#'any edible plant part thats not a fruit' didnt include tomatoes or eggplants etc. and that definition didnt satisfy me

[epicdogymoment]

begging people to understand that labels and categories are not inherently meaningful without context. and that whether or not any label is actually useful changes from context to context (including from person to person). and that trying to pin something or someone down as BEING a particular label (rather than something being labelled as a certain thing) is meaningless and unhelpful

#leologisms #this isnt actually About anything in particular but it was of course inspired by gender posts #saying that someone else IS a particular thing because of their experiences is not really helpful. and it doesnt make sense #theres a reason theyre gender 'identities'. theyre labels. theyre something that people either do or dont identify with #theyre tools for finding people with similar experiences. or for exploring and understanding ones own experiences. etc. #trying to say that someone IS agender for not identifying strongly with a particular gender or someone IS trans for wanting to #experiment with gender + presentation or someone IS bisexual because they dated someone of the same gender one time or whatever #isnt actually helpful. do they identify as these things? do they even actually care? #of course the reasons for someones answers to these questions are also important. but thats for them to figure out. #[note. 'someone' also includes you] #there was also an anecdote i was thinking about. from when i was a kid #and i was bugging my mom over dinner about 'what exactly is a vegetable' #'any edible plant part thats not a fruit' didnt include tomatoes or eggplants etc. and that definition didnt satisfy me #well i just kept going until my mom got sick of the question #of course i now know about culinary vegetables. but being a 'vegetable' isnt inherent to anything #and neither is being 'green' or being 'gay' or 'trans' or 'agender' #of course these are useful labels. thats why they exist and thats why people use them #but trying to pin down whether something definitively IS one thing or another is a fruitless exercise