows that those people didn't see them as individuals at all, just carbon copies of themselves. Not people, but things.

I'm not 'an' anything, and I don't stand for anything. If anything, that's what I stand for. Freedom. Freedom of expression. Freedom to say what the fuck you want, think what the fuck you want to think and BE whoever the fuck you want to be.

But the labelling doesn't stop, not even with relationships. We encourage people to think of us, not as individuals, but collectives. For instance, since getting with my partner, I have come to be known as Zoe and Ben. Ben's Zoe. Zoe's Ben. I frequently get asked what Ben's opinions are on things. How the fuck should I know? I can't read his mind! People seem to assume that we are one entity or something. What the Hell happened to us as individuals?

That said, I happen to like being anonymous. I can be myself, and I'm happy being myself. I don't have to advertise that to the world.

I can except my limitations, because we all have them. By doing what brings me satisfaction, I can now find out my strengths.