Friday, June 13, 2008

Half-formed theory: the majority doesn't identify with the factor that makes them the majority

People in many parts of Canada identify with their regions (Westerners, Quebecois, Maritimers), but I don't think Ontario does. I've lived in Ontario all my life, and to me it's nothing more than an administrative category. I identify as Canadian, I identify as Torontonian, I might identify with my neighbourhood or with the place where I grew up if that scale of identity were relevant to the situation, but I have no sense whatsoever of being Ontarian. I've asked around, and I haven't found any Ontarians who actively identify as Ontarian. It's used in politics sometimes, but that's about it.

Similarly, I am white, but I don't identify with it. I identify as Canadian, I might identify with one or more of my heritage cultures if it's relevant, but my skin colour means nothing more to me than a factor to be addressed in my fashion and cosmetics choices.

So I'm thinking maybe the majority doesn't actively identify with whatever the thing is that they're the majority in. They don't feel it. It's unmarked, to apply linguistic terminology. I'm not quite sure where to go with this next.

While I was writing this, I was also trying to figure out if I actively identify with being female or not. I can't quite tell. I experience female on two levels. The first level is that it's simply a physical reality that sometimes has to be accomodated. I need birth control pills, I need a bra, I have to be wary of strange men in some contexts. But this isn't something I feel or identify with, it's about equal to how I have long skinny feet so I need shoes in a large size with straps in the right place. The second level is that I like to present as female. I just feel...more myself, i.e the best part of myself, more confident and competent, if I look girly. This is very bizarre because I've never heard this sentiment expressed by cisgendered women, I've only ever heard it from MTF transgendered people. So I don't know if with this sentiment I'm articulating the usually unspoken and unidentified sense of actively identifying with and feeling one's majority status, or if I have some kind of unidentified gender issues or what.

4 comments:

laura k said...

Similarly, I am white, but I don't identify with it. I identify as Canadian, I might identify with one or more of my heritage cultures if it's relevant, but my skin colour means nothing more to me than a factor to be addressed in my fashion and cosmetics choices.

So I'm thinking maybe the majority doesn't actively identify with whatever the thing is that they're the majority in. They don't feel it.


This is a big part of ethnic studies, or race studies, or identity studies, whatever it's called.

That people who are English-speaking Canadians, born in Canada, families in Canada for many generations, don't think of their Anglo-Scottish heritage (eg) as ethnic. It's just "regular" and all the non-regular folks are ethnic.

A big part of raising awareness about racism and questions about identity is to show there is no "regular", no neutral setting when it comes to ethnicity.

laura k said...

This is very bizarre because I've never heard this sentiment expressed by cisgendered women

Which sentiment? This?

The second level is that I like to present as female. I just feel...more myself, i.e the best part of myself, more confident and competent, if I look girly.

I definitely have heard this from biological women who would never know what the word cisgendered means.

laura k said...

I hope I'm not coming across like Ms Know It All today. It just so happens I know the answers to a lot of your questions today!

impudent strumpet said...

It's just "regular" and all the non-regular folks are ethnic.

I'm trying to figure out if I'm experiencing it that way. I'd describe it more as immaterial to identity.

I definitely have heard this from biological women who would never know what the word cisgendered means.

That's interesting. Mostly I hear other women talking about presenting as female as a chore or something they feel socially obligated to do. But maybe it's like most other things that way and the people who complain are louder than the people who are content.