September Blog Post

The beginning of chapter 6 we talked about how we view identity. Identity can be defined as a mixture of one's experiences of social, political, and cultural aspect that help us paint a picture of all of our attributes. Perception then goes hand in hand with identity as our experiences help us frame how we see the world around us. So the person's communication is going to be greatly affected by his or her identity and perception. The book states that the relationship between communication, identity, and perception are a co-constructive relationship, meaning they both produce and shape one another so each makes the other one possible.

While talking about identity in class, we touched on certain identities of ours being “salient” or the one that is currently being used at a certain point in time. It ties in with the stage metaphor with “front of stage” is our form of identity we choose to show while “back stage” is our hidden self. For example, since I have been a dancer almost all my life, sometime my mom intertwines my dancer identity with how I present myself in a casual setting. For example, In ballet you always have to stand with perfect posture with your chin held high and shoulders back. But when I am not at dance and I am running errands or when she sees me walking around she will say things like, “ Why are you walking so slumped over I thought you were supposed to be a dancer?”. At the moment, my dancer self was very much hidden as “backstage” and was not being used at that time. My moms perception of dancers, especially ballerinas which I am known to be, could have interfered with how she thinks I am supposed to act since the world may see ballerinas as very disciplined individuals who are perfectionists in how they present themselves.

In addition to dancers, I noticed that social construction, which is how society is built upon norms we co construct as a society, has male dancers portrayed as a weak or even homosexual on many accounts. This stereotype has been made by society since men due to the fact that dance is a more delicate and emotional art yet many discredit the athleticism behind dance. The article by the New York Times, “ Of Women, Men and Ballet of the 21st Century” touches on why there have been these negative connotations to male and why society may have viewed ballet as a man’s idea of a woman.( https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/arts/dance/of-women-men-and-ballet-in-the-21st-century.html)

I think these concepts are important because it makes us examine who we are and what we know we are, versus what the world around us tells us who we think we should be based on race, age, gender, etc. Because we are our own individuals with different backgrounds and characteristics, yet society still tries to dictate what we should think of ourselves and what our identity should be.