Jessica Jones
Expository Writing
Brook Stanton- Section MP
Final Draft #4
Community and Identity What is identity? To begin, there are two main components to understanding this rather complex and hard to define concept. First, everyone has a fixed identity. These are the aspects of a person in which he or she has no control over and cannot change, such as gender, sexuality, and race. Then there is natural identity, which is assembled by discourses and experiences throughout life. Natural identity is relational and constructed based on one’s own personal beliefs and values, as opposed to one’s fixed identity, which is based on characteristics and culture. Unfortunately, individuals let the unchangeable aspects of their identity limit them from creating their own unique identity. This can be due to societal views that expect an individual conform to the public image associated with his or her gender, race, and sexuality. “Losing Matt Shepard” by Beth Loffreda explores what she calls “The Limits of Identification”, and how these limits may have impacted the anti-gay murder of Matt Shepard. Similarly, “The Naked Citadel” by Susan Faludi could also be described as a text centrally concerned with the limits of identification, by exposing a connection between the image that men are expected to maintain by the general public and the behavior of the cadets in the Citadel. A community has the power to define an individual’s role based on gender, sexuality, or race, ultimately limiting his or her identity. The structure of every community is different, meaning that an individual’s role will differ and he or she learns this through experiences or traditions. However, these limits can lead to identity crises once individuals realize that societal views had been shaping their identity rather than discovering their own beliefs and core values. This raises the question as to whether it is possible to deconstruct such views, or will individuals always be restricted by their fixed aspects of identity. The structure of a community can strongly impact how an individual is identified. This structure may be learned by the residents through experiences, or by being exposed to the community’s unique traditions. For example, Loffreda interviews Jay, who is a gay Navajo American Indian living in Laramie, Wyoming. He explains how when he first moved to Laramie, he quickly realized how he was now identified in comparison to the Indian reservation he previously lived on, where he was loved and accepted by his community. Jay tells Loffreda that, “In his first year in Laramie, as he walked home from school near the university campus, a collage-aged man spit on him” (Loffreda 242). Loffreda also tells, “And on the day we talked, a white woman hissed ‘spic’ at Jay minutes before we met” (Loffreda 242). Experiences such as these lead Jay to realize that the Laramie community identified him as a minority, and with that came hatred as well. This raises the question as to why communities are so quick to identify a person as belonging to a group and automatically treating him or her in such dehumanizing ways. Even if the individuals simply do this because it’s the way of the community, or because they witnessed their elders speak in such degrading ways, it doesn’t mean this behavior is right. If individuals are influenced by the beliefs and views of a community, it is evident that they are conforming to the identity of the community rather than constructing their own. This is also seen in Faludi’s text when she describes The Citadel’s “Fourth Class System”. She explains, “This system is a nine month regiment of small and large indignities intended to “strip” each recruit of his original identity and remold him into the ‘Whole Man’”(Faludi 80). Not only is the school’s idea of conformity wrong due to the limiting of every cadets own natural identity, but the ways in which they try to create this “Whole Man”, ultimately creates a monster. In 1993, for example, two upperclassmen were arrested on charges of assault and battery of two freshmen recruits, also referred to as knobs. One of the offending cadets stated that, “what he did was common procedure- and no different from the ‘motivational’ treatment he had received as a knob at the hands of a senior who came into his room” (Faludi 86). The fact that the upperclassman cadets considered such violent, disturbing acts as tradition, and “common procedure” is horrifying. If they are taught that such behavior is that of a “whole man”, they should realize the school’s definition of a “whole man” is not the definition of a man one should strive to be. It’s evident that the school is guilty of using humiliation, violence, and uniformity to recreate these individuals’ identities. It is imperative to remember that the structure of a community can limit certain identities by seeing the individual as a member of a certain group due to unchangeable characteristics, and therefore responding to the person with hatred and disrespect. By conforming to the views and beliefs of a community, one will ultimately realize they had failed to construct his or her natural identity.
Furthermore, the expectation to follow the structures of community can come at a very high cost. These structures can lead to identity crises when an individual realizes that societal views forced him or her to become the image that the community views as proper according to one’s fixed identity. For example, men are expected to be the backbone of society, never unsure, or unconfident, but the public does not see how much of an impact this actually has on men. Faludi’s text shows that The Citadel became an escape for the men that attended the school; it was a place where they could get away from the expectations society held for them. She explains the time period of her text, “the late-twentieth-century setting of The Citadel, in a time when extreme insecurity and confusion about masculinity’s standing run rampant” (Faludi 105). This resulted in the cadets exploring different areas they had never been exposed to before. The men went as far as having sexual relations with drag queens, and Faludi concluded, “…Suddenly it became obvious to me what was generating that void, that yearning, in the cadets’ lives- and maybe in the lives of many American men. What was going on here was play- a kind of freedom and spontaneity that, in this culture, only women are permitted” (Faludi 107). The societal views had influenced the men to a point where they became so defined by their gender that utter confusion and identity crisis arose. It can be said that most, if not all, of the actions of the cadets are a result of their desire to experience life outside the boundaries of societal expectations. However, there are people that go against the ‘proper image’, and do not have to deal with identity crises. The structures of one’s community have an influence on its people, but it is entirely for the people in their individual capacities to decide to either be conformist or to be the exception by creating a natural identity based on one’s own core beliefs. For example, Matt Shepard did not conform to the ‘proper image’ of a man because he was an openly gay, but he did not let this societal view influence his natural identity. Unfortunately, the structures of his community identified him as a human of less worth and as a target of hatred for not conforming to this ‘proper image’ of a man. After Matt’s murder, Colorado State University had an anti-gay float and dedicated it to Matt in their homecoming parade. Loffreda states, “…It is worth pausing for a moment to consider the degree of dehumanization such an act required, how much those responsible must have felt, however fleetingly or unconsciously, that Matt was not a fellow human being, their age, with his future torn away from him” (Loffreda 230). It is extremely disturbing that the community of Colorado State University took part in such a hateful act that intended to degrade a young man as if he was not already murdered for being gay. Had no one stood up to the University and warned that what they were doing was a insulting, immoral, and all together distressing? This is an example of a community that was so conformed to hateful ways that they weren’t ashamed to show it. People like Matt should be praised and thanked for allowing others to not be afraid to break free from the role their community may have set for them. Had he not been murdered, he would have not had to go through an identity crisis because he had his own beliefs and values, not ones that had been promoted by his community. Individuals who conform to views of their society based on fixed aspects of entity, such as the Colorado State University students, will eventually experience an identity crisis much like the men in The Citadel had. In order to not have a limited identity or an identity crisis, it’s imperative to construct beliefs and values that are not influenced by a community.
If individuals work to deconstruct the identities that their communities have created for them, they will ultimately be able to find their truest, natural identity. By fighting and overcoming any roles, beliefs, and stereotypes set by a community, individuals will be able to move towards a new equality where they are not restricted by the unchangeable aspects of their identity. Faludi’s mission in her text and as a journalist is to help create a society in which individuals’ genders do not restrict them from an equitable shot at success and happiness. The introduction to “The Naked Citadel” reads, “Faludi holds out hope for a society where men and women can work together cooperatively and on equal footing” (Faludi 78). Faludi is labeled a feminist, but this is a label she chose for herself rather than conforming to societal views. She is an excellent example of someone who was able to construct a natural identity. Natural identities are defined by one’s own unique values, by the principles he or she choses to defend, and by being able to overcome societal roles based on gender, race, or sexuality. When individuals live their lives according to the limitations deemed by society, they are ultimately perpetuating their own stereotype or prejudice. An example of this is noted in the end of Loffreda’s text. She asked a Mexican-American student, Lindsey, why she thought the media made such a big deal over Matt Shepard’s, yet when Lindsey’s two Mexican-American friends were attacked there was barely any publicity. Loffreda shares, “… [Lindsey] speculates that racial prejudice is simply more ‘familiar’, something with a longer and better-known history in America, whereas ‘we’re all just getting used to’ homosexuality (Loffreda 244). It seems as though Lindsey has accepted the hate and discrimination against her race simply because it’s one of the “better-known” prejudices in America, while also insinuating that sexuality prejudice will eventually not be so shocking either. If every individual accepted his or her role, stereotype, or prejudice there would never be any possibly of change. Lindsey should be following the ways of individuals like Faludi and rise above societal views to construct her natural identity rather than conforming to a life of limitations based on her unchangeable characteristics. It is evident that the nation has been able to overcome prejudices in the past, but this has only been done by individuals who fought for their right to equality. Until individuals are able to deconstruct societal views that are demeaning, limiting and devaluing to certain sexualities, races, and genders by replacing them with their own beliefs and values, the country will continue to “get used to” stereotypes and prejudices.
In conclusion, communities have a great amount of power and they can ultimately shape identities unless individuals take it upon themselves to construct their own unique identities.
It’s important to seek out such roles first, rather than conforming to a community’s views and then having to learn through experience and personal discrimination. However, if one choses to live according to the views of his or her community and abides to roles based on gender, sexuality, or race, this person will ultimately be limiting his or her identity. These individuals will eventually have identity crises once they realize that their entire identities have been shaped by societal influences. This tragic downfall of identity can be prevented by deconstructing the roles set by a community which limit individuals based on their fixed identities and replacing them with beliefs and values unique to their own natural identities.