Ah, okay - I guess that is the difficulty, that people have such different definitions of queer. Maybe because what queer is supposed to define is so fluid, and keeps changing as people's theories of gender/sexuality change and expand. Like feminism, perhaps, where there are so many different and contradictory theories that you have to talk of 'feminisms' in the plural.
And yep, redefining platonic would be a bit of an impossible endeavour - I just think it's interesting how the meaning has changed over the years.
And yes, exactly, associating asexuality with a transient state of uncertainty undermines the whole idea of asexuality as a positive identity, and encourages the whole 'Ah, but you just haven't met the right person yet' or 'You just haven't matured enough to know what you want yet' mentality! So I can see the case for ensuring a term has a very specific meaning, and why some people might want to do that with queer - if they are worried that certain definitions might have a negative effect on their attempts to form a positive identity. Except queer seems to have so many different meanings anyway that it might be quite difficult for clear boundaries to be made.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 04:26 pm (UTC)And yep, redefining platonic would be a bit of an impossible endeavour - I just think it's interesting how the meaning has changed over the years.
And yes, exactly, associating asexuality with a transient state of uncertainty undermines the whole idea of asexuality as a positive identity, and encourages the whole 'Ah, but you just haven't met the right person yet' or 'You just haven't matured enough to know what you want yet' mentality! So I can see the case for ensuring a term has a very specific meaning, and why some people might want to do that with queer - if they are worried that certain definitions might have a negative effect on their attempts to form a positive identity. Except queer seems to have so many different meanings anyway that it might be quite difficult for clear boundaries to be made.