My Influence On Identity

Identity can be rather complex, and for myself, I would have to say it is just that. While there are many factors that influence identity, there are three that have impacted very large parts of who I am, the first factor being religion/spirituality. Spirituality isn’t something I have always been partial too, and in fact, I wasn't even aware one could be spiritual without being religious. Growing up I was taught that there were a god and that one day we die and go to heaven; I was raised Christian. I went to youth groups at churches, attended the occasional Sunday service, and prayed. For myself, religion did more harm than good, and this is why: my religion taught me to fear. I was afraid of people with different religions, I was afraid of loving who I loved, I was afraid of traveling to other countries, and I was afraid to even question my own religious beliefs. I was so afraid of sin that I experienced …show more content…
Through media, I have been given access to other cultures, and information on things I would have otherwise gone my whole life not knowing about. When I was 12 media affected me in a way that shaped the person I am now. I began to notice I was very different from other girls my age but couldn't put my finger on why, at least not until a TV program came on that really got me thinking. It was a dating show, and unlike the others, it showed women dating women; a light clicked on and suddenly I had words for what I was feeling. From here I found myself googling things like “how to know if you are gay,” which often lead me to resources that taught me more things. Media taught me that a lot of people are ridiculed and even murdered for being gay, and this influenced how I view people around me when they made homophobic comments. In addition to that, media has altered my political beliefs taking me from far right, to left, and back to moderate, and also changed my views on things like war and