Identity, Authenticity - Do they conflict?

Gemme · 01-06-2011, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightshade

Wow. Interesting topic. I'm excited to read everyone's take on it.

For me, I am not my identity. How I id myself is my simplified, shortcut way of expressing a part of who I am to the listener. And to myself for that matter. I always have been authentically me and have spent a great deal of my life frustrated because I lacked words for who/what I am. How I feel. What's inside.

Being human, I am multifaceted and haven't got it all figured out yet (probably never will) so I know that parts of how I identify are subject to change. That isn't to say that everything is temporary, I just feel it's important to question beliefs with an open mind. As time goes on I learn more and more about myself and how I relate to the world around me and my identity gets refined. Or something that I've thought to be safe statement about me gets put through the fire and doesn't survive, so I know it wasn't truly a part of me.

I say MOST of it is subject to change because some things have remained true long enough for me to state as unequivocal fact. I'm turning 48 soon and I have always been happily, unwaveringly female. When I was a little girl, I used to hang out with tomboys (budding femme that I was) and wonder why anyone would want to act like or be a boy.

It's not that I haven't questioned my gender, it's that I have and the answer has always been the same.

Tl;dr: I am not my identity, my identity is a simplified, partial explanation of me.

I really relate to what you wrote here, Nightshade.

To respond to the main question...the title question...for me...they have. Much less now than before, though. For a while, when I was still trying to figure out what was going on with me and where I was going and who I was, I identified with identities that didn't fully explain or connect with myself. I did it out of laziness and of fear. I had an identity but I wasn't being completely authentic with myself.

As I've grown and evolved, I've become more authentic. The identities that are right for me came only after I began to be true to myself.

Shakespeare may have had something there......

dixie · 01-06-2011, 10:04 PM

Hmm...very interesting topic. I will definitely have to read more of the thread and think on it. I can say this however... I do use "labels" for myself. BUT my labels describe me, they do not define me. I am ever evolving, changing, growing. My authenticity of self never waivers no matter what new describing label/identity I use or discard. I guess for me personally, they compliment one another more often than conflict...

01-06-2011, 10:04 PM	#2
dixie Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: I usually just poke it with a stick. Preferred Pronoun?: Bitch Relationship Status: Intertwined deeply Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: We're all a little mad here. Posts: 6,627 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 10,972 Thanked 21,383 Times in 4,808 Posts Rep Power: 21474858	Hmm...very interesting topic. I will definitely have to read more of the thread and think on it. I can say this however... I do use "labels" for myself. BUT my labels describe me, they do not define me. I am ever evolving, changing, growing. My authenticity of self never waivers no matter what new describing label/identity I use or discard. I guess for me personally, they compliment one another more often than conflict...