Pagan pride & Mabon.

mysteria

Hi everyone. This thought from an international group I'm part of and I think it's a great idea. All practitioners of Earth religions, Wicca, Shamanism, Druidry etc, are being encouraged to wear a purple ribbon as a way of promoting religious tolerance and to potentially raise awareness of Paganism, Wicca,Shamanism,Druids,Ovates,Bards etc.: On Sept. 21st
to 22nd all Witches/Witches/Pagans are going to wear little purple ribbons so
everyone will know Who Else is a witch/wiccan/ pagan/... . But no one
can do this if they don't know about it, so pass the word along! This message goes to all Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of
traditions. We can make a day for ourselves!! Actually, two days!!! You can buy a purple ribbon anywhere. Make it public!!! If you like, label it "Fight Religious Discrimination".
Merry Mabon to you all.
Blessed Be.

Nevyn

What international group ?
And what would be the point of it ?
Hidden children of the Goddess marking themsleves with a pruple ribbon ?

mysteria

We are fighting for pagan rights Thaedydal,in the States we are fighting Bush's attempts to make Wicca illegal and recently had a major victory in the U.S. The family of a pagan army corporal whose body was returned after he was killed in the Middle East after about a year of campaigning got permission to have the Penatcle engraved on his gravestone. As a Child of the Goddess I'd like to proclaim it loud and proud and not remain hidden, so do most of my compatriots. ( You don't have to if you don't want to ). Bright Blessings to you.

6th

I think it sounds ok, would it just be for "Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of traditions" or could anyone wear it in their support?

mysteria

6th wrote:

I think it sounds ok, would it just be for "Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of traditions" or could anyone wear it in their support?

Thanks 6th, anyone who respects religious tolerance , in fact anyone who is interested in Spiritual things is welcome to wear it as a sign of support. You're certainly welcome, you're doing some great work organizing the DC etc I hear. And people can keep their own religion while being pagan, witch etc. Blessings to you and best of luck with your new projects.

joseph dawton

There seems to be no end of causes... pink ribbon for breast awareness, blue ribbon for valuing childhood, pink triangles for gay rights, green ribbons for eco causes. All this is grand in itself but I think this plethora of causes means that they drown each other out and the public suffers from good cause fatigue!

Esoteric paths have always been some what hidden (hence the name) as they are not mainstream and have not sought to be. I think there are plenty of ways for pagans to make themselves known beyond the rather obvious and often misunderstood pentacle. For those that are scared or judgemental about paganism and it's well-known symbols perhaps it's as well for them not to know who we are?

I certainly agree that if there are serious attempts to make paganism illegal then something must be done, until that day I'll share my spirituality with those of like mind and those who are tolerant of other paths.

www.electricpublications.com

mysteria

Many of us who are Pagans, Witches and Wiccans no longer want to hide under the "Occult or Esoteric" label and feel the need to have our beliefs & traditions recognised. We are actively working on a Global scale so we no longer have to worry about "witch hunts". Others feel differently and have every right to do so, I'm surprised at your trivialisation of what is a vitally important issue to so many. Why bother replying?

seren

I think what you are doing is a good idea and I have a lot of respect for Pagans who are proud to shout it from the rooftops. It has only been since I moved to the ROI that I felt able to tell people confidently about my beliefs. Although I have had to deal with the usual amount of prejudice from those that know nothing about it or are misinformed, I feel a push for awareness would be a good thing. Caution is also a good thing though- I find the more you push, the more people push back (ie reinforce their views that Paganism is Satanic/evil/wrong/whatever.)

Good luck. If there was anywhere in my area I could buy a ribbon, I would.

UU

Good idea. Wow Bush tried to ban Wicca? Crazy!

Well, you should fight for your rights. I blame the Christian churches for giving Pagans, etc. a bad name. I'll wear a ribbon even though I'm atheist just to support religious tolerance. And I'm not one of those fanatical "I hate all religions" people. I believe in equality and tolerance for all.

Maybe I should set up a disbelievers awareness day where we wear some symbol for atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists. Thanks for giving me a good idea! Good luck with your campaign!

scorplett

mysteria wrote:

Many of us who are Pagans, Witches and Wiccans no longer want to hide under the "Occult or Esoteric" label and feel the need to have our beliefs & traditions recognised. We are actively working on a Global scale so we no longer have to worry about "witch hunts". Others feel differently and have every right to do so, I'm surprised at your trivialisation of what is a vitally important issue to so many. Why bother replying?

Mysteria,
I think you have gone beyond being out of touch with ordinary pagans and Wiccans in this country. This may be understandable since you have been distanced from your line.
The fact will always remain that the majority of people will always remain behind closed doors and in fact many are going behind those doors from having been in the open and wearing their craft on their sleeves (and I will speak from a Wiccan perspective here as that is where both our knowledge bases lies, so if the moderators feel it to be appropriate, feel free to COPY and move to another forum) Your post here has sparked a wider context than you originally may have intended but it is something that has bothered me for a very long time and you seem to have provided an opportune moment.

To be quite honest about it, it is those who have publicized the craft over and above anything that was ever intended that we now have the situation that we face. That is that the world that had gradually come to the beginnings of understanding and acceptance of the craft is now beginning to push against it. The craft was never meant to be as openly available as it is now and should never be such as other world religions as it is a vocation rather than a congregation.

The public faces of Wicca are beginning to become much more of a danger to the craft than protectors of the ways of the goddess. Those who make wicca so readily available and put a price on spiritual development are creating a vacuum that sucks all seekers into it without the opportunity to see if it is the path best suited to them. It is Mac Wicca. It is fast faith supersized with a ‘have and nice day now’, a smile and not forgetting a free toy for your kid!

Those natural filters that existed when the only precursors to someone seeking the craft were their own dreams leading them to have a conversation with a stranger or to travel to far places to find one book that someone somewhere mentioned are now gone in exchange for on demand instant magic.

The mystery of the finding is gone when people put on a public face and say ‘I am Wicca come to me’. The first trial is no longer there and anyone and everyone has access to Wicca, to public craft and yet they never see true craft that lives in every corner of the country.
There was merit once in someone reaching the stage of finally meeting a High Priestess in person and it was understood to be a blessing almost as great as initiation to stand in circle and witness the worship of the Goddess and God. To my mind it was a kin to a young warrior running through the wood without breaking a stick or twig as part of his petition to join Na Fianna. When I walked the cobbled streets of Dublin in torrential downpours to find the one and only place that might have a book, or when I saved every penny so I might travel to London and to America knowing I could find something more obtainable and then getting there and finding what I didn’t know I was looking for and finding things in places I didn’t know, every moment knowing that something beyond was driving me in a very clear direction back home to have the courage to stand on a strangers doorstep at two in the morning. Every moment I thought of the quest of the Fianna and such experiences that are echoed by many others served a very real purpose.

Now all someone has to do is start a Google search, check out Witchvox, attend a moot or go to Tara at summer solstice and look for the ones with the pentacles, and why seek a coven when there are a list of them available on the internet and sure they must be the only ones because everything is available at the click of a mouse!

The most damaging aspect to wearing your faith on your sleeve is however the simplest. Because the majority of those practicing the craft in Ireland do remain hidden children of the Goddess means that to the consumerist seeker those who do shout it from the rooftops are the only ones they see, and part of me says well of course they will see only that because consumerism is a virus that infects us all and you cannot blame an individual for having a greater or lesser immunity or resistance to that viruses effects.

If you wish to wear your path on your sleeve then you must be prepared to represent that which is un-representable, to speak for those who do not wish nor need to be spoken for and to interpret the personal experiences and beliefs of those who do not wish to be interpreted. The fact is that whether you want to or not, if you are public about your craft, to the outside world you will always represent ALL that that is and as any humble priestess should know that is a folly. That is an impossible task and one that the Goddess herself chose to have said of her in those printed titles that began the emergence of wicca.

But the goddess will find ways to see her will done, and ways she has found…
Why do you think that the Christian right wing in the US (and elsewhere in the world also) have began to mobilize by buying chains of bookshops and publishing houses and de-classifying some of the great and wonderful titles that so many of us have cherished, putting them to back shelf or to special order and even to refusing to renew publishing contracts? And this is not only in the USA, it follows through to Ireland also. As an example, there have been four print runs of Robert Graves’ ‘The White Goddess’, in the last two and a half years. Eason and Sons, the largest bookseller in Ireland would have carried it as part of their sections on classical studies. Eight months ago they took any remaining copies from their store rooms and put them in their sale bin. After those last two copies were sold they no longer replace them as there is no longer a distributor for the title in this country. So one of the greatest titles has vanished from our shelves and will only be obtainable by special order. Yes, yes I know you can buy books over the internet but that is not the same as it was and point being that people will more often buy a book that they see and touch and leaf through before buying.

While I recognize and appreciate those who want to work towards tolerance of any description I do not see it as necessary to wear ones religious practices on your sleeve(unless you are Muslim). It is particularly not necessary when involving something such as Wicca. Wicca is a personal journey and interaction with deity that is an individual experience. No other person can convey what my experience is, nor vice versa. Those who do proclaim themselves to be Wiccan openly and to anyone in or out of context should be weary of the impression they may give to our increasingly and uncontrollably consumerist society. For every person who expresses their views openly in public there are at least 10 who will not. If there are 30 people at the moot on any given meeting there are 300 who are not. For every High Priestess opening a door to you there are 10 who will not and will wait for you to open the door yourself.

To those who are seekers on these boards a question. Even as little as 15 years ago there was no internet (at least not to average Joe on the street) and high-street bookshops did not stock titles on Wicca and paganism. There was one bookshop(ish) that did stock occult titles and that was the Alchemist’s head, long gone now but if you wish to go back before even that shop stood on the quiet bend of Essex street, how did people find it then? And then the craft was very active in Ireland. It was a time when there were between 5 and 8 active Alexandrian covens on the North-side of Dublin city and county alone!

I do not believe that society in general should know who we are, what we do, how we do it or why we do it but I know that there must be a meeting of the waters and for many that is to remain hidden children of the Goddess, to defend her only when she has been wronged and to do it in a way that is protective of all of her children.

Talliesin

I'm neither with mysteria nor entirely with Thaedydal and scorplett.

Now certainly, it's important to Wiccans and some other witches that we can hide if we have to. It's important that we don't out someone who we do not know is already public about their involvement in the Craft. It's important that we do not tolerate anyone using threats or intimidation based upon how someone may perceive them because they are a witch. The laws exist for a reason, and "Never boast, never threaten, never say you wish ill to anyone." still makes good sense (for all concerned) today even if "If any speak of the craft, say: 'Speak not to me of such, it frightens me, 'tis evil luck to speak of it.'" is obviously a rule no one here is fully following, since we break that rule in its strictest interpretation by posting here.

"Never boast, never threaten" certainly isn't followed by some of the more moronic members of the Pagan community, and I don't think others in the community are at all in the wrong in opining that we think they should STFU. Such behaviour is bad for them, the targets of their boasting and threatening, their work (if they actually do any work), the Pagan community and the wider community.

There is also a sullying of the Craft in some of the stupider public witches out there. Certainly, when one see's the latest bigotted illiterate McWicca teensploitation crap from the increasingly unethical Silver Ravenwolf it's hard not to think that it would be better if we all, every single one of us, went back into hiding.

Then again, the McWicca gives those who do need to hide some good camoflague and decoys.

Then agin, the thing that interests cowans about witches will probably always be the magical and psychic aspects, and there will always be plenty of people outside the Craft sullying that (I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to run up to that guy that wimpers in front of an infared camera in various dark buildings for the amusement of the television-viewing masses, hit him a dig across the side of his head, and enquire as to whether he saw it coming - I've no idea how good a psychic the guy is, but really, a bit of dignity never hurts).

Now, many of us are out to some extent. Some people choose to wear pentacles outside their shirts, and while I don't think that's a good idea (really, the things work better hidden), hey one should be able to if they want.

There are also Pagan paths and magical traditions with no such tradition of secrecy (though most magical tradition has some things they keep quiet about - Tacere is part of how it works).

Ultimately, if someone wants to be completely public about their religious practices, they should be able to do so without fear of discrimination. My disagreements with Silver Ravenwolf I used as an example above doesn't mean I think she should be disappeared by secret police (though I suspect she'd secretly love it until the actual torture started - it'd fit into her More Persecuted Than Thou trip so well).

Tactically though, a small minority that many people consider weirdos (and the people who think we're weirdos have every right to believe that, just as much right as we have to believe what we believe) isn't going to win much political freedoms as that minority.

A glance at the public history of the Craft and the wider Pagan community shows that the religious freedoms we have won have been won in the following ways:

1. Legislation being updated to better suit general modern sensibilities (one of the main reasons for the 1951 repeal of the 1735 Witchcraft Act in the UK).
2. Legislation dealing with wider issues of religious descriminiation, or focusing on other faiths but delivered in a more general way (the Crown vs. Helen Duncan case of 1944 certainly seems to have influenced the 1951 repeal of the 1735 Witchcraft Act too, she being the last person convicted under it, but she was a Christian Spiritualist). The fact that we can sue for religious descrimination is due to laws that in many cases were framed by people who had never heard of modern Paganism.
3. General tolerant attitudes towards differing religious beliefs in society at large.

Wearing our heart on our sleaves does little to deal with this. It is good that these days if you tell someone you are a Witch or a Druid or a Heathen many people won't bat an eyelid, but our actual ability to do so without fear for our liberty or our lives comes from the increasing tolerance and increasing protections towards people of all religions.

The fight to have pentagrams added to the list of emblems used in US military burials wouldn't have been won if there wasn't clear precedent from plenty of other faiths having won similar fights (and it was mainly a technicality that held it up as long as it was).

Similarly, the biggest threats to the religious freedoms of Pagans are the threats to religious of anyone. The automatic suspicion muslims face in many Western countries is the biggest long-term threat to the religious freedom of everyone.

In all, I'd certainly say people should be out if they want to be out. And I commend those who fight on specific campaigns around specific cases of discrimination against Pagans, or more generally on providing protections to the religious freedom of all, but I don't see what value this particular campaign has.

Cactus Col

scorplett wrote:

I do not believe that society in general should know who we are, what we do, how we do it or why we do it but I know that there must be a meeting of the waters and for many that is to remain hidden children of the Goddess, to defend her only when she has been wronged and to do it in a way that is protective of all of her children.

Scorplett, I thought the whole thing was probably a bit too quote in its entirety, but I liked this last bit. Essentially what you're saying here is if a film portrays wiccan in a bad light, lets say, as satan worshippers, you can defend it, shouting at the top of your lungs "We're not satan worshippers!! We don't do those type of things". But when people turn around and say "okay ... so what type of things do you do?", you reply "Well, that's really none of your business."

If Wiccans and Pagans want to keep the ins and outs of their religions hidden, that's fine by me, no skin off my nose, but, then, they are the only ones to blame for outsiders to those religions being ignorant. They can no longer complain about ignorant "catlicks" not understanding that Wiccan is this, or that.

Hidding also gives the impression that there is a stigma to being a pagan, something to be ashamed of, in the same way as there was to being a homosexual, or pregnant and single.

Talliesin

Cactus Col wrote:

They can no longer complain about ignorant "catlicks" not understanding that Wiccan is this, or that.

Actually, I don't care if the majority of people don't have a good understanding of my path.

I don't have a good understanding of Zorastrianism. My understanding is that it's got a cosmology with some sort of moral duality to it and that fire is venerated, but not worshipped, in it. That's the sum of my knowledge on the matter and I'm open to correction on that. I know nothing about the Zorastrian community except that Freddy Mercury was a member (don't know if he always was or not, see I'm really ignorant on this one).

My being ignorant does not make me feel the need to smash the windows of businesses owned by Zorastrians, campaign that they're war-dead not be honoured appropriately (assuming they aren't all pacifists which I'm so ignorant as to not know), and doesn't mean I wouldn't treat someone with respect if I found out they were Zorastrian.

I don't need no know any more than that about Zorastrianism to co-exist peacefully with Zorastrians. Now being someone with an interest in religions I may well be curious, and I might very well read up on the topic some time soon, but if there's an aspect of their religion that is oathbound (and that is true of the priesthoods of quite a large number of religions btw) then grand, I don't need to know.

Cactus Col wrote:

Hidding also gives the impression that there is a stigma to being a pagan, something to be ashamed of, in the same way as there was to being a homosexual, or pregnant and single.

No, though I do fully support the right of people to be open about their religious beliefs as well as the examples you give above, I also fully support the right of people to decide that such matters are nobody else's business.

I'm a pretty open guy about a lot of things that other people will choose to keep quiet about, but there are still aspects of my life that are nobody's business by mine and those I share those aspects with.

Nevyn

Yes there has had to be a raising of awareness to combat the fact that pagans are all devil whorshiping, blood drinking, baby killing nymphos.

But other then that I don't see the need to tell everyone I meet what my religion is.

Cactus Col

Talliesin wrote:

No, though I do fully support the right of people to be open about their religious beliefs as well as the examples you give above, I also fully support the right of people to decide that such matters are nobody else's business.

Actually I forget what my point was with that stigma bit ....damn tiredness.

It's no use in saying you're not satan worshipping, blood drinking, baby killing nymphos, if you don't give some kind of idea of what you do.

Obviously I'm not talking specifically about you Thaedydal or Talliesin, more about Religions in general. Yes, people have the right to practice what they like in privacy.

Why not provide general information about your religion though? I'm not talking about rites, or ceremonies, or anything of that nature, just enough to tell people what you're all about.

(have I gone way off topic)

Speaking for myself, if I saw somebody wearing one of those ribbons I wouldn't automatically assume that he/she was a pagan, and if I passed someone selling them on the street I'd buy one.

Nevyn

There is it is called http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm

It covers all religions and anyone who wants to go find out about any of them can quickly educated themselves if they take the time.

Talliesin

Cactus Col wrote:

Why not provide general information about your religion though? I'm not talking about rites, or ceremonies, or anything of that nature, just enough to tell people what you're all about.

Well, we have done. I've personally done so in this forum quite a bit. Gardner did so in his published works and others have followed his lead (some good, some poor, some dreadful). That's just as far as Wicca goes, which is one of the Pagan paths most inclined towards keeping some things to ourselves or as far as some practitioners keeping hidden goes.

FranknFurter

scorplett wrote:

Mysteria,

"Those natural filters that existed when the only precursors to someone seeking the craft were their own dreams leading them to have a conversation with a stranger or to travel to far places to find one book that someone somewhere mentioned are now gone in exchange for on demand instant magic."

"There was merit once in someone reaching the stage of finally meeting a High Priestess in person and it was understood to be a blessing almost as great as initiation to stand in circle and witness the worship of the Goddess and God. To my mind it was a kin to a young warrior running through the wood without breaking a stick or twig as part of his petition to join Na Fianna. When I walked the cobbled streets of Dublin in torrential downpours to find the one and only place that might have a book, or when I saved every penny so I might travel to London and to America knowing I could find something more obtainable and then getting there and finding what I didn’t know I was looking for and finding things in places I didn’t know, every moment knowing that something beyond was driving me in a very clear direction back home to have the courage to stand on a strangers doorstep at two in the morning. Every moment I thought of the quest of the Fianna and such experiences that are echoed by many others served a very real purpose."


"While I recognize and appreciate those who want to work towards tolerance of any description I do not see it as necessary to wear ones religious practices on your sleeve(unless you are Muslim). It is particularly not necessary when involving something such as Wicca. Wicca is a personal journey and interaction with deity that is an individual experience. No other person can convey what my experience is, nor vice versa. Those who do proclaim themselves to be Wiccan openly and to anyone in or out of context should be weary of the impression they may give to our increasingly and uncontrollably consumerist society. "

"I do not believe that society in general should know who we are, what we do, how we do it or why we do it but I know that there must be a meeting of the waters and for many that is to remain hidden children of the Goddess, to defend her only when she has been wronged and to do it in a way that is protective of all of her children".

Scorplett,
I don't think I've ever read somthing that expressed almost exactly how I personally feel on this topic.
I, throughout my life, have felt and known I was being directed in my unusual paths and knew I was on a journey which would lead where I was supposed to be. I still believe that and will until the day I end.
Your post has many elements that bring back memories of my own life.

Thank you.

B

scorplett

Cactus Col wrote:

If Wiccans and Pagans want to keep the ins and outs of their religions hidden, that's fine by me, no skin off my nose, but, then, they are the only ones to blame for outsiders to those religions being ignorant. They can no longer complain about ignorant "catlicks" not understanding that Wiccan is this, or that.
Hidding also gives the impression that there is a stigma to being a pagan, something to be ashamed of, in the same way as there was to being a homosexual, or pregnant and single.

This is a common way to look at this. However it is not always the case, so if you will forgive the long-windedness of my reply I will explain as fully as I can the reasons as to why many people choose to keep their practices to themselves.
For the most part in the wider pagan context (including solitary, non intiatory, non btw systems of witchcraft) it is a very personal spirituality that is individual to the person and it is then a case of ‘nobody’s business but mine’, and also because it is a personally developed system of spirituality and observance and deeply individual, no one can comment on it without the person shared with them what they believe. Sure people can make broad strokes of what paganism is but when a person develops such a system of spirituality and religious observance you know it to be deeply personal and unique to you as an individual and therefore by natural course will usually not recognize or accept those broad strokes as applying to you. Remember that you must view the term pagan is a broadly encompassing term and would be more akin to such umbrella terms as Abrahamic to encompass Christianity, Judaism and Islam and if I said that all Abrahamics do this or go there or believe this it would either one of two effects. 1, it wouldn’t be long before people correct the assertions etc or 2. the individual people would simply not identify with it, conclude that it is not in reference to them and then dismiss it.

I personally don’t particularly care what other people think about the craft so long as they don’t shove it down everyone or anyone’s throat. However there has to be responsibility taken for having given the world reason to judge it; that is to say that if no one spoke of it publicly then people wouldn’t have any perception of it… So I take responsibility personally and sometime I will choose to enter stimulated thoughtful discussion on the subject.
I do not care about ignorant “cat licks” because I do not go out of my way to tell the world about my beliefs, I do not offer information about my spiritual beliefs and practices unprovoked and as such I can choose to engage in discussion or debate on the subject or not. Chances are that I won’t enter such conversations with people I think will turn to catty remarks and quips. I do so here under a pseudonym and by choice (and a slight touch of obligation of taking responsibility upon myself. So shoot me I have an ego)

There are reasons why Wicca in particular is regarded as secretive etc and some people would feel obliged to, as you put it, hide. This is most certainly not done out of shame. In modern days it is not exclusively perceived as being due to fear of other peoples misunderstanding but mostly and more-so due to oaths taken and the nature of the practice. Sure some of this is born of fears of prosecution and in its conception was thought of as a way to emphasize connections with older village wise craft going back to medieval times and the burning times or whatever, connections that simply didn’t exist. Whatever the reason for introducing such reasons is not of import, what is, is taking an oath to what is sacred to you and upon your own life and in front of your gods.

OK, I cannot truly speak for the broader pagan community, however I can speak for myself and at a HUGE stretch, those who follow the same tradition as me.
As some may know from knowing me and through frequenting this forum, I am an initiate of what many would term British traditional witchcraft, that is to say a tradition that owes much, often including traceable lineage to the new forest and Gerald Gardener. As an initiate of Alexandrian Wicca, I, like many Wicae in Ireland have taken an oath at 1st degree initiation. This encompasses a few things pertinent to this conversation.

1. To help, protect and defend my brothers and sisters of the Art
2. Never keep secret and never reveal the secrets of the art except it be to a proper person, properly prepared (within a Circle*)
3. Never deny the secrets to such a person if he or she be properly vouched for by a brother or sister of the art.

(this is the format that can be found in the public domain so therefore I am not using oath-bound materials)
*To my own trad the aspect of within a circle was not cited as part of an oath and with this in mind there are often subtle changes from working group to working group. This is the nature of Wicca. No two groups or covens will use exactly the same material. Books of shadows are passed down, added to and altered and passed on again so there is natural organic growth within the practice.

From this oath a number of common 'laws' have sprung. These are individual interpretations of what that oath means and varies from coven to coven. These ‘laws’, Include

1. The Craft does not proselytize
2. The teachers of the craft do not charge money for training
3. Demarcation of what is or is not oath-bound material within any given group*
4. An obligation to help other witches
5. An obligation to defend the craft
6. An obligation to protect the craft and those who practice it.

*this is decided on a group by group basis and occasionally passed down through individual lines.

This is not dogmatic law because those rituals that are performed have been adapted over the years and within each group you will find differences, some more obvious, some more subtle than others. However, the basic grasp of the oath remains in most groups’ way of working.
Many of these things are held quite sacred by those who hold them .
The point is that you cannot simply say that an occult tradition of any sort hides or conceals or keeps itself private because of perceived stigma.
There may on occasion be the sense of stigma for some and within certain situations true but with all such things the stigma often only lives in the perception we have of what other people think about us as individuals and the many facets of out individuality. It is conscious choice to accept or reject such stigma.
Wow, I thought this would be longwinded but I didn’t think it’d be such an essay… If you have managed to read all of that and take it on board thank you and again apologies for such length.