Ashley, Boston College

Ashley's Paper-Boston College

The concept of identity is, as Beverly Tatum states, one of many complexity. When asked, "who are you?," I was initially taken back. Understanding that our identity is multi-faceted and influenced by numerous dimensions, I was unsure how to answer the question. Should I answer based on how my parents, peers, colleagues, and others view me or answer based on what I perceive myself to be. I decided that I was over analyzing the question and no matter how I responded, there would be no wrong answer.  After some debate, I concluded that I am a female, Boston College Business Student, Syracuse University Alumni, Only Child, Kohl's Department Store employee who is Independent and hardworking.

After reading Tatum's article on the complexity of identities, I was able to better understand why I wrote down some of the identities. The first and largest piece of my pie is female. When asked "who am I?," that was my immediate response. As Tatum would suggests, this part of my identity captured my attention first because it is most often noticed by others and reflected back on myself; simply, I identify with it more because it is not apart of the dominant culture. As Tatum reveals in her article, areas where a person is a member of the dominant social group, that category is usually not mentioned, but rather taken for granted. For example, Tatum found that men are less likely to associate with being male, when asked who they are. Similarly, I did not respond that I was White or Catholic because, for me, those categories are taken for granted; as Tatum would suggest, "both my inner experience and outer circumstance are in harmony with one another" (Tatum 11). I also associated with being an only child, for the same reasons I identify with being female. In my life I have found that characteristic to set me apart from the norm. I am set apart because many if not most of my peers have siblings and I find most often that there is a stigma around...