Hello again everyone, last week (Sep 30- Oct 04) we had some very thought provoking and controversial topics that stemmed from a persons identity and sexual orientation. These topics included core and thread identities, sexual identity, heterosexual dominance, conceptual issues in female sexual activity, and conceptual issues in female sexual desire. In general the topics of sex and sexual orientation are usually taboo to bring up and talk about with in a group of people, which is why I was not surprised to hear the chatter among my classmates on Thursday morning. People were shocked about the topic of the readings and were a bit uncomfortable about possibly discussing such topics with in the group.
The majority of the class period was spent discussing the topic of identity.We discussed how someones identity is made up of many pieces, and those pieces can be considered core or thread identities depending on how large a part of that persons life that identity is. We talked about how core identities are major parts of someones life and hoe they will affect every other aspect of a persons life. As an example if being a parent is an core identity then all the choices you make will be based on the fact that you are a parent. You will dress differently and act differently in ways that portray that you are part of the group. You would also likely talk about your kids often. The other type of identity we talked about were thread identities are the parts of someones identity that only affect part of their lives. Our reading gives an excellent example of a thread identity when it talked about the author's identity of being a professor. For the author when at home the fact that he is a professor is not a large part of his identity; however, when he is at the school in front of a class room it is a major part of his identity. Also the reading mentions that we do not always choose our core identities because sometimes things such as our skin color can decide that for us.
So for me all this talk about core and thread identities made me start to question what my core and thread identities were. Lets start with core, the first core identity of mine is that I am female this is not one I get to choose nor is it one that I find particularly important. The second one I identified was that I am ex-military. Many of my conversations with both friends and acquaintances will refer back to times when I was in the military and I like for people to know that I was in the military. Next is the fact that I am a student, I plan my work schedules, my home repairs, and my time with friends all around my class times and have many times told those around me I can't do something because I have homework to do. The last core identity I noticed was that I am athletic and enjoy physical sports. Much of my wardrobe are jerseys and t-shirts with the logos of sports I love, and I am always up for sport. I tell those around me to let me know if they need one more for a game unless I have school I would love to come play. Each of these categories female, ex-military, student, and athletic are very large and important part of how I want others to see me.
While examining thread identities I found that at different times I portray my self to the people around me to fit what I want them to see. At work I want my coworkers to see me as tough so I act as though I can handle anything and am always sharing stories about difficult situations I have had to work through. When with close friends it is important to me that they know I am lesbian which is something I don't share with any other group I hang out with. When working on projects I want to be seen as a professional and an adult so I will dress nicer and act more mature.
While looking at the many parts of my identity I found it much harder to identify my thread identities. I was also shocked at the areas that I was putting a lot of emphasis on, in the future I would like to perhaps not emphasis my military experience so much, and stress more the side of me as an mature adult. While I was shocked at the priority levels of some of the areas I identified I was not shocked about any of the specific areas I do express as important to me.
I think a persons identity is very important, and I also think it is important that people understand the concept of core and thread identities. Once people do understand they can be more aware of the self identity that they are projecting to the people around them, and they will also understand that their identities can change at anytime as they grow and learn new things.
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