Response to "Issues of Subjectivity and Identity"

Barker’s Issues of Subjectivity and Identity made me question how I would explain my identity (to myself and others). I’m sitting on a train and I just changed my shirt from a baggy soccer t-shirt to a fitted orange sweater. Already I am sitting up straighter and walking with better posture. I feel more feminine and obligated to demonstrate that to perfect strangers. I’ve probably done things like this before, but without notice or worry. But after reading Baker’s article, I became acutely aware of how I think I should act, and how I think others think I should act (did that make sense?). Barker points out an interesting idea: our identities are constantly evolving and developing. We are never the same person each day. I like this idea for two reasons. One, it parallels the chief concept taught in developmental biology that we as humans (and other creatures too) are never fully developed; we always changing and developing whether we are a fetus growing fingers and toes, an elderly person aging, or a sick patient battling cancer. So too are our identities shaped by the environment, our DNA, and ourselves; they are subject to change throughout our whole lives. This is an incredibly freeing realization. Every day we can wake up and be whoever we happen to be that day, and we don’t have to apologize for that. If our actions and thoughts don’t’ fulfill the standardized expectations established by ourselves and society, who cares? Knowing this inspires confidence and acceptance in me. I never expect to be perfect every day, but I realize that I usually think things like, “what would I normally do in this situation?” or “how would I normally react to this?” I hope I can channel these thoughts to a place in my mind where I don’t have to filter and process everything, and direct it to an area where I can just act.