Quote:
Originally Posted by Nine Black Poppies
Having read this whole exchange, I'm going to jump all the way back here and challenge this assumption as a falsehood.
Instead, I'm going to suggest the idea that identity (sexual or otherwise, but since we're talking about sexuality, I'm going to limit myself to that) is constructed, rather than discovered. Which is not to say I believe "Oooh, people choose to be gay!" cos that's a gross and inaccurate oversimplification of what I'm trying to get at.
Rather, it's more the idea that neither "heterosexuality" or "homosexuality" (or "bisexuality" or anything else you could come up with) have any intrinsic, universal meaning. They're culturally defined terms, characterized by a wide variety of different things--aesthetics, politics, community, etc. A conjunction of body parts in any configuration is inherently meaningless until we put it in a social context.
Navigating this context is a process of self-establishment. You build an identity through the choices you make in social situations, whether you acknowledge that's what's going on or not. Maybe people with so-called alternative sexualities tend to be more aware of the process, but if so, it's only because they bump up against the hetero-normalism that's prevalent in modern western culture, it doesn't mean that people who don't challenge that paradigm have any less of a process. In fact, given the established sexual scripts of masculine and feminine identity in our culture, one could argue that a woman proclaiming ownership and agency in her own sexuality is a fairly mighty accomplishment.
For either gender (and this isn't even getting into the fact that gender is also a sociocultural construction, evidenced by the presence of an established third gender in a variety of world cultures), navigating identity is a process of self-reflection, which you yourself listed as a qualifier for pride. Ergo, having pride in one's sexuality is a natural extension of having a sexual identity to begin with.
(PS: You may have 20 swamps, but I have a Circle of Protection: Black :p)
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Forgive me if my response doesn't accurately respond to your objection.
Developing personality is, like growing a pinky toe, something that happens to everyone regardless of what decisions they make in life. Perhaps some people aren't content with the identity that they develop, and perhaps some people are. Does that give enough reason to justify pride in one's identity? .... No, I don't think it does. You can be prideful in having made a decision that was later revealed to be beneficial or satisfactory. Or you can have pride in certain aspects of your identity, aspects that you consciously had to work at. Such as being someone who has resolved to never tell a lie.
But like I said, everyone develops their personality whether they consciously choose to or not. Having pride in making good decisions that lead to what you consider to be a positive identity upon later reflection makes sense. Having pride simply because your identity is dynamic and is an inevitable result of decisions you made that weren't made specifically for the purpose of identity-development, that doesn't seem to make as much sense to me.
Little did you know, I'm using a Black/White deck! I play one Plains this turn, followed by
Vindicate on your Circle of Protection.