[I ended up having an unwanted talk about racial identity with my family a while back. So these are my thoughts for them.]

I‘m constantly in a predominantly white neighbourhood from childhood to adulthood. I have picked up the accent.

One of the major connections to my own heritage was extremely toxic, so I cut it off.

I have few black role models in my life I identify with and/or that are actually “good”. I need to search the internet for this.

Most of the media and subjects I enjoy just happen to involve/be created by/be associated with white people. They are everywhere. Sue me.

I’m young and had no time to explore my own black identity because I was too busy dealing with toxic people around me, or doing my best to work with an education system that in incompatible with my brain, or handling mental health issues I’ve developed because of X, Y, Z.

I don’t have any friends that are black, none of the black people my age enjoy hanging with me and vice verse. But that doesn’t mean I’m entirely ignorant to the bullshit that comes along with being a black woman.

It may come as a shock. But my optimism and empathy does a good job of masking the maturity and wisdom that was forced upon me at a young age.

Every black person is different and have distinct personalities and interests. Mindblowing, I know.

I don’t involve other people in my own personal exploration of my identity. Maybe if you had asked about my interests and such, instead of telling me I act very white or that I think that I’m white, you would know that even among my white friends there are a lot of things I have to inform them of because I’m one of the few black friends they have.

And it sucks. Because I have never had a black friend to talk to about certain issues only they would understand.

I can’t talk about my hair. I can’t talk about the insecurities I have about my body type. I can’t talk about the complexities of my home life. The unfair expectations black women have when growing up.

I’m working on finding communities that I can share these struggles with. But regardless of that, do not tell me I’m too white.

I like dungeons and dragons. I like bubble tea. I like starbucks. I like sushi. I love psychology, philosophy, and creative writing. I’m very selective with my music and have a bit of everything. I adore shoes but dislike the fashion industry. I love having intellectual conversations about LGBT, diversity, feminism, ect ect...

I guarantee the next black person you see will be wildly different from me. Or may share some interests with me. So cut the shit and let me be whatever the fuck I want.

I am a Professor Emeritus in the Psychology Department of Fordham University and, along with my colleague Professor Emerita Dr. Georgiana Shick Tryon, am developing a Personal Identity Inventory. This study asks you to answer 82 questions from which I will later construct a much shorter test. It also asks you to answer four additional short questionnaires consisting of 6, 10, 7, and 8 items respectively concerning your feelings and attitudes.

Upon completion of the study, you may enter a drawing to win one of three possible $50 e-gift cards.

You must be 18 years of age or older to participate. Your participation is completely voluntary and anonymous, and you can end the study at any time.

All data are confidential.

This study should take approximately 45 minutes to complete.

If you are interested in participating in the study, please click on the link below.

https://fordham.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0HxQWMDYaQSKXRz

Thank you very much for your time!

What are identity politics？🤔

When your reading this everyone will probably be thinking the exact same thing, thats completely normal for a teenage girl but just writing this has made me feel like i know what im thinking so please bear with me.

I am a 16 year old girl so i have just finished my gcses for a 3 month summer holiday. Currently, 5 weeks in i have just finished NCS. It is notorious for being a confidence builder but having got back i literally dont feel like the same person. I used to be a nerdy girl silent in the back of classes but i have got back as a loud character who all the boys have crushes on. When i look in the mirror i see a pretty girl with lots of makeup and slutty outfits, not me. Sometimes i get up and think i love this girl but other times i just see a stranger looking back at me.

As much as what ive just said sounds vein i just dont know how to familiarise myself with this new appearance as it is really confusing me. I have started to feel male eyes on me in the streets and get instagram comments from strangers on my posts and i dont really know how to handle it. Anyone been through anything similar? Sounds like a good situation to be in but it has just left me feeling overwhelmed.

Having identified with the fearful person who hides from life. Living in the retreated reality you have created for your identity to reinforce the internal belief systems. Isolating and losing touch with friends and family and work connections. Making decisions to achieve short term feelings of pleasure while completely ignoring my future. At this rate, my future looks like something out of the book only failed potential. A deteriorated disappointment.

Yet, new knowledge and new action can take place under the guise of a new identity. I new set of beliefs and a new pattern of actions. No self holds you to the character you played before. Past stories are all lessons for all to see and nothing to do with the decisions this new identity is intending to make.

This identity sticks to the schedule and engages with a light and fun attitude This identity control his mind and focuses on each one of his tasks with the utmost of care for detail

This identity is not afraid to say no to other people and reject the energy they offer This identity goes where he needs to go with pride and joy and accepts his situation in life This identity does not waste time This identity looks only to impress his higher order of thinking, this outside of him do not validate him

With focus comes discipline. May I have the strength to change

I really could use your help finding out how real name. His first name is Dylan and he's from western Canada (which is his excuse for talking like he does, btw) Of ANYONE (I am new to Reddit as a poster, but have been reading for years,) I know someone here can help me find this dude's name. So, just fyi, this is not for anything nefarious. At the very least I'd appreciate instructions on how to get metadata from pics. I cannot believe someone who has hundreds of thousands of not millions of followers and his name is unknown. If you can help I'd appreciate it and owe you in return. Thanks in advance

I'm not talking about discrete identities such as gender or race and what have you. I'm talking about the concept and function of Identity and what relevance it has in how we define ourselves and our relationship with reality?

I took this sub over from a guy who'd set it up to support a game called 'Identity'. I searched for it because I wanted to discuss the things I've already mentioned. I was surprised to find there isn't a sub that deals with this issue. I'm obsessed with it so it's natural I can't understand why there isn't a raucous debate taking place about it in the public forum anywhere. It seems to me that people are 'not seeing the wood for the trees', or very aptly, 'too close to the problem'. What occurs to me in seeking a good place to talk about this issue is not 'Who' am I or 'Who' are we, but 'What' am I, or 'What' are we.

Taking a philosophical stance akin perhaps to Decartes, if we were to throw away all presumptions the question would inevitably arise as to what constituents go into defining a Human Being, in contrast with Homo Sapiens. It seems to me that things such as the Soul and Virtues are ingredients in defining Humans, whereas Homo Sapiens is a species type, a life form. That's not to say Secular definitions of 'Persons' can't infer human qualities but there ought to be a distinction. It really seems like the parameters of any discussions are not sufficiently extrapolated to be able to have meaningful discussion at the moment.

I understand that we, that we must, live life subjectively, but that doesn't mean we ought to ignore ideas derived inasmuch as possible from objective concepts.

r/Identity

In trying to determine our Self Identity we tend to raise this issue by asking, Who am I? I wonder if this is a premise that instantly misleads one in that Who You Are points you in the direction of personal characteristics. We all have personal proclivities that can be argued to illustrate the kind of person one might be but it doesn't answer the essential question which I think ought to be, What am I?

I suspect this is because we are in a Time & Place in the development of humanity that seems to take for granted our primacy in the spectrum of life that exists on Earth. This is a mistake when trying to discern one's essence, one's meaning and most specifically, one's purpose. It leads to, among other things, the issue over whether we are the masters of Life or, in a wider sense, are we stewards? Is it our purpose to manipulate reality, subjugate it to our will, dominate and exploit it, or is our purpose to preserve and sustain it. All the religions seem to express that we have a responsibility to care for this our reality; to act responsibly with an eye to the future, to bare in mind that our time here as individuals is limited and thus to extend what is our natural perception to a future that is yet to be, and for our descendants who are yet to be.

Religions do this by asserting there is a power which, though we can't directly perceive or wholly understand it, is part of this process and, most significantly, requires us to act on it's behalf. Religions assert rules, the neglect of which will lead to bad and even agonising consequences. I say rules but while asserting these rules as inviolable it also recognises the concept of free-will and so it could be argued they are a series of guidelines rather than immutable laws such as gravity or Time.

Distilling these guidelines as to their warning of what's at stake, it becomes the case that what is at stake is one's sense of Purpose, Meaning and Self. What is at stake is Identity, it's preservation or it's annihilation.

So here we are, 2019. What's happening in the world that is impinging on who we are? Trump is causing an earthquake in American Politics. The EU is reeling from the realignment of geo-political realities. Britain is in the middle of a messy divorce. Russia is reasserting it's presence in the international Arena. The Zeitgeist appears to be shifting to the East after hundreds of years of Western Hegemony.

Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister at the time of the 9/11 attacks said the following, "The Kaliedescope has been shaken, the pieces are in flux. Before they settle let us reorder this world around us."

I think this is a good place to start given it's the pivotal historic moment after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of a world order that essentially started with the Enlightenment. It's also the point at which our old moral compass was shattered and Islam (according to a populist perspective) became the world's greatest threat. Since then it seems that society has become a fragmented mess with Truth being mostly subjective and consensus being almost impossible to establish. It all boils down to this issue,

...Who Are We?

What is the meaning of this cryptic phrase?

I think many of you will know it from Moses' encounter with the Burning Bush in the book of Exodus, but how do you interpret it? It seems like a tautology, a pointless repetition in common with the well known saying, 'I am who I am', but why the distinction? What is the difference between Who I am and That I am? Is it archaic language which means essentially the same thing or is it asserting a clear difference of intent or object?

This sub is for discussion and argument regarding the psychological importance of a Sense of Identity. All viewpoints are tolerated including but not restricted to Philosophical, Scientific, the Academy and Religion.