Shining in Shades of Gray
By Maria Chettoor
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Hamzah Yousef expresses his view on political party labels. Photo by Maria Chettoor.
Humans love labels. In some cases, labeling can be necessary to make sense of the world and provide clarity. The act of confining a person into a tiny box for the sake of simplicity can make people conform to society’s expectations, and in turn often has detrimental effects.
Labels end up making people focus on the actions they can’t do or the ideas they can’t believe in. For example, political views have been made to be either red or blue with no in-between. Being a Democrat or Republican comes with general assumptions that don’t take into account that there can be exceptions. Democrats don’t necessarily have to be people of color or activists, and Republicans don’t have to be anti-abortion or Trump-supporters. Americans can pick and choose what they want to believe in without the categorization caused by a label. Hamzah Yousef, the co-president of Student Political Awareness Club (SPAC) adds, “When you label yourself, you're buying into a group, and that takes away your ability to look at each issue separately. A good example of this is single-issue voters. Some people vote specifically on abortion. That’s a better engagement, in my view, than someone who's like ‘here’s the political party, I’m not entirely sure what the positions are but I know they're Republican.’”
Another extremely relevant example of extensive labeling includes sexuality. The LGBTQ+ community literally has labels in its name, but in reality, sexuality can be complicated and each person has their own experience with attraction. Once people decide on a label, they face the negative stereotypes that accompany it, such as gay men should be flamboyant, lesbians should be masculine, etc. Those who don’t look or play the part then feel the need to question their sexuality to find a label that makes it easier for others to understand. Sexuality should be seen as a spectrum, and those who don’t label themselves should be just as worthy as those who do. Leah Stein, the co-president of the Sexuality and Gay Awareness Club (SAGA) continues, saying, “I think that labels have pros and cons to them. I think that when you are first figuring out your sexuality, it can help you to find who you are… but it can also damage you more because you are trying to put yourself in a box and label yourself when you might not fit any of those labels.”
Labels serve as a gateway to a long list of stereotypes that don’t accurately describe an intricate and personal aspect of someone’s identity. Humans should not be forced to squeeze into black and white labels. It’s time that society acknowledges that everyone shines in shades of gray.
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