Quote Originally Posted by Cavelcade View Post
Edit: Is the Tedd situation different? To me it does seem like one of the best examples in the comic of both sides of an issue having a proponent (Tedd: labels = good because I can identify with a group, Ashley: labels = bad because I don't want to) with Ellen being in the middle of the spectrum.
Let's say that you've spent most of your life knowing you were different:Maybe it's all the time, maybe it's just some times, but there are times when it feels like you are legitimately in the wrong body.

You find out that there's an entire group of people like you, that there's a term that describes exactly how you feel about yourself.

The relief would be palpable.

If I'm grokking it right, which I might not be, in Ashley's case it's about society at large putting labels on people-and then you have to conform to that label.

Let me use an example my Soc professor used-If a man is only sexually attracted to other men but of his own free will remains Abstinent his entire life, not because he thinks being homosexual is wrong but because he genuinely isn't interested in sex, is that man "gay"?

Bisexual is a vaguely defined term that means different things to different people, so using it as a label means it won't fit just right all of the time.

Gender fluid, on the other hand, isn't society's label, it's a label for people who are at an inbetween point in their gender identity-sometimes they feel like they're the correct biological sex, sometimes they feel they're the wrong one, and sometimes they feel like they're somewhere in between. That is a label that perfectly describes Tedd's situation.

So basically it' the exact opposite situation Ashley dislikes the "bisexual" label because it's too broad and doesn't fit exactly. Tedd likes the "gendered fluid" label because it describes his situation perfectly and lets him know that he's not a freak off all on his lonesome to suffer by himself for all eternity.