Jane Chang: The Impact On A Person's Identity

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My character is a young girl in her early 20’s growing up in Flushing, New York. She currently attends Baruch College and is a senior who is majoring in finance. Her name is Jane Chang. She is an average looking girl with brown hair and brown eyes. She is an average height of 5'5 and fairly skinny. She wears black plastic frames. She lives with her family and has a younger brother. She identifies herself as a student and places a heavy emphasis on schooling and graduating college since it is her last year. She is Asian American and has strong cultural values. Asian American values are based on traditional Confucianism origins and placed heavy emphasis on family ties. Being a Chinese American, Jane values the role of family and respects elders …show more content…

According to Shields, intersectionality is the mutually constitutive relations among social identities. (2008). This is significant to individuals because this suggests that different social environments can impact gender identities. This impacts Jane because her cultural values conflict with her identity roles. Jane's many identities intersect because strong Asian values and Western images of beauty both affect her. Her struggle to oblige with Asian values and yet fulfill the Western images conflict which lead to different perceptions of beauty. Cultural values also impact images of beauty and push towards thin bodies yet she is thought of as too thin and therefore her body is not perceived as attractive. This impacts performance because as an individual, her self-esteem is significantly impacted and it changes her lifestyles and choices. My character has to wear certain clothes that will not perpetuate the thin and anorexic image but also maintain a normal body image. She also does not engage in sexual activities or interact with boys because she was discouraged by her elders to stay away from romantic relationships. She also has a dual identity outside of home because she acts like her non Asian American friends in order to assimilate to Western culture. Shields also states that “Identities are fluid in that they can change over time; at …show more content…

According to Wood(2011), “when mothers talk with daughters about sex, the daughters are more likely to delay sexual activity and to engage in safer sex when they decide to be sexual.” This shows how mothers often communicate to their daughters behaviors they deem to be gendered. It is also important to see the communication that parents will use to enforce rules on their children. Because of Jane's culture and her mothers parenting style, she doesn't really speak of sexuality

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