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Of Labels & Identity: How Language Shapes Our Perception Of Gender & Sexuality
I recently read about the Himba people of Namibia, who perceive the world in a rather unique way. In contrast to many Western languages, theirs contains fewer words for different colors. As a result, while they are very adept at distinguishing shades of green, they are less likely to differentiate between shades of green and blue. It’s not that they cannot physically see blue, but because their language shapes how they perceive color, the distinction feels less prominent. This dynamic is not exclusive to the Himba. All our perceptions are shaped by the language we use to experience, describe, and interpret our reality. Words help structure our experience of the world.
In much the same way, the language we have at our disposal both hinders and helps us in recognizing and understanding diverse expressions of human sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression. While there can be understandable resistance to labels — especially when they are used to limit or negatively impact people — they can also be incredibly important for broadening our perception, allowing us to see what we seemingly could not before. Labels should never confine our identity but rather help us recognize the diversity and complexity of human experience.
When we use labels such as Two-Spirit, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, queer, and more, we are not creating these identities. Nor are they describing some immutable absolutes or Platonic ideal identities. Rather, they serve to bring context and direction — shaped by evolving understanding and wider contextual influence — in our pursuit of understanding ourselves and others. This is why you will see various forms of initialisms, such as 2SLGBTQIA+, that often shift and change over time.
It is also critically important to remember that every culture (and often even individuals) perceives and organizes this understanding differently. While the diversity of human experience and identity is universal, how we understand and express it varies. Thus, we must be careful not to project our own understanding as the baseline. For example, even the widely used 2SLGBTQIA+ initialism is culturally and historically rooted. It is not “the best” understanding, let alone the only one. We can only benefit from listening to and…
