Personal Narrative: Social Identity

What is identity? The definition as a person’s own sense of whom they are, which their past define them. Identity is very important in our society, no matter your social status. I can attach identity to belonging to something or place. As human race, we feel the need to belong to a group or place. Because belonging to a group or place, give us the sense of identity.

Social identity is most commonly explained as a person’s awareness of who they are according to groups they assign themselves with (social class, teams, family, etc.). When I think about my own social identity I ask myself, “What defines me?” Social identities allow us to have a sense of belonging in a hectic world.

Identity is what I believe the thing that makes up all human beings. Everybody has an identity, some just aren't as brisk to comprehend what it is or what it means. Identity is generally what someone's traits make up and in my case, I believe I am benevolent, venturesome, and optimistic. Some of the qualities I consider myself to have are not what I would have considered myself to be last year. I believe life lessons that someone undergoes can change their identity and the way they come off drastically.

I grew up in the suburban town of Brunswick, Ohio. Brunswick being a not-so diverse area with most of its citizens being Caucasian and have what some would consider having “old fashioned” values. I went to public school throughout my entire education. I had a typical family, consisting of a mother, a father and two sisters. Many would say nothing about my upbringing was “unique” or “diverse.” However, as surrounded by “typical” as I was, there is something different about the way I grew up. I had to adapt as a gay man in this, very conventional community. Throughout my life I was surrounded by the familiar man meets woman, they have children and start a family. Nobody in my family has ever been associated with the LGBT community and I do

In a society where appearance is associated with who a person is and how they are viewed, stereotypes are formed for both genders. Women are supposed to be sensitive, caring and submissive. For instance if a woman chooses not to fit the status quo she would be labeled as “tomboy” or a “cross dress”. While men are to be providers, hard workers, and protectors unto others but if men fail to be seen as such they are considered to be homosexual or

In society, children are taught expectations as to what is sociably acceptable: who to like, what to wear, and where to live, based on of the environment they grew up in. As children grow up, and go on through life, they then begin to impose these expectations onto the people around them. More often than not these societal expectations conform with that of a heteronormative mindset1. In a modern western context, heteronormativity is the notion that people fall into distinct genders, male and female, and lead natural roles in life all while conforming to the ideology of traditional binary gender roles. Such heteronormative bias asserts that traditional binary gender

Strolling into my last hour of the day like any other, only to find that there was a substitute, another day of busy work instead of reviewing for the test. I sat in my assigned seat in the back of the class as usual, while the sub introduced himself.

Who am I? I’m I considered African or African American? So what is my social identity? Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership(s). Social groups such as family, organizations, sports team, etc plays an important role a person’s pride and self esteem. Interacting in such groups gives us a sense of belongingness, which leads to our social identity in the social.

Identity. Who we are. How we define ourselves. Imagine taking away something that defines you. You’re left feeling “who am I?”

     Growing up in a heterosexual world as a Lesbian who remained in many closets, has shape my identity and the way I will transact with people for the rest of my life. Upon coming out of closet, or being pushed out (by suspension from parents and friends) at the age of eighteen or nineteen I quickly assumed the bi-sexual title because it meant at least there was hope for me in the future. This proved to be worse for my self-esteem, and may have caused the most damage because even though I was free to come out, I was still afraid (somewhat) of taking the big leap and being totally ostracized by my friends and people I know. So I felt one million times worst trying to be

One of the things that I struggle with in life is Identity. I have been questing God about seminary school, family, friends, work, marriage, kids and even the color of my skin. I come from a place where if you are a black man wearing a pair of jeans with a white tee shirt you are considered a thug, or if you have twist, dreadlock you are a thug. I come from a place where your father is not in your life and over 70% of he black man are raised in a fatherless home. Where most of uses are raised in the street because, them are the only man in our life that will pay use some attention. But in my case I was blessed to go home to a dad ever night even though I can’t tell you anything about my father for the simple fact that he never gave me a hung, kiss, tell me he loves me, spend any time with me, say anything positive, always talking to me and my mom like we are noting, even beat my mom and when you try to tell family about it they just look at me like am crazy.

The word identity is normally associated with race, religious beliefs and looks, however, I believe identity is much deeper than that and can only be seen by its beholder. It is a person's inner passions or interests, who they are inside.The topic of identity made me think deeply about who I am and what I value; how others may perceive me as.One hard thing about this exercise was deciding wheater or not to include religion as a part of my identity, and in the end my religion did not define me enough to include it in my identity. At about eight o’clock at night when I was stuck on the topic of identity and who I was, I realised that it was not my race, religion, or looks that shaped me personally

Growing up in America with Taiwanese-American parents has shaped my life and my personality. In Georgia there are little to no areas with Taiwanese influences and culture. Therefore when we were younger, my sister and I went to school together in an area where there weren’t many Asian families residing.

This is a bias that I am working very hard to unlearn. In terms of gender and sexuality, I was raised in a world where everyone was a cisgender person and heterosexual. If we're not either of those, you were othered. With that said, traditional gender roles were very much the norm. Despite efforts, I began to categorize people based upon their presumed gender; for example a masculine woman must be a lesbian. However, this changed once I became older and realized presuming somebody’s gender/sexuality based on their outer appearance is not okay. Then I realized I was an LGBT person.

There are very different emotions and parts that make you who you are.Things that make me up are, I’m very active and athletic. I’m not the most social person but I enjoy