Straight, Bi or Gay?

When faced with a complex issue, we tend to over simplify. For example, when we are faced with evaluating students, we tend to categorize them based on their grade (A, B, …, F) from an hour long exam. Before even getting to the effectiveness of exam, I want to talk about the over simplified grading system. Grade “A” is given to those who scores 91%-100% and grade “B” for those who scores 80%-90% and so on. The obvious flaw here is the way we categorize them. Why does a student who scores 91% gets same grade as someone who scores 100% and why B for 90%? So smaller there number of categories, bigger the flaw. So you get my point, hopefully.

In the same way, the society tends to oversimplify sexual orientation by categorizing us into Gay, Bi, and Straight. I think majority of us are combination of straight and gay attractions. For example, a person might be 30% gay and 70% straight, but because of the environment around him, he might exhibit mainly straight characteristics and so when he choose from this limited category, he has no choice but to define himself as Straight. This does not mean everyone is a mix. Some might be 100% straight and some 100% gay.

As the human civilization grows intellectually, the true value the progress shouldn’t be measured by the thinnest and the lightest new iPhone model. It should be measured by questioning our long held assumptions such as the over simplified categorization of human sexual orientation. The way society sets these categories is tremendously powerful because it of its impact on our values, our actions, and our perception of self.