Why do people label themselves?

Why do people label THEMSELVES? Everyone always says they don't 'label' people as this, that, or the other when people label themselves by dressing like whatever they're being labeled as. Lets take emos, for example, as they're the most prominent and...

annoying social category at this time. They listen to crappy whiney music, shop at Hot Topic, wear tight dark clothes, accessorize with lame, often somehow death-related, frivolous accessories, dress and act like your stereotypical emo, then expect to NOT be labeled as an emo? How does that make sense? If you don't want to be recognized as the kind of person you're trying to be, don't try and be like that person. If you don't want people to make fun of you for conforming to some stupid trend, don't conform to some stupid trend.

And don't give me that crap about emo is just a genre of music because that's what we call those people I described above: emos. Accept it.

haha.. I love how you get straight to the point! I'm not sure why people lable themselves. I guess everyone does it, though. I'm from the South and I'm very, very southern. I ride horses, fish, talk with an accent and say yonder, ya'll and things like that. Although, I know I'm southern, and I know I'm what most people would call a redneck I can't stand to be called one! When you think of redneck, you think of a man with no teeth, whos married to his sister, and never made it past third grade, but that's never the case, even though thats the way its portrayed in the movies! I would never date my brother, I graduated high school with honors, and I have perfect teeth! I can't hide who I am, but I will admit I do kind of lable my own self.

Because they have nothing better to do.

I rather listen to a range of music that appeals to me, dress in what appeals to me and do what appeals to me. Who cares about lables.

And whose going to care in 10 years?

No one.

I hate labels, they are all annoying.
And the worst is when people are all How do I become (label)... its ridiculous.

So I remember who I am in the morning.

Because it is easy. It is much easier to label someone then to actually go through the effort of finding out what kind of human being the person is

I think it goes back to when we all belong to tribes. It's like finding people that follow the same 'rituals' as yourself.
It's to belong.
We all do it in some form.
When I walk down the street and hear conversations like I was wearing those cool ripped jeans, aren't im much more indivual than such and such
It just proves to me, what a shiz hole this place is where indivualism is a stereotype.

You raised a good point and I totally agree that people play upto stereotypes. However there are a lot of people out there that have no personality so if we all decided to just be ourselves they'd still be people out there, that'd leach onto it and turn it into a fashion statement.

hmmm... well first of all, people who are emo or goth dress or listen to music that way because they think its cool and they like it. some people want to be cheerleaders, some want to be jocks, skater dudes, comedy kings, populars, etc. populars think its cool to have the most fashionable clothes and more better looking hair because they want everyone to like them- and then they reach a higher status. thats what most humans want- to be the highest status. trust me, I've delt with populars before. she poured SODA on my head and then TOOK my friend. I guess it makes her feel better or something. anyways, some labels are who they are because they want to BELONG in society, and others are who they are because they like who they are. now... people dont want to be labeled sometimes but society labels them anyway because they look like he/she is part of their status in life. others who dont get labeled are considered as the weirdos or the outcasts. thats me and some of my friends. hope this helps!