Essay on How Race and Gender Intersections Have Shaped My Personality

During my first year in college, I witnessed one of my friend, Karl, a Mexican, get harassed in the alleyway by sophomore students. This event was a blatant case of bullying that was meant to humiliate him merely because he was a different race and had a cool-looking speed bike. Previously, I have had rough encounters where I had to exchange bitter words with some of my friends, who had wilfully or unknowingly made racist suggestions. I, therefore believe that race intersections have shaped my identity. On the same note, the intersections of gender have developed my personality. Ever since my days in high school, I always find study groups with a majority of members being from the opposite sex being more rewarding. As a result, I have more female friends in school today which is due to gender intersections. My identity is mainly a cumulative result of race and gender intersections that I have encountered in the past.

Gender intersections in my past experiences have significantly shaped my identity. My most significant and perhaps life-changing encounter was when I met Alice, one of my closest friend in college today. Alice has always been the best student in my class despite being female; as a result, I made an effort to join her art group so she and I could complete the last semester's project together. In the process, her friends and I became good friends, and that's when I came to learn that girls can be as good as boys in school work and in other areas (Warner et al. 806). I believe that gender interactions have shaped my personality today. Alice comes from an African-American background, she barely has as energy as I do, but this doesn't stop her from beating me in class (UmanaTaylor, Adriana 25). What made her demeanour even more perplexing to me is that she never seems to depict the many challenges she overcomes every day. For instance, he pays her school fees, purchases her widowed mother's daily medication, gets time for co-curricular studies, and manages to leave time for studies (Warner et al. 804). This observation is what got me challenged by Alices personality type. Being a girl, she is expected to perform averagely and not better than boys, in addition, having an African-American background did not stop her from getting to college. For this reason, I strongly feel that both race and gender interactions have been responsible in shaping my personality.

Judging from what my close friends and extended family members say, I should stick to my roots and not engage too much with people from different racial backgrounds. However, most of my friends do not have a Scottish ancestry like me. This reality chooses to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. My parents have always encouraged me to make new friends from different racial backgrounds (UmanaTaylor, Adriana 23). The same has been reflected in most of my life in high school and college. Though not significantly, race intersections have shaped my personality given the choices I make when meeting new people.

Judging from what most of my few' friends find it hard to say, diversity and gender parity is a critical element of social circles. However, most of my kith and kin do not see the detail in my behaviour or personality. I think when people talk of parity what they mean to say is that I like being around members of the opposite sex and different racial background. The only instances when I witness this trait in actual reality is when my friends and I have group plans like trips, projects, and parties. During such encounters, most of my group friends bring about diversity in the group, unlike others, most of them are either Mexican, African-American, or have an almost equal gender ratio (Warner et al. 805). For this reason, I feel that interactions during my upbringing encouraged me to have racial and gender tolerance.

From my perspective, I like being around diverse people be it regarding gender or race. I firmly believe that my personality does not deviate from set norms or moral standards in the contemporary society. I would like readers of this essay to understand that I respect individuals for who they are, this includes women and people of different races. However, I remain resentful to those who choose to isolate others because of their gender or even skin colour. My identity has been shaped by race and gender interactions during my childhood and life in high school. For this reason, my social circles and project teams in college today are characterized by diversity and a strong sense of gender parity. This observation is a strong indication that social interactions can shape one's identity, in this case, mine is a product of race and gender interactions in the past.

Works Cited

UmanaTaylor, Adriana J., et al. "Ethnic and racial identity during adolescence and into young adulthood: An integrated conceptualization." Child Development 85.1 (2014): 21-39.

Warner, Leah R., and Stephanie A. Shields. "The intersections of sexuality, gender, and race: Identity research at the crossroads." Sex Roles 68.11-12 (2013): 803-810.