Me and My Brother vs My Cousin. Me and My Cousin vs the World?

[Rudynate]

I do too. Or to abbreviate, MSM.

 

But I think the question of an appropriately inclusive term for the entire non-straight or non-heteronormative community is, pardon the expression, a tough nut to crack.

 

An appropriately inclusive term would be unable to capture all of the diversity it was meant to encompass. It's the same challenge a patent attorney faces when drafting a broad claim in a patent application. The more inclusive the claim, the more abstract it becomes, until it is so abstract that the patentable novelty is lost.

[mike carey]

I like the, admittedly unwieldy, clinical term "men who have sex with men."

MSM is a term coined to include men who identify as heterosexual but still have sex with other men. It arose from the need for them to be aware of health risks, not to counter discrimination.

[Rudynate]

MSM is a term coined to include men who identify as heterosexual but still have sex with other men. It arose from the need for them to be aware of health risks, not to counter discrimination.

 

True enough, but it accomplishes that also. I don't care where the expression comes from as long as it does the job.

[+ Truereview]

I have a term suggestion: Mary, Steve, Mark, Jane...

why must we put people in neat little categories to understand shared patterns & qualities? The minute we lump ourselves into a term like queer, gay,etc, we've not only lost the humanity and uniqueness of the individual, but also give birth to exceptionalism - I realize I'm using the term outside of its typical use.

 

Technology today is making things easier, faster, more connected. It is also radically changing how we, as human beings, express our individuality and communicate with & understand one another. Despite this, some of our most brilliant minds continue to knock their head on a brick wall trying to apply old mental models - like categorization- to new, emerging cultural norms that we know barely anything about. The more we argue for a perfect term, the more time we lose to understand the bigger picture of what's afoot. It is sort of ironic that the rational mind is sometimes it's own worst enemy and its biggest jailer.

 

PS - I don't know what the right inclusive term is, I just know this decision tree feels like a rabbit hole.

[LADoug1]

Any suggestions?

Been trying to come up with one I like for 40 years.