At birth everyone is given a set of identities but as they grow up and find their place in the world with people they love those identities will change. I believe that changing identities throughout life will help a person develop into a better person. If a person has identified as multiple different things in his or her past then he or she will be more willing to accept and appreciate those who are different. I grew up being taught to always treat others the way I wanted to be treated and at times that can be hard, but I have always strived to be a kind and caring person. I was born and raised in Olathe, Kansas. Olathe is a very large city, so my community was only a small part of the city. I consider my community to be my neighborhood and …show more content…
In school we are taught to feel like white’s have the advantage because of the way whites treated blacks in history. I was told that I should feel almost special because I could go to an interview and not be judged by my skin color. I think I always felt like I was most targeted by my age. My birthday is August 6 and in my school district the cutoff date for a child to do to school is September 1. Because my birthday is so close to the cutoff date, I have always been the youngest in my class. Through middle school and high school I was always picked on because I was younger than my friends and classmates and I was also the last person to get to do anything. All of my friends got later curfews than me, got to drive before me, and got their own car before me just because they were …show more content…
Living in the college dorms I feel like class and race are the most salient in my life. It is easy to tell what economic class a student came from based on what he or she does in his or her free time. If the student has a job and conserves money as much as possible then he or she did not come from a very high class, but if the student dose not really care about how much he is spending or what he is spending the money on then he came from a higher class. On my floor there is a number a different races and we are all mostly accepting of each other but I have been told stories of how each one of them have been discriminated against. I feel that sex and gender are the least salient identity in my life because I am, along with my friends and my classmates, accepting of all the different genders there are than just male and female. I grew up with a family who went against the stereotypical norms of what a male and female should do and be. I have a single mom who grew up doing everything a father should and an older brother who dances for a living. This belief that a man can do whatever a woman can do vice versa helped me more accepting of the idea that there are other genders and those who are of different genders have the same rights as the rest of us. I believe that my experiences growing up with a unique and different family have made me more comfortable with people who are
A person shouldn’t let anyone or anything other than themselves change who they are. However, many allow themselves to constantly be changed and molded by the world around them. This world contains many factors that can influence one’s identity. This shows that identity isn’t something that remains the same over time, in reality, it’s always changing. A few things that could influence a person’s identity may be society, family, and life experiences.
What influences a person’s identity? Does one get an identity when they are able to differentiate right from wrong, or are they born with it? There is not one thing that gives a person their identity, there are however, many different factors that contribute to one’s identity. From Contemplation in a World of Action written by Thomas Merton, Merton advocates identity by stating that “A person does not simply “receive” his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges. Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by” (Merton). Concurring with Merton a person is not given their identity at birth or while developing as an embryo, rather it is something that you create for yourselves over the course of life through decisions and actions made by the individual. Although identity is something that one may not be fully aware of or discover until last breaths. Identity can
I am an African, black female who grew up in a predominantly white environment around my living space, and attended a predominantly white private school. In relation to class, I have been fortunate and privileged enough to be placed in a living environment that allowed me to receive the best education,
In learning about different ways that we as a society categorize and divide people, it is essential to understand what about people it is that we feel the need to label and differentiate between. When a person is born into this world, there are certain statuses that they automatically obtain, called ascribed statuses (Henslin 98). These statuses determine each person’s social location in society. This includes gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and ability. Each person has their own unique social location, and is affected in a different way than the next person may be. As a white, queer, cisgender, middle class, female, in relatively good health, I have always been relatively privileged.
Bobbie Harro states in “The cycle of socialization” (2000), “No one brings us a survey, in the womb, inquiring which gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, cultural group, ability status, or age we might want to be born. These identities are ascribed to us at birth through no effort or decision or choice of our own” (p.16). I was born into a system, just like everyone else, where I was judged and labeled due to the social categories that I identify with. What I have experienced throughout my schooling has shaped and molded my sense of self and the way that I view myself in terms of my gender and race/ethnicity. I live in a world where I have been both praised and ridiculed for these differing characteristics that seem to define me, but
In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than my color of skin. I knew that there were rich people and poor people, and that there were girls and boys. I saw everyone as being human beings, as being the same and not classified as something. As I was growing up, I started to see the differences in classifications in groups. It was not because I just woke up knowing that there were different classifications, but because I was taught about them in school and society. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class and gender shape the experiences of all people in the United States. (2010) This means that experiences that we have gone through in life are formed from a race, class, and gender view.
A person 's beginnings do not completely define a person, but it does serve as a permanent foundation from which their identity is built around. As children, we absorb every sight and experience like porous sponges. Family, religion, environment, culture -- all of these aspects slowly form the background of one 's identity. As an Asian American, this identity is very different from that of a native Chinese woman 's, for I have parts of both cultures within me. It is a unique identity which I believes acts as a double edged sword. Being born into two cultures is a wonderful in that one can be a part of two cultures, but it is also a very confusing to be "divided" between two very different cultures.
Traditionally, members of our society feel most comfortable when they’re able to categorize people into boxes based on their identity. People use these unrealistically small boxes to divide up every person they meet between man or woman, rich or poor, and White/Black/Hispanic/Asian etc. Regardless of a person’s desire to participate or not, society will include them in this system of division. Although race, class, and gender are all components in my identity, I, personally, view gender as the most influential.
My social location consists of being a female that is white, heterosexual, and cis-gendered. I have a cis-gendered, white partner and he and I visually present as a couple that would conform to gender identity roles within society (even though we actually do not). I am able-bodied, I am still considered a youth at 23 years old, and I guess I am considered middle-class. It is hard to identify my class as I am both of a lower-class and a middle-class since I am a student living off of student loans and have accumulated a lot of debt yet I am in a position of power since I have been giving the opportunity to go to post-secondary education directly after high school.
There are numerous ways to identify who we are. But who we are is not about the circumstances of your life or what you do for a living or the the roles we play or what are beliefs or affiliations are. Those are the false identities we tend to cling to. You open yourself to more possibility - and more of who you truly are!
Identity-“Ones personal qualities.”Identiy is something only he or she can fully define. My uncle says I am affectionate,cheerful, and calm. My grandmother sees me as slim, pretty and sweet. My dad described me as perky, cheerful and happy, my mom says beautiful, gentle, and self-conscious. These adjectives describe me accurately, yet they are only abstract versions of me. Adjectives cannot begin to describe me and I aknowlege these descriptions for what they are, a condensed translation from my outward self to the world. It is impossible for anyone to understand me completely because nobody has experienced the things I have. My mother has never cherished a raggedy doll named Katie and my father never spent hours upon hours making collages and scrap books for his future children. My uncle never hid in the back of a pick-up-truck and traveled four hours to New York and my grandmother has never walked hours in the rain looking for the Queen of England. My identity is something only I can define.
... and fight to gain back their identity and true being. Having an identity makes people feel apart of something bigger, and understand what it means to be the real you and not to hide who you are, or let fear get the best of you.
The story about I Martranika Gross, called changing my life. It all begin with many ideals that I had in mind to become while changing my life so my daughter will fix in. First was continue my education at Strayer University and a journey to follow. Next, becoming a role model with a pathway lay out for my daughter, a showing her not to stay you can’t to become successful. Finally, overcome obstacles first you have to have faith within yourself, and the key word is knowledge.
DeCuir-Gunby (2009) states that identity is “a formation process begins at birth, peaks during adolescence, and continues to develop throughout adulthood, thus allowing an individual to fully negotiate multiple identities.” During adolescence, the peak of identity development, it is the most judgemental and children
It has been said, “The hardest part about growing up, is letting go of what you were used to; and moving on with something you’re not” (insert citation). Everyone grows up in different places, but it is the ability to move on that allows each person to grow. I have spent my fair share of time in different places, especially with being a ‘military brat.’ Places change people, not because they are a specific geographical coordinate, but because the people one comes across in the different places affects her. My life became what it is because I fell in love with new people and made memories in Oregon, Texas, Nevada, and New York.