Identity has too often, Ive thought, been seen as a singular concept to many people they see it as unification and consolidation of culture, religion, race, and gender. However, considering the many different aspects of my identity and how greatly my culture, religion, and gender have influenced who I now I am, I prefer to think of it not as unification of these parts of my life as a connectedness that lets them remain distinct. I can and do identify myself as a female, Filipino, American, and Roman Catholic and while these different roles can sometimes contradict each other they also compliment and combine to help me understand who I am.
I have always identified myself first as a woman since its the first distinction made by many people I was not a boy, I was a girl and that alone created the way the world as a whole looked at me. Its the first thing you hear in dramatizations of new births, Its a boygirl After that gender decides what kind of clothes you wear, the toys you play with, the sports you play, and later can have an effect on the overall path of a persons life. Even when I was a very little girl and would play with my friends, boys and girls, as equals there was always the threat of that distinction between male and female. Even when we girls would climb higher in the tree or throw the ball farther than the boys, we were not seen to be excelling as athletes but were instead seen as unfeminine tomboys. Being a girl was always something I was aware of as a child and something that Ive grown more aware of as Ive gotten older. Not only because there are still limits in societys mind of what I can do as a female but also because I have become more consciously aware of my own physical femaleness and how it has shaped me.
In addition to gender, my cultural identification plays a big part in my identity. Though I was born in the Philippines, I am an American citizen, and identify myself as not only American or Filipino but the combination of the two, Filipino-American. Ive known people who are just like me but identify themselves as only one or the other, preferring to associate themselves with only one aspect of their identity. But for me, it allows me to join the parts of my life, my past and cultural history in the Philippines with my present and future in the United States. Since I was born in the Philippines, I was able to know and live the culture first hand through my own experiences as well as later in my relationship with my family. Regardless of how far away I live from the Philippines, the language, culture, and food will always be a part of me as an individual. More importantly, its the place of my familys history and without that connection I would not be here today. However, I embrace my role as an American too. My present and future will be shaped by my life as part of this society.
Lastly, my faith and understanding of God through the Roman Catholic Church lets me look beyond my physical existence and embrace my spiritual self. I can think I understand myself based only on views of the world around me and who I am, but without my faith in God I think I would be missing a major part of myself. It lets me view myself in a broader sense, as part of Gods will. Religion also lets me connect with people, not only my family who share in my Catholic faith but also other Catholics through our common faith. Like gender, it isnt specific to a country or race but is everywhere. It provides a community mindset within the larger global community and through it I identify with other people across cultural and gender lines.
All three of these, gender, cultural identity, and religion have contributed greatly to how I see myself. I am not simply a woman, a Filipino, an American, or a Catholic. I am instead all of these things. Each of these things has shaped my past, individually and collectively, and will continue to affect the choices I make and the way in which I see the world. These are the things which I believe to be at the core of my identity, they are who I am, and more importantly will affect who I will become.
I have always identified myself first as a woman since its the first distinction made by many people I was not a boy, I was a girl and that alone created the way the world as a whole looked at me. Its the first thing you hear in dramatizations of new births, Its a boygirl After that gender decides what kind of clothes you wear, the toys you play with, the sports you play, and later can have an effect on the overall path of a persons life. Even when I was a very little girl and would play with my friends, boys and girls, as equals there was always the threat of that distinction between male and female. Even when we girls would climb higher in the tree or throw the ball farther than the boys, we were not seen to be excelling as athletes but were instead seen as unfeminine tomboys. Being a girl was always something I was aware of as a child and something that Ive grown more aware of as Ive gotten older. Not only because there are still limits in societys mind of what I can do as a female but also because I have become more consciously aware of my own physical femaleness and how it has shaped me.
In addition to gender, my cultural identification plays a big part in my identity. Though I was born in the Philippines, I am an American citizen, and identify myself as not only American or Filipino but the combination of the two, Filipino-American. Ive known people who are just like me but identify themselves as only one or the other, preferring to associate themselves with only one aspect of their identity. But for me, it allows me to join the parts of my life, my past and cultural history in the Philippines with my present and future in the United States. Since I was born in the Philippines, I was able to know and live the culture first hand through my own experiences as well as later in my relationship with my family. Regardless of how far away I live from the Philippines, the language, culture, and food will always be a part of me as an individual. More importantly, its the place of my familys history and without that connection I would not be here today. However, I embrace my role as an American too. My present and future will be shaped by my life as part of this society.
Lastly, my faith and understanding of God through the Roman Catholic Church lets me look beyond my physical existence and embrace my spiritual self. I can think I understand myself based only on views of the world around me and who I am, but without my faith in God I think I would be missing a major part of myself. It lets me view myself in a broader sense, as part of Gods will. Religion also lets me connect with people, not only my family who share in my Catholic faith but also other Catholics through our common faith. Like gender, it isnt specific to a country or race but is everywhere. It provides a community mindset within the larger global community and through it I identify with other people across cultural and gender lines.
All three of these, gender, cultural identity, and religion have contributed greatly to how I see myself. I am not simply a woman, a Filipino, an American, or a Catholic. I am instead all of these things. Each of these things has shaped my past, individually and collectively, and will continue to affect the choices I make and the way in which I see the world. These are the things which I believe to be at the core of my identity, they are who I am, and more importantly will affect who I will become.
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