Twitter Sluts

Twitter unveiled its latest invention this week...the creation of lists. What this is supposed to promote is a way to organize the people you follow into categories based on...well, whatever you decide to call the "list" of the followers you place into it. Ideally, potential followers can check out various lists of people they follow and perhaps come across new and interesting people they might like to follow. Quite honestly, I hadn't bothered to pay much attention to this newest tool as it rolled out.

But...did you really think this concept through Twitter? Encouraging members to come with categories for the people they follow sounds like a decent organizational tool at first. The thing is, this potentially could turn into a very slippery and unflattering slope. Personally, any time there is encouragement to categorize or label anyone, I automatically put my guard up. I spend a huge portion of my time, energy and life working to BREAK labels and categorical thinking.

So when I started checking out the Twitter lists that I have already been placed on, I had to chuckle a bit. Its kind of amusing to see what category the people who follow me decided to put me into. Needless to say, learning that I'm now listed in a "slutsnwhores" group caught my attention.

At first, I had a good laugh. I'm a slut? Holy crap, that's awesome!! Luckily I happen to think the word slut is a beautiful one, and its high time our culture reframe it into something positive. To me, a slut is a person comfortable with expressing his or her sexuality and does not limit the way they experience erotic and/or physical pleasure. I really have no problem whatsoever with being defined as a slut within that sort of context. But alas, that's *my* context, my frame of reference. I am an enlightened thinker, you see. ;) I have to believe when someone random stumbles upon a list on twitter called "slutsnwhores" they are going to have a different set of ideas about just who these people are. I wish everyone were as enlightened as me...*sigh*....

In all seriousness, do you see where I'm going here? What may have been initiated as an efficient way to organize people on Twitter could quickly change the concept of social media as something fun to something hurtful. Efficiency inevitably leads to thoughtlessness...or more accurately, it leads to not HAVING to think at all. Whenever people are lumped into categories of *any* kind...thinking becomes limited and stereotypes are bound to be formed. I know who I am and who I am not. I try to avoid labeling at all costs; that's my chosen life philosophy. People never fit into some preconceived notion of being...they will always surprise you, if you're open to it. But if a social media giant like Twitter is facilitating such a reductive way of referring to the people that utilize their service, well, what is this really saying about open-mindedness? Slap a label on this one, stick that one into that box over there. It's actually kind of disheartening.

PS: Does anyone know how to get rid of the "box" thingie that surrounds the signature I created through "Live Signature"? I really don't like being boxed up like that......