Discussions about gender and race equality are a big part of our daily life; however, the fact that this is even a discussion might be a problem in itself. Woman or man, black, white or yellow, were words conjured up by scientists to classify species just as German Shepherds and Poodles were. They were not meant to be used as a way to label people in society, with regards to who they are or what they do. Labels and categories were meant for food, utensils, and lab settings, not for people in society. So why is it that from a young age, we are taught that there is a separate bathroom for men and women, that most guys are attracted to girls and girls to guys, that blue is for boys and pink is for girls, that anyone that has a different shaped eye is most likely not American. These small situations we are exposed to from the moment we are born shape us into becoming people that categorize other people almost by instinct. That is not to say that describing a persons physical appearance is considered labeling, it is not, unless used in a pejorative form. It is merely a description that helps other identify who that person is physically, not mentally.
Furthermore, labeling others becomes a need, a need to separate ourselves from the rest. Which relates back to another one of society’s current requirements, being unique. Different from past generations, the current one has been obsessed with being different, rather than the same. This may even be influencing the global isolation people conform to. People go through moments in time where they believe they are unique, they are the only ones going through those situations. Unpleasant moments are included in those. They like to be alone, because to identify in the smallest sense with our enemies, would hurt the part that identifies with the exact opposite. Every conflict that has ever taken place on this planet has been due to living things attempting to find what makes them unique and segregating based on their so believed differences or similarities.
Labeling and refusing to identify with others is a problem that goes beyond gender equality. It is about understanding that we are all humans and that we most likely have something in common, even if minor, with every single person on the globe. About abolishing labels in society all together, the question is if people are ready to break the box that protects them from the rest and finally come together, accepting that we are all human. It is time we acknowledged our own mistakes.
