Identity and masculinity are broad terms that can capture someone 's entire being or only focus on one facet of the person. Society has a list of norms for what it means to be a man and a woman, gay or straight, black or white. However, humans are complex creatures, each unique with their own thoughts and behaviors. Can masculinity really be simplified into a standardized list of this or that? I concluded that personal experiences contrary to previously established social norms, have caused people to reevaluate definitions of masculinity.
Ethnic Identity is given at birth and each culture comes with a set of values and norms for how people should behave. In the book Man Up by Carlos Andre Gomez he explains experiences he has had being raised …show more content…
Realizing race wasn’t as simple as skin color he questions what is he? (Gomez, 2012, p. 20). I am also half Colombian on my dad’s side then on my mother’s side is more Americanized; like Carlos from a young age questions of where I fit into my own culture were normal. I remember not understanding that I looked White, but was Hispanic. For me, grasping that race was not simply an external characteristic, but a characteristic within you was difficult. For young children everything must be concrete for them to understand it and when parents describe it sometimes they use external characteristics such as skin color. Ethnicity is a state of belonging to a social group that has common national or cultural traditions. Children are not going to understand this, especially multiracial children who have multiple cultures they need to adapt too. This is why as young children Carlos and I both questioned who we were? Where do we fit in? There has never been a time where there has been more multiracial children and with this influx it creates different internal family dynamics. Ethnicity is a sensitive and complex subject when before most children only had to learn one set of cultural norms. Now …show more content…
One can identify with one or the other or both, but either way it is something people with only one race take advantage of. For Carlos, some people told him that he was white others said he wasn’t while others said he was mixed. With each identity came new implications of his character such as one kid asked him if his father sold crack because that was what Colombians were known for. At the same time since he looked White he was labeled a fake Hispanic. Carlos recounts his thoughts on being biracial as “Having a Colombian dad tainted my whiteness. Having a blue-eyed, pale-skinned White mother tainted my Hispanic-ness.”(Gomez, 2012, p. 28-29). I have been categorized similarly where I was too Hispanic for my White friends and then not Hispanic enough for my Hispanic friends. Each group would inherently treat me as an outsider, when I explained to White people that I was Hispanic they treated me differently from before. Numerous amounts of white friends have asked me how it was being Mexican, was I able to jump higher or climb fences faster. Then Hispanic friends would speak in Spanish and realize that I didn’t understand and look down at me like I was a disgrace. This lack of belonging to a social group for multiracial children in during development can both be a curse and a blessing. Not fitting in was difficult for Carlos and I, but being forced to be hypersensitive of our races
Ethnic Identity is given at birth and each culture comes with a set of values and norms for how people should behave. In the book Man Up by Carlos Andre Gomez he explains experiences he has had being raised …show more content…
Realizing race wasn’t as simple as skin color he questions what is he? (Gomez, 2012, p. 20). I am also half Colombian on my dad’s side then on my mother’s side is more Americanized; like Carlos from a young age questions of where I fit into my own culture were normal. I remember not understanding that I looked White, but was Hispanic. For me, grasping that race was not simply an external characteristic, but a characteristic within you was difficult. For young children everything must be concrete for them to understand it and when parents describe it sometimes they use external characteristics such as skin color. Ethnicity is a state of belonging to a social group that has common national or cultural traditions. Children are not going to understand this, especially multiracial children who have multiple cultures they need to adapt too. This is why as young children Carlos and I both questioned who we were? Where do we fit in? There has never been a time where there has been more multiracial children and with this influx it creates different internal family dynamics. Ethnicity is a sensitive and complex subject when before most children only had to learn one set of cultural norms. Now …show more content…
One can identify with one or the other or both, but either way it is something people with only one race take advantage of. For Carlos, some people told him that he was white others said he wasn’t while others said he was mixed. With each identity came new implications of his character such as one kid asked him if his father sold crack because that was what Colombians were known for. At the same time since he looked White he was labeled a fake Hispanic. Carlos recounts his thoughts on being biracial as “Having a Colombian dad tainted my whiteness. Having a blue-eyed, pale-skinned White mother tainted my Hispanic-ness.”(Gomez, 2012, p. 28-29). I have been categorized similarly where I was too Hispanic for my White friends and then not Hispanic enough for my Hispanic friends. Each group would inherently treat me as an outsider, when I explained to White people that I was Hispanic they treated me differently from before. Numerous amounts of white friends have asked me how it was being Mexican, was I able to jump higher or climb fences faster. Then Hispanic friends would speak in Spanish and realize that I didn’t understand and look down at me like I was a disgrace. This lack of belonging to a social group for multiracial children in during development can both be a curse and a blessing. Not fitting in was difficult for Carlos and I, but being forced to be hypersensitive of our races