I don't understand why people feel the urge to label their sexuality

It boils down to the fact that most of those people want to feel normal, and they figure if they can fit into a category they must be normal.

You do realize you just labeled your sexuality while telling us you don't understand people wanting to do that, right?

Because I didn't know what sexual attraction was until I was 16. Before that I thought that sexual attraction was thinking that someone looked good+romantic attraction. Labels help us communicate and that way understand ourselves better. Without labels, I would still be confused.

As an heterosexual man, imagine you didn't have a label. Then, bisexual and homosexual men would be in their right to pursue you as a partner. But obviously, I assume you wouldn't be comfortable with that situation.

I think that with people with other sexualities the same happens. They need the label to manage other people's expectations and to focus on what they really want as well. This overly precise sexuality labels are just an extension of this idea. The "heteroromantic lesbian femme" for example would like to make something clear, that she likes men only in a platonic way, that she likes women in general and that she is comfortable with her femininity.

I think that it is a need for belonging as well as being able to identify what they are. Society tends to put standards on what is "normal" and when you find yourself in an position that doesn't fit that definition, it really helps when you discover that there is a community for others like you.

I don't think it is very pleasant for most people to be confused about their sexuality.

What I draw a lie at is when groups want to be treated as if they are special snowflakes and force their agendas on other people.

I agree on your point, but I think it's a thing of the human mind that it needs categories and labels.

"You see Blackadder, I am a colossal pervert. No form of sexual depravity is too low for me. Animal, vegetable, or mineral, I'll do anything to anything."

- The Bishop of Bath and Wells

"I like 'em human, female, and alive. But at a push, I'll take two out of three"

- Anonymous

Honestly, I think it's because they think of X sexual orientation as some sort of 'social community' to join, and they really just want attention.

I don't believe in sexual orientation. We are sexual beings.

The psychology of these people that seek to over exaggerate their sexual orientation with a multitude of labels is generally very complicated and contradictory I find. On one hand, these people seek normality and belonging via social communities. They will label themselves and prefer to socialize only with people that belong in that group or, at the very least, understand it from a similar perspective. And then on the other hand these same people tend to be very attention seeking and obnoxious(i mean that in a polite way). They also usually have a jacked up notion of label appropriation and other communities they don't understand.

So what you end up with is someone who really just wants to be normal and treated like everyone else... But loudly expresses to the world how different they are, or really, TRY to be. Basically they alienate themselves and bitch about how nobody understands them.

I never understand it either. I think it's especially weird when people come out as bi-sexual or gay. Why would I care if an actor/actress is bi or gay? That has no relevance to my life. I think they need to stop it as it's all for publicity.

enjoy what you are

Another thing to add with what a lot of people already typed on here is that we are in a world of technology these days, so a lot of people are frequently communicating non-verbally. If, say, they're using a social medium such as a dating website, it would probably be easier for them to just label their sexual orientation to avoid confusion or something.

Overall, though, I do agree that there are just way too many labels out there and I'll admit that I probably don't know what half of them mean.

Like loopoo said, I don't think there is such thing as a sexual orientation. It's just a tendency that follows society. If you were living in Greece in the Antique era, you would be considered as fucked up for having no sexual interest in men.

Why must people ask if it's normal? It's just that, as humans, we are both narcissic and social beasts. We need to feel like belonging to a community. That's why we attach so much importance to "our" favorite team, "our" country, "our" family, "our" community, etc. etc. We feel insecure when we can't find anybody who understands us, so we want to gather together and feel like we are not alone. We want more of ourselves. It's instinctive.

Think of it as being in high school. I don't know if you went through this or not, but most of us did. Remember how kids would label themselves or join some kind of clique (emos, goths, preps, jocks, etc.) in order to find themselves? It's kind of the same thing. I agree, labels aren't necessary but I think people are looking for a way to figure who they are sexually. I think they are trying to figure out where they fit in.

Labels are useless, I agree, and there certainly is no sense in stressing over it but, it's like high school, people are just searching for themselves.

Because everyone asks themselves "who am I" and search for an answer.

As humans, we tend to name everything, label and categorize anything. I wish I could do without it.