Identity

Who am I?

Photograph By Lynn Hersman Leeson 

Identity is what the person is, who am i? is what people ask themselves through time and each person creates their own identities making each of us different from the other. identity involves inside and outside, personal and social who we are socially creates an identity. I was reading a book called "Understanding Identity" by Kath Woodward which has helped me understand a lot about identity and social identity, Ervin Goffman is mentioned in the book. I researched him and found his book "Presentation of the self in everyday life" and he talks a lot about social identity. 

"Understanding Identity" talks about how understanding identity can lead to understanding the social and how we present ourselves to others. 

"identity offers a way of thinking about the links between the personal and the social..." (page vii)

I found this quite interesting because identity is closely related to the social, social identity, and how the media contributes to our identity. we see it on T.V and magazines, what makeup to buy or clothes to wear which shape us into creating an identity. However this is how the media and the social wants us to look a certain way when our identity should be a reflection of the self rather then copying something out of a magazine. so Identity can be misleading and not be an actual representation of the person as their identity may not be an honest reflection of the person.

We are also very protective of our identities, even obsessive like those who see faults in their image and go as far as cosmetic surgery to create a new face or body the way they imagine themselves to look.for instance people want to take control of their bodies by have the perfect figure and features "....just as, the slim athletic body may be used o signify success and an attractive identity, the impaired body may be represented as an indicator of failed identity..." (page 124)

There is a lot of pressure from the media about how men and women should look, seeing these tiny skinny women and strong athletic men can make people feel like they don't look right and see themselves as imperfect. The pressure of looking a certain way is broadcasted to people through the media and celerities, how they are criticised for not having the perfect "bikini body". However they go under tremendous stress to look their best because they are in the public eye and people look up to them. But they are not real they are trained and dieted to look how the media wants them to. For example this magazine is advertising how to look perfect by putting Rihanna on the front cover and revealing her secrets to a perfect body because it is desirable to how woman want to look. Identity is a hard thing to accept when you want to look a certain way and when your putting pressure on yourself by listening to the media and magazines it can become an obsession, however it is peoples right to choose how they want to look and if they want to be guided by the media then that's their choice, that is who they are.