¶ … thinksI am primarily defined by my Asian identity. I am an immigrant from China, so naturally the first thing people think about me when they see me is that I am a Chinese-American. Of course, when I lived in China, this was not a part of my perceived identity. People just saw me as "normal" in respect to my ethnicity. But that does not mean that people did not prejudge me, even when I was the same race and culture as my fellow classmates.
I am very tall (5'9) so people would often ask me if I was a model. 5'9 is tall for any woman, but particularly in China. Because of my height, I always stood out. Worse, my growth spurt happened in middle school, so I looked very different from my classmates. I appeared to be much older than I actually was and people would often treat me as if I was older.
Even in America, people make judgments about me solely based upon my height and appearance. Because I am skinny as well as tall, they often ask if I am a model, even though I have no interest in modeling or fashion. They also ask me if I play basketball, which I do not. I am not even a fan of basketball as a spectator.
What is perhaps most amusing is that people assume I am good at math. Math is my least favorite...
I have even noticed in math classes that teachers are sometimes surprised that I am not innately good in the subject.
I am very quiet and shy and do not talk much so people often make assumptions about me that I am aloof, stuck-up, or perhaps even not very intelligent. However, once I get to know people, I am able to open up and talk more freely and people realize that I have a very important inner life not visible from the outside.
Part II
If someone could live in my skin for a day, they would experience / know / learn / see that I am not primarily defined by a single physical characteristic (such as my tallness) or the fact I am Asian but rather that I am a complex person with many different attributes not visible to the naked eye. For example, I am a very sensitive person who is very interested in relationships. I am a very caring person who is very invested in the people around her. That is why I love movies, books, and television programs centered on relationships rather than math.
People also assume that because I am skinny I must be very concerned about my…
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Identity development is a topic that has been studied for some time. There are two main ways to address it: as young children who are just developing an identity and as adults who are changing or developing an identity they never created or did not like as a child. Each person, as he or she grows, develops a distinct and separate identity from other people (Willemsen & Waterman, 1991). While
Identity Self-identity or self-concept is a multidimensional personal construct that refers to one's individual perception of themselves in relation to a number of different characteristics or situations such as gender role, sexuality, racial identity, and so forth (Shavelson et al. 1976). Social-identity is the portion of the individual self-identity that has to do with perceived membership in a personally-relevant social group or social-identity can refer to the collective identity of the
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