Labels...Good or Bad?

In response to Griffin Thayer's question, "Do you think that labels will confide us and make us stay within their boundaries?"...

     While Griffin formed this question out of the context of discussions on theism, atheism, and agnosticism, I will expand this to a broader context. Labels have existed  for hundreds of years, and have been a way to include, cast out, and separate people and things. They do confide many people. People tend to see themselves as strictly in the categories of male or female, American or non-American, black or white. But, as with anything else, their are thousands of exceptions. Humans were not born to fit one label, but instead cover the broad ranges in between them. So, there are transgendered people, those who identify equally as being from America and another country, and people who are born both black and white. Society likes to strictly impose boundaries, and people do not like the fact (though it is true) that the lines are fuzzy. While categorizing people may seem logical in theory, it often has repercussions, as is evident through the social revolutions of the 20th Century.
     Labels might be something that we use to find where we belong, or to keep us feeling safe, but as I have mentioned, many people staunchly resist the label that is placed upon them. For though it might be human nature to give labels, it is also within human nature to resist them. Have you ever been labeled? Did you agree with this label, or did you try hard to resist it?