As far back as we have studies on human interaction in society, we see quite a few trends in how we go about socializing with others, specifically around how we choose to interact to enhance the meeting overall. We try to fit in or belong to a group, conform to the traits of that group and change our way of life so we are looked up upon by our peers. What peer group exactly tends to change based upon what people view as the overall most superior or righteous, but its all the same in a shell. If you think abortion should be illegal and entitlements are unnecessary, chances are you will call yourself a conservative. If you believe in equal rights for men and women, you would call yourself a feminist. essentially, whatever you believe in strongly enough is who you identify as and you would label yourself so people understand where you are coming from when you talk about you opinions, but I refuse to label myself based on my perspectives, and here's why.
If I were to call myself a "feminist" in front of you, your first thoughts are most likely either "Equality", "What did that full grown man call himself?" or "Oh shit, one of those 'women are superior' nut-jobs". There are many other interpretations of that word that vary greatly, but not all of them are always great. I believe in equal rights for men and women without a doubt, but feminism, over the last decade, has morphed from it's actual dictionary definition. I refuse to call myself a feminist because if I were to announce during a conversation that I am a feminist, half of the people in the conversation are already frustrated and disgusted by me, while the other half simply understands my opinion a little. Labeling myself a feminist will make some people think I'm a man hater and that I think men should be enslaved by the matriarchy, while others will dig deeper for an accurate representation of my opinion. Very few question someones opinion without hearing it out to it's fullest extent, so accurate representations of one's views would be hard to simply predict based on a label.
When you choose to give yourself a label, you are choosing to let others identify you as whatever they think that label means for them. You could call yourself an idiot, but what if your interpretation of the word means "bad-ass" and someone else thinks it means "ice cream." You might be interpreted as a terminator-looking biker with full sleeve tattoos or you might taste like rocky road, depends on the meaning of your own label, So if you're going to label yourself, use your name, because only YOU are truly you.
