I am starting this blog as a project for my "Intro to Women and Gender Studies course" I am currently taking this Summer. By starting this blog, I hope to start a conversation and possibly get you to think about gender, sexuality, and identity in a new way! I plan to post 5 to 7 times in the next week. I will be posting a question at the end of each blog and my hope is that you will honestly think about the question and post a comment with your opinion. After the week of posts and comments I will use your answers to analyze and come to a conclusion about my topics I discussed.
My 1st topic I would like to talk about is Identity. This class has really brought about news ways that I think about myself and brought my attention to the way human beings think about and categorize each other everyday! Identity is how you define yourself and consists of several social categories. These include: "gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, nationality, age, religion, dis/ability, and language." (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey; 92)
I myself identify as a white, 31 year old, middle class, lesbian, female, who was born and raised Texas. My identity has gradually developed over my entire life and is still developing and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I learn new things about myself on a regular basis. I feel my identity is my being and is important to me. But, I feel it may not necessarily be important to me for other people to know my identity. I feel that those that I interact with on a daily basis don't need to know my identity in order for us to work together and my identity shouldn't effect our interaction.
So my question for you is: How do you identify yourself? What does this identity mean to you?
To identify myself in terms of how society would "label" me, I would have to say that I am a a 44 year old, white, middle class lesbian female who was born and raised in Syracuse, New York. What this identity means to me is this: I think that identity is yet another way to "label" something, which I think is what most of society seems to need to do to compartmentalize everything so that people, places and things can be put into neat little boxes so that society feels comfortable. My identity is not all of who I am. I feel my personality far more identifies who I am as a human being than my age, gender, etc. do. Some members of society think that my being a lesbian is some taboo "label" that THEY have given me that someone makes me a "bad" person or "going against God and the bible". However, if the identity label of my being a "lesbian" were taken off and society chose to look at me as a human being instead, then society would learn that I am a very good person who does my best at everything I do. I love people with all that I am because I do not know any other way to be. I am of service to people and would help a complete stranger just because I think it is good to be kind to everyone I come into contact with. Does who I am as a human being mean more to society than the label they have placed upon me of being a lesbian? I guess it depends on who you talk to. I hope this helps, Martha. Your friend, Renee'
ReplyDeleteI would "identify" myself as a 37 year old, white, middle class female who was born in Syracuse, New York and raised in the Liverpool-Clay area of Central New York. I am a divorced mother of two children. My daughter, Christen is going to be 19 this Saturday and my son, Brendan just turned 12 last month. I am engaged to a wonderful man that I met through my brother and his friends about 1 1/2 years ago that is divorced with no children. I have been through very difficult relationships in the past from abuse to unfaithfulness which has allowed me to continue to grow from these issues with my current relationships.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the other comments that I am my own self. I dont think being put into specific categories makes me who I am today. I am a very down to earth, go with the flow type of person, undramatic and get along with everyone. I consider myself to be spiritual, not religious, since I dont typically agree with many of their views and hypocritical attitudes.
After all, we are individuals with all different "identities" that we should all value for the diversity in our world that we have created to be what it is today.
-Laura
Female. 34. White. I don't think of myself as having an ethnicity I guess. It is funny that my husband and I were just talking about being generic white people (how we feel about ourselves.. not negative about those who are ethnic.. almost with admiration and envy!!). Heterosexual. Middle class. Christian non-denominational/anti-organized religion however. American. English.
ReplyDeleteSince I have studied the social sciences, I understand why the human brain is almost programmed to categorize other people. It is how the brain organizes information about our surroundings. Your question made me thing about this brain function and how it translates to how we process this structured information and thus it impacts our own belief and behaviors. I believe it was social psychology class that I studied this information.
My identity is primarily influenced by my advanced education, relationship to my family, and status as a business owner/my work.
~Erin
Well...to identify myself is tricky. I suppose I wear several labels, depending on what environment I'm in. I suppose I need to explain what i mean. I am a teacher...so during the day i would say that i must be a role model within the confines of what my community dictates. For the most part, I agree with the roles that i must conform to. However, during the weekend and other times...i like to be more free to be me...if you will. But I think the assignment was to label ourselves. I am a woman, a mother of two, a wife, a daughter, a teacher, a friend, a niece, an aunt, a neighbor, a citizen, a patient, a client, an acquaintance, and a stranger. how do i feel about this? Honestly, i just move from one role to another seamlessly. I suppose i should give it more thought, but i really am just happy being all of it!
ReplyDelete_rhonda
45 years young
I would have to say that I identify myself as an American woman who is white, heterosexual and is 39 years old. I also identify as middle class. I then identify by the roles I have in my relationships with individuals and with my community...for example: wife, mother of 2 boys, sister, aunt, coworker, friend, acquaintance, teacher, advisor, social worker, neighbor, voter, etc..
ReplyDeleteWhat does this identity mean to me? How I identify myself is important to me because it helps me to more fully understand how or why the world interacts with me a certain way and how/why I interact with the world in certain ways. How I identify helps me to understand the lens through which I see the world. How others identify themselves helps me to understand how they may see their world. Understand though that there are no universal truths when it comes to a label. We are all unique individuals even if we have very similar dimensions to our identity. What makes me who I am all those identity dimensions in interaction with each other while also interacting with the enviornment.
1. How do you identify yourself?
ReplyDeleteI identify myself as an educated woman from an upper class family. I also identify myself as a wife, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt and loyal friend. In addition, I identify myself as a charitable person who truly cares about others.
2. What does this identity mean to you?
My identity is how I react and interact with the world. I have my own point of view and I believe my identity allows people to know where I am coming from on most issues.
Identity to me is a product of the human nature to judge. I identify myself through my personality and how society perceives me. Although I can't control other people's perceptions, I can keep a positive attitude to reduce negative judgements.
ReplyDeleteI identify myself as a 31 yr old caucasian, overweight female that is shy, friendly, well educated and logical. I was born in central Mississippi and raised in Texas so I'm viewed as a typical southerner. Despite how society may view me, I feel like a diverse individual that is open minded and accepting to new experiences and different cultures.
I agree with others that an identity is our culture's way of categorizing people into comfort zones through judgements and assumptions. An identity shouldn't control our actions and self esteem, but should encourage acceptance and tolerance of others. Identity is a double edged sword because it makes us all unique individuals, but also creates negativity and hurt.
Katie Kelly