Multiple Identities

[Entermaid]

No, no this is not related to multiple personalities disorder, but rather identities/attributes we most concern ourselves with. Everyone has them, whether or not we actively think about them and the degree they affect our lives.

Rank order the following 11 identities in their importance to your identity or everyday life choices and thought processes. (affect on your life's perspective)

Feel free to list next your rank headings specific identities.
ex:

1. Religion (Catholic)
2. Race (Hispanic and Black)
...

Race/Ethnicity
ex. Black, White, Hispanic, ect.

Religion
ex. Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Atheist, Agnostic, Spiritual, ect.

Occupation
ex. student, unemployed/between jobs, teacher, sales, retail, ect.

Class
ex. low-income, middle-income, high-income, upper-lower income, ect.
(mostly related to parents/family)
Example (not me)

Language
ex. Spanish, English, Mandarin, Sign Language, ect.

Nationality
American, Japanese, Mexican (where you have citizenship)

National Origin
Mexican-American, Italian-American, Lebanese-American,ect
This is not race, but country you or your parents/grandparents are from in relation to where you live.

Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status
ex. Blind, Hearing-Impairment, HIV +, Autistic, Bipolar, Healthy and Able-bodied, ect.

Sexuality
ex. Bi, straight, gay, asexual, ect

Gender
ex. male, female, agender, transgender, intersex (anything related to biological sex and gender identification.)

Age
ex. young adult, teen, middle-aged, ect.

Example:

1. Race
2. National Origin
3. Gender
4. Sexuality
5. Occupation
...
11. Age

 

[Flushed]

Spoiler:

1. Gender (Trans-female)
2. National Origin (Asian-American)
3. Race/Ethnicity (Asian)
4. Religion (Agnostic)
5. Age (19)
6. Language (primarily English)
7. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status (Minor-degree mental detriments, i.e. Depression, Anxiety, resulting mainly from stress of 1./10.)
8. Sexuality (Bisexual)
9. Class (Middle)
10. Occupation (Student)
11. Nationality (American)

I think this is the most info I've ever included about myself, and all in one post haha. Basically attributes that tend to deviate from the statistical majorities tend to rank higher on my list.

1. Mention the word "identity" and I will automatically slap "gender" in front. It's a phrase I'm all too familiar with. Because of the incongruity between my sex and gender, that is the aspect of my identity that's most defining, especially now as far as timing is concerned, because it's a very pressing issue that I'm currently dealing with. It's interesting because this is something that a lot of trans people, myself included, would like to eventually fall to a lower position. I'm not ashamed of my gender identity, however, as the nature of the topic goes, being able to live without gender identity being such a priority to one's self or someone else's perception of your identity is something that's a goal for a lot of people (the whole identifying as female thing as opposed to trans-female).

2./3./6. Race is also a big one, especially as a "minority", but also regarding the difference in culture and being raised in a country different from your parents/grandparents/etc. The language barrier is a large part of why race is 3 and not 2. The fact that I have trouble conversing with my own family makes me identify much more as an Asian-American as opposed to just Asian. Besides those instances though, language doesn't usually come into play and thus sits lower.

5. Regarding age, I've only known life as a young person (duh?), so it really is part of my identity, which probably makes growing up so hard, the nature of taking on a new identity is difficult. Time elapse is such a peculiar concept, thusly I find myself identifying with a group based on age because this part of your identity actually will change, and I feel the need to be a part of that group while I still can.

11. The rest are important, but less so. More specifically, I intended nationality to rank lowest. I'm not ashamed to be an American, there's just no pride there. I have no patriotism or urge to vote and be a part of it all. It's funny because I really enjoy that sense of camaraderie and togetherness, i.e. with a graduating class or with sports fans, it's just while being an American isn't exactly deplorable, there just doesn't seem to be a point to all the pride and glamour. In the land of freedom and democracy I don't actually feel free, or feel like I have the ability to make a difference. It just feels like a part of my identity that could change the next day and I wouldn't be affected (i.e. move to Canada or something).

 

[Shiny Bunnelby]

Race/Ethnicity:
White.
Religion:
None/Atheist.
Occupation:
Unemployed. Seeking part-time.
Class:
Lower-Middle.
Language:
American English; Southern Dialect.
Nationality:
American.
Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status:
Extremely poor eyesight, anxious, but otherwise healthy.
Sexuality:
Heterosexual.
Gender:
Female.
Age:
22.

 

[Phantom1]

1. Gender: Female. Though I'm pretty masculine for a chick.
2. National Origin: See here's where I differ, I think. I see myself as American, yeah. But my family comes from quite a few backgrounds. I'm mostly Romanian, which would put me as Eastern European. On one side at least. My other side is mostly Polish/Irish.
3. Race/Ethnicity: White.
4. Religion: Atheist
5. Age: 23
6. Language: English, Spanish, Polish
7. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status: Asperger's syndrome. Suffered from depression and anxiety in my younger years. Much more laid back now. Heart on my sleeve type. Chivalrous. Nice to a fault.
8. Sexuality: Homosexual. Lesbian. Rainbow-unicorn-queen.
9. Class: Poor as dirt.
10. Occupation: Contract security officer at a hospital/part time emt.
11. Nationality: American

 

[Lotus the Cat]

1. Gender - Female
2. Sexuality - Heterosexual
3. Religion - None
4. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status - Shy, short tempered, forgetful, myopia, but otherwise physically healthy
5. Age - 27
6. Occupation - Engineer
7. Nationality - Australian
8. Class - Middle
9. Race/Ethnicity - White
10. Language - English
11. National Origin - an amalgam of random western European countries. The most solid sources are Germany and England.

For class that is what I'd classify myself and my husband. As an independent 27 year old I don't think it's relevant to list my parent's class.

 

[Ivysaur]

1. Sex: Male
2. Sexuality: Mostly heterosexual
3. Religion: None
4. Age: 23
5. Occupation: Journalist
6. Socio-economic status: Middle class
7. Nationality: Spanish
8. Race/Ethnicity: Looking at the European Classification of Ethnicities, I am a Castilian Spaniard.
9. Language: Spanish, English, average level of Catalan.
10. National Origin: 100% Spanish as far as I can trace back.

 

[Entermaid]

Most Relevant
1. Occupation: Academia
2. Socioeconomic: Middle Class
3. Nationality: American
4. Sexuality: Homosexual

Somewhat Relevant
5. Gender: Male
6. Religion: Philosophically evolving sense of morality and prospective on belief systems.
7. Age: Old Child/ Young Adult struggle
8. Race: White/Native American

Not Relevant
9. Health: Nothing life-altering
10. National Origin: Czech, Scottish, German, Native American
11. Language: English, some Spanish.

My whole life is shaped by my work...my sense of morality and decisions both personal and work related. My friends, coworkers, superiors, ect are both my non-work and work life...it's sort of the gig. I think our functions in society really ought to be a primary concern of our identity. I am a X and I perform Y for a living. I guess, for me, purpose and function are a major component to life.

Being a middle class child, I was afforded many opportunities and lived the "normal" childhood life, and I seek the same in my future. Though, this identity has wavered from low-middle to upper-middle back and forth over time. It gives me a sense of the struggles impoverished Americans deal with, which I am sure is nothing compared to other countries, as well as the sense of knowing how well I have it in life.

My american identity shapes my views on world issues...not necessarily American exceptionalism or hegemony, but rather, that the interests of Americans should have greater weight on policy change. Further, along the lines of middle class status, I have lived a mid-western american-pie sort of life growing up.

I really should have added regional identity for the US. Perhaps, "local/regional identity" would be more generalizable.

 

[Torchick08]

Top Priority
1. Nationality- Canadian
2. Race: Native American
3. Gender: female
4. Sexuality: Lesbian
5.Age: Young Adult
6. Occupation: Manager
7.National Origin: Canadian. both sides of family tree.

Things im Meh about:

8.Class: Middle Class
9. Language- English
10. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status: i tend not to care about much of anything or anyone. at this point in life its all about me and getting my life together for myself. im able bodied but my foot is kinda messed up if i stretch the ligament to much.
11.Religion: Christian

I love being Canadian. i love the sterotype of it being the "nice person" traveling around the world makes me much fonder of home. i can't see myself living anywhere else but canada. the world is so lovely and the places ive been to and want to go definitely have attractions but home is where my heart is. My gender is important to me because well alot of times im compared to a boy even though i don't try and be one? im just idk not slim... and then the fact im lesbian. ATM im still in the closet but thats just cause i haven't found the right person to actually try a relationship with. ive tried. didn't work out. and right now. my life is about work. im focusing on me and myself. im middle class. its what my family is and how i was raised. but that is from hard work. i never had need for want but i do work for all the things i have. just the one thing i don't really care about or care much to identify with is religion. i was raised in a catholic household went to a catholic school. but then i have my native american heritage. and i do love my culture. my roots. i respect others and their views on their religion just dont shove it down my throat and we are good.

 

[Kanzler]

Most Relevant
1. Race/ethnicity - I am Chinese. In a multiethnic society and campus where your cultural differences are celebrated, it's something that can influence my actions every day. Also, I have a girlfriend and in our interactions my cultural background comes to the fore.

1.5 Immigrant - Although I've lived in this country for over 80% of my life, that I wasn't born here carries disproportionate weight to my identity. I feel that it validates my difference from others (despite the fact that's what Western individualism is all about! and as well the whole every child is unique and stuff they teach in schools nowadays).

2. Class - upper middle class where life is comfortable. I seem to be in tune with the privilege I have because of wealth especially because some of my friends (to my surprise) aren't really. I'm not a fan of buying things you don't need.

3. Occupation - student. I don't have a job. I don't intend to have a job for some time if my educational path carries on. I relate to people around my age concerning our education/work because that's when career starts.

Somewhat Relevant
4. Gender - male. It's not a prominent factor at all, but I suspect it influences my identity greatly beneath the surface.

5. National Origin - from the People's Republic of China, does influence the way I relate to other Chinese as well as my view on international relations.

6. Impairment and Health Status - I do consider myself as someone who's physically healthy and but with an attention deficit. I do in some way see myself as a person who's easily distracted/forgetful etc etc.

7. Nationality - Canadian, definitely influences how I interact with people of other nationalities, but obviously not salient in everyday life.

8. Religion - as an atheist, it doesn't come often in conversation.


Not Relevant
9. Sexuality - straight and therefore bland and not important.

10. Age - not something I think about often but like I mentioned above influences other factors.

11. Language - having learned a couple languages I don't feel that I have a strong connection to it - I wouldn't consider myself a non-native speaker of English (although technically I am) and I'm not illiterate in Chinese either. There's nothing here to differentiate myself from other people and so I consider it one of the weaker foundations of my identity.

Also you left out political leaning! That could be important for some people, whether they go by Rep/Dem, conservative/moderate/liberal, socialist, statist, anarchist, anti-establishment, cynical, disillusioned, confused or simply doesn't care :P

Also I think the immigrant identity is important for some people and I've squeezed it in up there.

 

[£]

Order: Most important in my mind first, least important last.

Language - English
Well I suppose critically, my lack of other lingual skills means that I'm instantly limited to communicating in one language. Kinda defines my interactions with others off the bat! At work when I'm calling brokers etc. in other countries, I resent how awful I was at picking up Spanish/French at school.

Age - 22
Age is but a number. I suppose it's an indication of the things I've seen though. So I guess this is very handy in defining me. You wouldn't talk to me about living under Margaret Thatcher as a Prime Minister, because I wasn't around then! Or if you were, you'd be talking to me about how it was rather than my own personal experiences etc.

Nationality - British
RULE BRITTANIAAAA. This is where I'm from, land of the posh and the chavvy. People argue that I'm both. I guess I'm into the British culture and such and this governs a lot of conversations I have, moreso earlier on.

Class - Working class (COMMON SCUMMMM)
I wouldn't say pride is the right word but damn I make a fine commoner. Actually, it probably is pride in my COMMON ROOTS. Though I do always think about wanting to work my way to something a bit more... classy.

Occupation - Administrator
This is what I am, this is what I do. THIS IS ME. And I actually don't really mind my job!

Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status - Healthy for the most part! This means that I'm able to uh, do most things? Kinda handy. I consider myself fortunate for now, but I do hold slight fear for every little back ache, every minor thing that happens, as my body's not gonna hold together forever, is it?

Gender - male
I am a guy. This is rather evident I suppose. I can't imagine I'd be much different as a female, except I'd probably be a monthly nightmare. If I wasn't temperamental enough, a few mood swings and the pain of childbirth would certainly help me on the way! I imagine I'd be treated differently as a female and idk people should be treated as people rather than genders. But maybe that's just me.

Religion - Agnostic
I accept other faiths and it can be quite interesting to hear what others have to say at times. Or sometimes it feels like despair for the human race. Either way, personally, to me? Not the most vital point.

National Origin - British
My parents being from England doesn't matter so much. It's my own nationality that matters more I'd say. If they'd moved from abroad, maybe it'd affect me a bit, if I was a third generation of a family that had moved from abroad, I'd probably be more integrated and settled still, and I guess the impact would be exponentially less. As far as I can tell, my family have always been around here for the most part.

Race/Ethnicity - Caucasian
I never really think of my own race. And I don't really think of other people's races either tbh.

Sexuality - n/a (Asexual is more or less a fit in most circumstances)
Not really relevant in my interactions with other people, not really something I shout from the rooftops. Maybe one day I'll be more concerned about this.

 

[Alice]

1. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status: I have ADHD, and it's pretty great at ruining people's lives, so yeah. Otherwise, I don't have any major issues, but I do have lots of little ones like wrist tendonitis that makes typing this really painful, dry eye that makes looking the screen really painful, and back/neck pain that makes sitting here really painful. It's like God doesn't want me to be a programmer or something.
2. Gender: Something in between, but definitely much closer to the female side. My sex is unfortunately male however.
3. Sexuality: Technically bi-ish, but I just consider myself gay these days.
4. Age: 22
5. Religion: Atheist
6. Occupation: Indie Game Developer.
7. Socio-economic status: Lowerish Middle Class I guess.
8. Language: English.
9. Race/Ethnicity: White.
10. National Origin: English/German
11. Nationality: American

 

[Entermaid]

I'm really glad I made this thread.

I never would have guessed some of the high priority identities listed in your guys' posts, but they make sense now that I have read your perspectives. For instance, I thought the "interesting" or "unique" attributes would be listed first. Though, I can see how in some instance, being in the majority would effect identity, for me middle class is sort of in that category of "normal" or "median".

 

[VeranithasVI]

This looks like fun!

2. Race/Ethnicity
White

7. Religion
Non-Religious

5. Occupation
Metal Roof Laying/Plumbing Labourer

4. Class
My family are middle-class, right now I'm kind of pretty poor what with my bills, recently moving out of home and the like.

3. Language
English

6. Nationality
English-Australian

1. National Origin
English

9. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status
Healthy and able-bodied

11. Sexuality
Straight

8. Gender
Male

10. Age
Nineteen​

That was fun!

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

1. Occupation - Developer
2. Sexuality - Straight
3. Age - 21
4. Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status - Autism spectrum disorder. I have a lot of trouble speaking these days, I think it's an anxiety related thing. Probably has anxiety disorder, depression and OCD but never got tested (I really am afraid of psych doctors). Slightly visually impaired but nothing to write home about. Used to have a severe eating disorder. Has trouble swallowing due to a narrow pipe. Probably has some vitamin/hormone levels off.
5. Language - English. I used to know german but I could never speak it beyond elementary level.
6. National Origin - Great Britain for the most part. I have a drop of Hungarian in me.
7. Race - White as hell. FUN FACT: my dad and I have an odd slight yellow tone to our skin though.
8. Nationality - American, but I can apply for English citizenship.
9. Class - ???. Not sure where I count here. Right now I'm living just above poverty but I come from a well off family. Problem is said family is pretty conservative with their money so I'm not really sure where I technically lie.
10. Gender - Eugh. I always hate this subject since I'm so indifferent. Personally I view myself as none or androgynous but for simplicities sake I do all the female things. Frankly I only usually use my sex in discussions related to female issues, outside of that I'm not very "female" at all.
11. Religion - ???. Really, I don't know what to call it, I guess agnostic? I don't really value religion in my personal life at all. If that floats your boat, great, but I'm extremely indifferent.

 

[Rogue planet]

Class - Working
Occupation - Unemployed
Health Status - Private
Language - English only (looking to change that)
Age - 21

Unimportant:
The rest. Apatheist, straight, white, English male.

I realise ethnicity, gender etc. shape who I am and how society treats me; but when it comes to self-reflection they're not that important to me. Language is important to me only because of the job + migration opportunities.

 

[Nah]

No, no this is not related to multiple personalities disorder

Aw, but I wanted to talk about my multiple personality disorder :P

But hmmm, which of those traits are the most important to my identity.....I guess don't exactly feel that strongly about any of the above things (maybe because I don't care too much about most of those things in other people and/or because I'm so meh), but here's a tentative list:

1) Age.
22. I can't exactly explain why, but age is a thing with me. I'm usually not comfortable with people well outside my age group. I don't like little kids much. And I'm rather used to being one of the youngest people in any group I've been in. There've been some people on PC who've I been a bit surprised to learn that they're actually younger than me when I thought that they were older than me (like shenanigans).

2) Language
I can only do English. Which generally works fine in America, but it kinda limits what you can do on a global scale. I can't expect everyone to learn English for me.

3) Occupation
Currently unemployed. I'm at that point in my life where I gotta transition from being a student and living at home to living on my own and holding a full-time job.

4) Race
White. Tbh, the only reason that this is on this part of the list is because of fun racial tensions in America. It almost seems as if no race is liked in America these days. Except for maybe the Asians. Maybe.

And then comes all the other stuff, which doesn't matter a whole lot to me at all, so I'm gonna do them in no particular order:

-Religion:
Atheist. No, not the kind that feels the need to constantly have heated arguments with Jews/Christians/Muslims about their religion. Those days are long behind me. The short story is, I'm an atheist because I don't feel the need to believe in some entity that may or may not exist to live a decent life. If you do, fine, whatever, I don't care so long as no harm comes from it. Though I still do dabble in the religion topics here in D&D.

-Class:
Middle class.

-Nationality:
American. Country could be worse, but I'm not exactly fond of it either.

-National Origin:
My family's been living in America for about 4 generations now, soooooooo.....but ethnically speaking, we're mostly German and Dutch, with a tiny bit of something else in there. Can't remember it was French or some eastern European thing or what.

-Learning/Behavioral/Physical Impairment and Health Status:
As far as I know, I don't have any disabilities or impairments.

-Sexuality:
Heterosexual. Not exactly a defining feature, seeing as how being straight is so vanilla.

And there you have it.

 

[griever7x]

1.Age: 22
Because I concern myself extremely with my appearance ( I'd like to pursue modeling, among other things ) and age certainly makes a difference in how someone looks.
2.Health Status: Very healthy and able bodied, no impairment
Similar reason as above, it was very hard to choose between health and age for number 1. I concern myself greatly with healthy habits such as nutrition/diet and physical exercise in order to ensure, or should I say better the odds of leading a long and fulfilling life, but in the end age won because I concern myself with looks even more than health.
3.Gender: Male
4.Sexuality: Heterosexual
5.Class: Middle
6.Occupation: None
7.Language: Italian and English
8.Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
9.Nationality: Italian
10.National Origin: Italian, French and Russian
11.Religion: Agnostic ( can't prove whether god exists or not, hence I choose to take a neutral, almost indifferent stance on the matter )

 

[Magic Christmas Lights]

Oh, so you mean like the roles we have?

1. Bipolar with psychosis; PTSD; ADHD (mentally ill)
2. Multiracial (Half Mexican and half British)
3. Has been through severe trauma
4. Bisexual with a fetish
5. Middle class
6. Research assistant
7. Physically disabled (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, neurocardiogenic syncope and sleep apnea)
8. Creative/story writer
9. Has experienced tripping
10. Druggie
11. College graduate
12. Synesthetic

I don't find nationality or age to be an important role to me.

EDIT: I don't think I did this right oh well

 

[Nihilego]

This is kinda turning into a listing thread (and I feel like a lot of people - self included - don't really get it, haha) so I'm gonna move this over to General Chat. If discussion arises later on I'm sure someone'll be happy to put it back for you.

 

[Bellsprout]

3. I work in retail and I'm currently a student for emt/paramedic
8. Healthy and able-bodied. My metabolism is ****ing horrid though.
4. Under my parents I'd say middle class. On my own minimum wage ;o;
7. From the highest percentage to lowest Italian, Irish, and Portuguese.
10. Female
1. I was raised Roman Catholic, but I don't identify with anything... I'll just leave it at Spiritual

I would say those are the most important to me and what impacts me in my daily life. Working and having a career to go towards is top in my life right now. After living a very unhealthy overweight lifestyle for years health has become a major point for myself. Class isn't overly important, but I do wish to live a comfortable lifestyle at least. There's other reasons why, but I don't feel like going into them. My national origin is really important to me. I like to know where I came from and I like knowing what my ancestors who lived there before they came over went through. I can't help, but feel like it's so important to know how fortunate I am. And yeah it's my identity. The gender part is hard to explain so I'm just going to leave it. Lastly I really am a deep person deep down and I like to look at everything in a spiritual way, it's just not easy to share with others.

Everything else is just whatever to me