My homework assignment was to write an autobiographical story based on the following:

Can explain how two or more of the factors of race, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion interact to shape oneself or others.

Which of the above has shaped you most?


I chose sexual orientation and religion.

at this point in my life it's becoming more race and ethnicity
beforehand it was never any of the above that you've mentioned
i guess i'm finally coming into myself...

For me, it has definitely been ethnicity and religion.

At this point in my life, it's socioeconomic status and age.

age and gender

CarrieMpls said:

or maybe socioeconomic status and gender

Race and religion...definitely.

Race and religion

for me race an religion that mean sticking to my root.

socioeconomic status & gender

Socioeconomic because I was raised by a single mom that struggled to provide for us in a very rich area. My mom and I ran away from my father and went to stay with my aunt and her husband who was wealthy when I was 12.

Gender: Childhood reasons mainly.

Socioeconomic status and gender.

Coke and Pepsi...

But if I stuck to your list lol...

Socioeconomic status and gender.

Stymie said:

race - not much. i've never felt a sense of my "whiteness", and i've certainly never felt like it defines me.

ethnicity - maybe a bit. my maternal grandmother was very proud of her native american heritage, and my father's family is german baptist, and it's hard to get away from the family ethnicity when your grandma is dressed in a prayer bonnet and a cape.

nationality - that's a tough one. i don't FEEL like i'm shaped by my nationality, but i guess i can't help but be shaped by it. i think my years of living in new york city helped me understand and feel like i was part of a bigger world because i was exposed to so many cultures, but it's still not the same as getting out into the world and being in the middle of a different culture. i've only ever been out of the country once, and i didn't feel a lot of culture shock. i felt pretty comfortable, actually. maybe it was because of my choice of destination, but i feel like wherever i go, my desire is to understand and adapt.

socioeconomic status - this has shaped me a lot. i was raised by a single mother and we never had much money, but my mom refused to ever consider us "poor". i never went without, and i never felt like i lived in a "have-not" household...but i don't think i was incredibly spoiled, either. i think my mother was very resourceful and creative with what little she had to work with, and that has shaped the person i am today.

age - i don't think i can help but be shaped by the times in which i was born and the time in which i am alive now as a 30something. i'm a big believer in generations defining people. i'm definitely a gen-x'er.

sexual orientation - i take for granted how much this defines me. i don't think about my sexual orientation that much until someone who is not used to it brings it up. then i remember how much "different" i am to some people. maybe it has shaped me less than i think. maybe my sexual orientation has shaped other people in my life more than it has me, if that makes sense.

religion - i think religion has shaped me to have a very unique point of view with regards to spirituality. i had a very weird religious upbringing which concluded with my mother becoming an athiest and encouraging me to find my own path...and all this was when i was still a kid. i've seen the good side and the bad side of religion and as a result i've come to believe in the balance of all things.

to be honest, i think art and culture have shaped me more than anything. music and art and film and theater and literature have meant more to me than just about anything.

Anxiety said:

You didn't even mention gender... interesting...

Anxiety said:

Thanks for this Chris. It's pretty much how I narrowed down my choices. Yeah, there are other things that define me more that would have been much easier for me to write about.

CarrieMpls said:

i guess that omission is its own answer

hmm this is a hard one. i'll have to think about it. but i think there should be a few extra categories. for instance, whatever social group that i'm hanging around with for an extended period of time is a big factor in how i define myself. i become a bit of a chameleon depending on who i've been hanging out with for awhile.


as for the rest, it'll give me something to think about today.

Stymie said:

i'd be interested in knowing how someone feels they're not significantly shaped by their age. i'm sure that's true for some people, but i think when we were born and the times during which we're alive would have to shape us more than anything, no?

for me it would be socioeconomic status and race that has shaped my environment the most.



and yeah, that sounds so upper middle class.....sorry.


hard to say....i'll get back to ya on that.
[Edited 2/21/08 12:49pm]

Anxiety said:

I don't know. I rarely evr think about my age. I just think religion and sexual orientation are more important to me directly than what events have transpired over the last 30 odd years.

Byron said:

Stymie said:

i guess the way i am thinking about it is, what if i grew up in the pre-stonewall era? i'd probably be shaped differently by my sexual orientation than i have been by coming of age in the 80s, when i think there was a relatively more liberated view on such things. and i think kids today have an even more liberated view on it than my generation. and while we may not be conscious of how our age shapes us, i think it absolutely does. i think of how the older generations of women in my family considered their gender vs. the women i know who are my own age - it seems like there's a lot of difference.

MsLegs said:

In reality they probably do define me more than anything else lol ...

Anxiety said:

I don't see how anyone doesn't have gender as a top defining thing. For me it's HUGE.

Anxiety said:

Oh!!! Well I definately felt differnt about my sexuality at 24 than I do at 38. But I do feel I am coming full circle on how I feel about it now.

Stymie said:

I guess we are "shaped" by those things we are least aware of and least in control of.

Which is why people often tend to rail against being shaped by any or all of those things, because this would intrude on our self-perceived sovereignty (which I do believe exists).

oh now it looks complicated.....nevamind...

bread and crackers....

Byron said:

Without A Doubt. Case Closed .
[Edited 2/21/08 9:22am]

Sexual Orientation

and it isn't listed but I think being lonely for a loooong time