“If you possess enough courage to speak out what you are, you will find you are not alone,” Richard Wright said, true acceptance of your true identity can lead to only positive outcomes. There are multiple identity factors that can help people identify who they are; some identities you are able to pick and some you are born into. Gender status and ethnicity are two top components of a person’s identity, they usually structure how people experience life. However, not everyone goes through the same experiences as other people with other identity factors. Throughout your life you are modeled into the person you are because of your gender status; you pick and chose what you wear, who you want to surround yourself with, your love interests, and other things you might want to do. Ethnicity is another important identity factor that people are born into. Usually, this helps people identify and relate to a specific social group that share common national or cultural traditions. When these two identity factors are intertwined the outcomes are all different. These outcomes include: the way societies sees you, what job you are able to get, who you are going to marry, or even being discriminated against. In the essay, Speaking While Female, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant expresses major struggles and insecurities of speaking out that women face. So already if you identity yourself with a specific gender status it can determine how people might view you. However, unlike gender status,
Most people, unless they choose to be an outsider, want to be considered “cool.” Whether it’s to fit in with a peer group, or clique, or to impress someone in particular, like a member of the opposite sex, or a potential mate. Or possibly to gain something from an individual for financial or social gain (see “Scamming”).
Identity is what defines us as a person. Everyone one on earth has their own unique identity. To showcase my identity, I created a collage of images and descriptive words, called an identi-kit. This identi-kit shows what I feel like is my identity to myself and the others. My identi-kit identifies me as a mixed martial artist. The identi-kit has images of a deadly shark with mixed martial arts gloves on that say mixed martial arts on the front and fight shorts with the words competitor and warrior on them. It also has descriptive words like “killer instinct” and “fight” which describe my spirit. There are three assumptions that come to question when asking about one’s identity. The first is if you were born with this
Race and gender are two facets that inherently dominate individuals everyday lives. A person’s social environment, work environment, and educational environment is congruent to their race and gender. From birth, it has been set up that everyone is assigned to a label. A pink or blue blanket is swaddled around a newborn child and a box is checked signifying that child’s place in society. These two actions ultimately define how a child is to be viewed and treated. As children grow into young adults they either decide to stick with their original assignment, while others decide to deviate from it. These individuals deviation results in many of them being viewed harshly and looked down upon because they strayed from their social norms. This constant cycle of being classified and labeled from birth is the social institution of gender and race. These social institutions aid in the inequality that is present in society, and race and gender are shaped by this. However, if these social institutions were removed, race and gender could dissipate. This is due to the fact that race and gender are not real, but are socially constructed concepts used to organize the power, or dominance, within our society to one social group over the other groups.
Identity is the characteristics that determine who a person is, not all factors in a person’s identity are chosen for example race or gender, whereas being a New York Yankee fan is a chosen aspect in someone’s identity. Following that statement there are certain pre-determined assumptions about particular pieces that make up one’s identity, those assumptions, however are not chosen by the person with said identity. If you are a woman in today’s society you are under constant criticism, whether it is in your work ethic, the way you look, and even the way you conduct yourself. Sadly, being a woman is not the only aspect of someone 's identity that is constantly under scrutiny. Race is a major part a person’s identity, whether they themselves think so or not. This is a white man’s world that we live in so consequently if you are anything other than that you will most definitely encounter hardships in life.
In the article from the 2016 book, Rereading AMERICA: Cultural Context For Critical Thinking And Writing by Aaron H. Devor titled “Becoming Members of Society,” Devor illustrates what it means to become a member of society based off learning their gender identity. Based on attributes that are identified with a type of gender offers insight into the social meaning of gender. Societies base gender off on characteristics identified with “masculinity” or “femininity” instead of sex characteristics. The general idea of the social meaning of gender is that men are the dominant ones, while women should be delicate and dependent on a man. The way society bases a gender is off of a body’s demeanor or tone of voice, which creates a false illusion to
There are many aspects that are apart of developing a person’s identity and sense of who they are. We are fully responsible for the outcome of our life according to Sarte. There are no excuses in life and we are responsible for our successes and for our failures. Whether we choose to sit back and wait for whatever to happen around us or take action and try to go out and make the changes you want in your life, you are responsible for all the lows and the highs. Our values are formed from the decisions we make, which help us form our identity. The decisions you make in life have an impact on you’re happiness. This can be through making a difference in the world or finding love or having a successful career.
Reflecting on my experiences with critical theory and critical race theory it reminds me of the challenges some students brought to our administration of how an individual wanted to be identified as a gender and how they choose to
My identity is something that that no one can take away from me. As I am still growing and learning, I can say that I have found many things that appeal to me. My interests will help define my personality and express myself in ways that I can’t express through words. I enjoy finding new things to do and doing my best in aiming towards my goals. I have many goals, but I know that I can only accomplish them through patience and perseverance.
There are millions of words across the globe that are used to describe people and uncover their identity, but what is identity? How can you begin to describe something that varies so greatly from one human being to another? Can you create a universal meaning for a word describing human concepts that people often fail to define for themselves? Of course there isn't one definition to define such a word. It is an intricate aspect of human nature, and it has a definition just as complex.
Over time we have overcome slavery, segregation, unfair rights for women, hate for same sex and much more. Something that has all ways and still is around is stereotypes. It may not be extreme as it used to be but it is still there. Today we live in such a diverse community you would think that we wouldn't even have a problem. If you go on social media you see people only highlight the fake and not the good. Women today have an expectation of how they should look. A girl with makeup and a photoshopped picture can get 20+ likes while a girl without gets below 10. True identity online doesn't appeal as much what the trend is. The book importance in this situation would be to stay true and be you declining to be what other want you to
My biological sex, gender expression, and gender identity neatly align, there is a level of correspondence as I engage with the surroundings around me. Like many forms of social privilege, that I have, this is a fundamental aspect of my life that I never completely thought about before. From the forms I fill out, the clothing stores I shop in, or identification papers I carry bring few, if any, second thoughts. Yet, for someone who doesn't identify as cisgender, each of these, and many more examples, is a constant reminder that they live in a culture that doesn't account for their own experience. Social privilege comes from an assumption that one's own perspective is universal; whether related to race, language, or gender privilege comes from
In order to determine who I am, I would like to discuss the issues related to gender and race, which are regarded as important traits that contribute to the awareness and identification of self. To begin with, it is necessary to clarify the distinction between gender
To be an American is to have traits of freedom the thing that the founding fathers counted on is to have the will to speak freely and to have the will of religion in the constitution it say that every citizen should have life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This impacts and brings everyone from different places to help create a society that is free. The founding fathers also counted for the people to speak for what is right. The reason is because this helps out on what the people want instead of the government wants this goes to show that the people matter and that is what makes a person happy and also makes a person feel like they have the pursuit to be happy.
Gendered socialization happens regardless of how the individual happens to feel about his or her identity. Different oppression women face does not happen because they know that they are girls and to think of themselves as girls. They occur because those girls inhabit bodies that are female. My first critique of gender identity is that it implies that girls and women who suffer gender-based violence and oppression are supposed to have identified with that reality and that an individual can identify out of their
The following paper will discuss two of the major dimensions of my cultural identity, and analyze the way in which my identity holds privileges, or has exposed me to oppression. Being that I am white, I have lived a life of privilege simply because of the color of my skin. I have been afforded opportunities, and lived a life free from persecution due to my skin color. I have also lived a life that has been impacted by oppression because of my female identity. This unique position between privilege and oppression is where I live my life.