• irmoz@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    All these people complaining about the strictness of labels clearly didn’t read the bar at the bottom.

    Labels are not boxes, they’re communication tools that can evolve over time.

    In other words - they’re not rules, they’re guidelines!

    • quindraco@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Well, the poster is mostly linguistic prescriptivism (defining what words mean). That small caveat at the bottom that words can mean whatever you want them to can’t really defeat the entire rest of the poster.

      • irmoz@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        These do not contradict whatsoever. The words can have precise meanings without people precisely defining themselves by them. Sheer pedantry. Also, the ending statement does not say the words “mean whatever you want”. That’s just you lying.

    • beetus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      People in the real world like to rub their parts together and don’t concern themselves with these labels.

      Yes these labels are meaningful and can help you define who you are and what you want but don’t let them get in the way of finding someone who wants to consensually rub parts. It’s really just an Internet thing and niche sex culture.

      • chumbalumber
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        1 year ago

        “it’s really just an internet thing” is just completely wrong.

        If I’m a top and am not comfortable bottoming, then no matter how attractive the guy I’m not going to want to get with another top (yes, I’m aware of frotting and giving head, but sometimes you want penetrative sex yk). So I put that on my profile, to help ensure I match with someone I’m going to be sexually compatible with.

        Beyond preventing wasting time, it also helps give clear boundaries and ensure that hookups are safer for both involved.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      It’s often the most common combination. In the real world, most people have preferences, but an openness to changing things up whenever they and their partner(s) feel like it. This need to label yourself and box yourself into specific slots is mostly a product of internet subcultures where finding your hyperspecific identity card becomes a fixation in and of itself. It’s the sort thing that comes out of knowledge without practical experience, if you catch my drift. Like fantasizing about what kind of chess player you would be without ever actually playing chess. Once you actually get out there and meet people like yourself (which, sadly, for many people is far easier said than done), you generally tend to broaden your sense of yourself and what you like or don’t like quite dramatically. And to be fair, sometimes it’s the other way round; you try everything and find out that are only a few bits you really like. But either way a willingness to be flexible is a really good starting point.