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[–]Ladis_Wascheharuum 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

If someone is only interested in, say, men, you can't say that their sexuality is a spectrum.

I would agree that an individual's sexuality isn't a spectrum (like a single wavelength of color is not a spectrum) but it lies on a spectrum that exists, which was my real point.

I use a lesbian label on a dating site

See, that's fine. I believe labels are great if they're practical for usefully identifying things. On a dating site, it's totally fair game to say you're lesbian, because it's hugely useful there, as a time saver.

In my ideal world, though, if you saw a woman you fancied you shouldn't need to figure out if she's a lesbian, you'd just ask her out. If she gave a "no", would it really matter if she was straight or just not into you? You're not getting together either way, so there's no practical benefit to having a label in that situation.

[–]lovelyspearmintLesbeing a lesbian 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Talking about labels outside of dating online, it could help people avoid unpleasant or awkward situations. If you knew someone was straight, you would never hit on them as if it could make them feel targeted, uncomfortable. In an ideal world, we would respect people's boundaries and labels, not suggest they try X or Y. Now, there is the matter of individual taste which puts a wrench in the works :/