Are we not going a bit too far with all this political correctness?

DO you know what? I’m at the stage where I’m afraid to open my mouth any more for fear of saying the wrong thing. Let’s be honest here, I’ve never been the most tactful person in the world and I am Queen of Putting My Foot In It, but with the advent of political correctness, I’m actually afraid to say anything for fear of upsetting someone.

My kids think I’m racist, sexist, ageist and a bigot most days. I’m pretty certain I’m not any of the aforementioned but youngsters have become so well versed on what is perceived as being acceptable that they will jump down your throat for the most minor faux pas.

This week it was the LGBT community. Or the LGBTIQ community, to be exact. The radio was running a Stand Up campaign all week aimed at the LGBTIQ community and we were listening to it on our way to school every morning. Basically the general thrust seemed to be to encourage people to support their friends and to help tackle homophobic bullying. Which obviously I’m all for.

I innocently said, “Jaysus that’s half the alphabet nearly! They should call it the LGBTIQ…..RSTUVW community!” I laughed. The 14 year old did not find me amusing. But I genuinely couldn’t figure out what the I and the Q stood for so I asked her.

She informed me curtly that I stood for Intersex and Questioning, neither of which I’d ever heard of before. “What does that even mean?” I asked completely baffled. She told me to google it.

I did. So the Intersex thing was fairly easy to understand – apparently it’s when someone is born with aspects of both female and male genitalia, whilst Questioning is when a person is in the process of exploring their sexual orientation.

Since when did pondering your own sexuality become an actual thing? Seriously! Do not all teenagers wonder sometimes if they fancy someone of the same sex, is that not a normal rite of passage that has gone on for centuries?

I said as much to The Youngest when she got home. “If you come home and tell me you’re gay or bisexual, or even transgender although I’m not 100% sure what that is, it’s grand,” I told her. “But if you come home and tell you’re Gender Fluid or Questioning I’m going to hit you over the head with the dictionary of political correctness! None of this is new, you know. Youngsters have been doing and feeling this stuff for years.”

She was outraged. Apparently I’m homophobic and narrow minded and totally ignorant of all things LGBTIQ……RSTUVW.

I never thought I’d hear myself say this but sometimes, these days, there’s just too much talk. Sometimes we just need to let things be without questioning and labelling and putting people into the correct boxes.

Woudn’t life be so much simpler.

SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED TO LET THINGS BE WITHOUT QUESTIONING AND LABELLING AND PUTTING PEOPLE INTO THE CORRECT BOXES.