PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 1

Personal Cultural Identity Paper

Kamryn M. Mattison

SOWK 331

Dr. Bree Alexander

October 5, 2022
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 2

Personal Cultural Identity Paper

As a black woman, I am a part of two targeted groups because of my race and sex.

Furthermore, my class (middle) and age (young adult) are groups that I am a part of which have

a possibility of being targeted because they are border social groups. However, in some cases,

these may also be agent groups. Furthermore, I am a part of four privileged/agent social groups

as an able-bodied heterosexual gender conforming biological female and (Protestant) Christian

(See Matrix of Oppression in Appendix A Below).

Daily, at the top of my awareness is my race, gender, and religion. However, race is the

biggest one for me because, not only is it the only physical feature, but it is a big part of my

personality. For a long time, I was not completely aware of, nor did I care to think about, race

and why it was important to me as a person. I went to schools that only had a select few other

black people; basically, all I saw was white people. In high school, I met someone who changed

my perception and showed me that I should embrace my natural blackness more; ever sense then,

being black and embracing my culture has been one of my top priorities. I never forget I’m

black; I think about it in almost every possible situation. It is why I am doing social work; I want

to help, specifically, black people. After race, I am aware of my womanhood (which strongly

aligns with being black, because being a black woman is a whole conversation in itself), my

Christianity, and my heterosexuality. My awareness of being a Christian comes from the way I

look at life; I grew up in the church, and my relationship with God is, increasingly, important to

me, so a lot of the things I do get related back to God in my head. Next, being a woman is also

on the top of my list for awareness. It is important to me to identify with other women in society,

regardless of if they are biologically women or not. I think that all women should be supportive

of each other because of the experiences that we go through, which includes all women, not just
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 3

those born as biological women; genders other than “conforming biological women” are still

accepted as women, so it is important to me to connect with and be aware of gender instead of

sex. (See Social Group Membership Handout in Appendix B Below). I am least aware of my

other identity groups like sex, class, ability, sexual orientation, and age because I don’t feel like

they affect me as much. In all these categories I am either an Agent or border group, so I don’t

really have to worry about them. These groups have never really been brought to my attention

because my association with them is seen as “the norm;” I have never been put into a position

where I was made to feel different for being an able-bodied biological heterosexual woman in

her twenties and who is a part of the middle class. Therefore, I don’t think I have ever put much

thought into these groups because they are not things that others have explicitly pointed out to

me or parts of my personality that I feel I need to actively work into and/or exaggerate into my

daily life (See Social Group Membership Handout in Appendix B Below).

The easiest social groups to identify because of my status would be race, sex, ability,

gender, religion, and sexual orientation. Black people and women, historically, have been

targeted groups for a long time, which made it easy to pick them as that over agent. Furthermore,

I am able-bodied, a gender conforming biological female, and heterosexual, which are all seen as

“the normal” thing to be in our society, so it was easy to see that those were agent groups. Lastly,

Christianity is seen as the “dominant” religion in the United States, so many others are looked

down on, and people just assume everyone is a Christian (unless there is a physical distinction

that shows someone’s different religion). It was harder to identify things like class and age

because I fall into border groups within those categories (See Identity Wheel Handout in

Appendix C Below).
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 4

As a target group member, depending on my mood, I usually react with either leaving,

silence, surprise, or confrontation. As an agent group member, I am always willing to listen and

understand. I know that in certain situations I am privileged, so I respond with naming and

discussion (See Response to Triggers Handout in Appendix D Below). There are differences in

how I respond based on if the trigger was aimed towards one of my target groups or agent

groups. When I am acting as a target group and something triggers me, I am quick to confront to

let the trigger know they have gone too far and to educate them on what it is like as a person of

the targeted group they were aiming for. However, sometimes I do not feel like it is my job to

educate people on things that I feel should be simple (or something that the person should try and

understand themselves), so I get silent or just leave the situation. Sometimes I do not know how

to respond because I become uncomfortable/awkward, so making a joke may be the first thing

that comes to my mind when someone triggers me. On the other hand, when I am a part of

privileged groups, I am much more understanding and would like to know the views and feelings

of those in that category’s targeted social groups; in this case, I am much more open to

discussion instead of confrontation, but I also let them know what was triggering for me about

the encounter (See Response to Triggers Handout in Appendix D Below).

I feel proud and nurtured to be black every day; I am constantly proud to be a part of a

social group with such a unique culture and so much unity. I did not live through the Civil Rights

Movement, but, if I did, that would’ve been when I was most proud of my race. However,

although it may be controversial, I was very proud of my community when The Black Lives

Matter Movement blew up because it was a time of unity where we all came together to fight

against the police brutality against our people. Some of the tactics may have been deemed violent

and unnecessary by some people, but I feel that anything was necessary for us to get our point
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 5

across (that point being that we will not keep allowing people of color to be unnecessarily killed

and then the situations being swept under the rug). I am proud to be black all the time, but my

love of my race always increases in times of unity across the country and world (See Critical

Incident Inventory Handout question 10 in Appendix E Below).

I feel that being a black woman is a social group within itself; there are two social groups

within this category, but being a black woman is very important to a lot of us within this

community. “Black women” is a group that I feel is different than any other combination of

social groups, especially when looking at just people of the United States. Black women are

treated worse than anyone else in America because we are both black and women. However,

despite the negative attitudes and behaviors towards us, I feel that we are a tight-knit community

of women who support each other deeply. The bond that black women have is that of no other

because we can connect with each other on such a deep level; we go through things that others

do not, and we have such similar experiences growing up and being in the United States that it

brings us together. It does not matter if we know one another personally or not. I am proud to be

a black woman every second of every day; I am proud to be a black woman while I am

answering this question because I love being able to brag about how amazing black women are.

It is hard to make others understand what I mean when explaining how deep the unity and love is

within the community of black women, but the people who need to know, know. (See Critical

Incident Inventory Handout question 10 in Appendix E Below).

PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 6

Appendix A
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 7

Appendix B

SOCIAL GROUP MEMBERSHIP PROFILE

Social Identities Status (Agent or Target)
Race: Black
T

Sex: Woman
T

Gender: Gender Conforming Bio

Female
A

Class: Middle
A/T
Physical/Mental/Developmental Able-Bodied
Ability: A
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
A
Religion: Protestant Christian
A

Age: Young Adult

A/T

You can leave blank any social group memberships you choose not to disclose.
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 8

Appendix C

Woman
Able-Bodied
T
A

Middle Class

A/T

Young Adult

Black A/T

T Christian

A
Heterosexual Gender Conforming

A Bio Female

A
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 9

Appendix D
PERSONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY 10

Appendix E