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UNDERSTANDING ANOTHER PERSON’S MULTIPLE SOCIAL IDENTITIES

Interview Paper

Ashlee Johnstone

University of South Carolina

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UNDERSTANDING ANOTHER PERSON’S MULTIPLE SOCIAL IDENTITIES
Interview Paper

Overview of Interview

This interview was an eye-opening experience. I think it is important to always be open-

minded. I think that diversity is necessary for society to exist. Diversity gives people the chance

to experience different people outside of what they would normally experience. This interview

contained heavy material on the difference in males and females and youth oppression.

Interviewee’s Identity

The interviewee has no trouble exposing his identity. He is a white male. He identifies as

male and was also born a male. He is Heterosexual. He is agnostic. He is 19 years old and is a

sophomore in college. He is in the upper middle class and has no disability. I also asked for his

preferred pronouns, and it was he/him. I believe that this important to ask to make sure everyone

is comfortable during the interview. Reference appendix B for the identity wheel.

Target vs Agent Identity

Him being a male makes it an agent identity. He however said that sometimes he feels as

if being a male He had a lot of elaboration when it came to this identity which we will get into

later in the essay. Him being white also makes it an agent identity. Him being heterosexual also

makes it an agent identity. Him being agnostic makes him a target according to his views. Him

being upper middle class also makes him an agent. For age, he feels like that is a target identity.

Finally, being fully able with no disability is also an agent. I think it is interesting that most of

his social identities correlate to being agent identities.

Interviewer’s Identity

I am a woman. This is a target identity. I identify as woman, and I was born as a woman.

I am white. This is an agent identity. I am heterosexual and am agnostic. Being heterosexual is

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an agent identity and being agnostic I would consider a target. I am 20 years old. This is a target

identity. I am fully able and have no disability. This is an agent identity. I would consider myself

a part of lower middle class. This is a target identity.

Comfortability in Questions

My interviewee was very comfortable within the interview. He did not seem

uncomfortable with answering any questions that I presented. The only section of questions that

he mostly felt uncomfortable with was the questions regarding his sex and how that related to the

privilege he has due to that. This did not prevent him from talking though, he had many stories

that made him reflect on the privilege he had. No other questions affected him.

Differences Between Identities

The main difference between our identities is that he is a male. As much as this is only

one social identity, I think it is an important one. The difference between being a woman and a

man are great differences. They are differences in the biological aspect as much as the physical

aspect. Another key identity that is different between the two of us is the fact that we are on

different spectrums of the middle class. I would argue that him and his family would be near the

upper-class area. I am in the lower middle-class area. There comes a key difference in the type of

households we were raised in also. He was raised in a household with a close family with his two

parents still together and happily married. I, on the other hand, was raised in a not so close

household where my parents got divorced my senior year of high school. They then moved on

and went their separate ways and now unfortunately both parents are not alive. These become big

factors when it comes to how a person’s identity is created.

Assumptions in Identity
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UNDERSTANDING ANOTHER PERSON’S MULTIPLE SOCIAL IDENTITIES
A bias I had against my interviewee prior to the interview is that he wouldn’t really

understand diversity due to his lack of it. My interviewee fits the larger part of population with

little to no conflicting identities. I think that going into the interview with him being a male, I

also assumed that he would not understand the struggles that women face every day. I think I

also assumed him being white that he had never faced hardships in his life. I also assumed that

because he has two parents that are still together that he never experienced anything traumatic

throughout his life. This was far from true in all aspects. A big thing that was mentioned during

the interview was how he understands the privilege he has over women. Obviously, he can’t

understand fully the privilege because he doesn’t have the comparison of being a woman.

However, when talking to him he seemed like he had a good understanding when it came to

safety of the advantage he has. He brought up a story that he was walking with his girlfriend at

the time and there was a creepy man who the girlfriend believed was following them. When this

happened, the girlfriend rushed to the car and immediately locked the door when him and his

girlfriend were inside. This is really when the realized that women genuinely do not feel safe in

their environment. He explained how he does not understand how he gets to walk freely

wherever he pleases and never feels unsafe. However, he said that when talking to his girlfriend

he realized there are lots of safety measures women take when going anywhere. He mentioned

how women lock their car doors, how women hold their keys in between their hands, how

women carry pepper spray with them, and many more safety precautions.

I think that this take on sexism is interesting. This connects to what we learned in class.

This article stated, “nevertheless, women have also historically received lesser pay than men,

placing women at an even greater risk of losing jobs in service sectors that have been charged

with closing shop due to the country’s current climate” (Forbes). During COVID, it was harder
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for families to find childcare. With this quote, it shows that women are paid less, leaving the men

to be the “breadwinners” of the family. Due to childcare being scarce, and men being the usual

“breadwinners” of the family, this would force the women to stay home and take care of the

children. This created the statistic of women in the workforce to decrease significantly because

they had no choice but to be there for their family.

We do not only see sexism in safety or in the workplace, but also in sports. According to

this article, it says, “the regulations target women athletes with some variations in their sex

characteristics that cause their natural testosterone levels to be higher than typical. The

regulations deny these women the right to participate as women for running events between 400

meters and 1 mile unless they submit to invasive testing and medically unnecessary procedures.

There is no clear scientific consensus that women with naturally occurring higher-than-typical

testosterone have a performance advantage in athletics. There are no similar regulations for men”

(Human Rights Watch). This shows that even if you are a woman, if your testosterone levels are

slightly higher you can be discriminated against and may not be able to participate. This can

force female athletes to go through unnecessary forced hormonal changes just to participate in

their desired sport. This also gives female athletes and those who look up to them the idea of

what femineity means.

Overall, this shows that women are at the disadvantage and are highly oppressed in many

aspects including the workplace, safety, and sports. These are all very essential aspects of life

and women do not deserve to receive the back end of this.

Oppression vs Privilege

My interviewee was very aware of his privilege vs his oppression. The only oppression

he mentioned facing was his age. His age was the biggest oppressor of his social identities. He
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mentioned that many older people do not take young people seriously, and I would have to agree.

Older people assume that young people have not experienced enough to have a wise opinion and

I could not agree more with him.

We have not talked about his topic within class just yet. However, for my current event I

did lots of research on this specific topic. Age is limiting whether you are old or young. In this

article, it states, “Yet the misperception persists that older adults are frail and weak. As

educators in the field of health and gerontology, we can tell you research shows that ageist

attitudes harm the health of older adults. Indeed, the World Health Organization

acknowledges ageism as the last socially accepted form of prejudice. And this impacts the

kind of care they receive and the health care outcomes they experience” (National Interest).

This kind of shows the opposite of youth oppression. However, it does show that the way you

treat the elderly can affect their health in the end. I think this can apply to youth and their

development. If the youth’s opinions are not respected as they grow older then I think that

they will go into their younger adult years being more reserved and not very strong-minded

with their opinions and thoughts. It is very important to have your own views and opinions as

you grow older, and I believe that this oppression limits that idea.

Response to Triggers

My interviewee was very aware of the response he has when he feels like he has been

able to be singled out. He stated that his trigger responses were confrontation, attack, and

avoidance. Reference appendix C. The avoidance trigger response is where you avoid future

encounters with and withdraw emotionally from people or situations that trigger. The attack

trigger response is when you respond with an intention to hurt whoever has triggered you. The

confrontation trigger response is when we name the trigger and demand that the offending
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behavior or policy be changed. I think this is important to make aware that these trigger

responses are probably not always the best way to respond to a trigger which the interviewee is

very aware of. I think when it comes to identifying trigger responses it is important to be self-

aware. This allows for change and growth in the situation. My interviewee stated that he would

like to move towards the trigger responses of discretion and discussion. Discretion is when you

look at the dynamics of the situation and decide what is in your best interest to respond with

next. Taking a moment to think about the situation can make all the difference in an outcome of

a situation. Discussion is also important. That is when you name the trigger and invite discussion

about it with the person who triggered you. This is important to have a mature conversation. The

triggers responses can be referenced in appendix C.

Critical Incident Inventory

Specifically, as one of my interview questions, I asked a critical thinking inventory

question. This can be referenced in appendix A or appendix D. The question I asked was number

2 on the critical thinking inventory, “A time where you became aware that your membership in a

social group gave you privileges not enjoyed by members of another social group.” I touched on

this earlier in the essay specifically. However, when it came to having privilege of being a male

over a female my interviewee was very aware of some aspects. The major one he was aware of

was the safety he has over a woman. He specifically stated when asked that question, “I

remember when I was walking to the car with my girlfriend at the time and she mentioned to me

she felt like the guy walking behind us was following us. I told her not to worry and to keep

walking. As soon as we got into the car, she locked the door immediately. It opened my eyes to

the fact that she feared the man, meanwhile, I could not care less.” This shows that he was made

aware of this privilege from the situation.

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Conclusion

Overall, doing this interview taught me that diversity is necessary in society. In life, we

have so much to learns as people from others who do not share the same identities or experiences

as. We could be sitting next to someone in class and have no idea what they identify as or what

they have been through as a person. I think as a social worker it is important to understand that

clients will not have the same identities as us and as social workers it is our responsibility to

make ourselves aware of that identity’s oppression. To be a good social worker not only entails

being a compassionate person but also requires the competency of others.

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Appendix A

Interview Questions

1. What do you identify as?

2. How has an identity that you have identified as given you an advantage compared to

others who have a different identity in the same category?

3. What is a situation you can remember that you became aware of your own privilege and

how did it affect you?

4. Have you ever felt oppressed due to one of your identities?

5. Is there a time where you felt privilege because of one of your identities?
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Appendix B

Identity Wheel

Sex/gender (A)
Sexual O.
Religion (T)
(A)

Age (T) Class (A)

Race (A) Ability (A)

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Appendix C

Triggers Chart
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Appendix D

Critical Incident Inventory

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References

Chambers, Dr. Brittany. “How the Coronavirus Has Resulted in the Highest Job Loss for
Women: Erasing A Decade of Progress.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 May 2020,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanychambers/2020/05/12/how-the-coronavirus-has-
resulted-in-the-highest-job-loss-for-women-erasing-a-decade-of-progress/?
sh=340dd28e192a.

Nash, Paul. “Coronavirus Shows How Ageism Is Harmful to Health of Older Adults.” The
National Interest, The Center for the National Interest, 16 June 2020,
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/coronavirus-shows-how-ageism-harmful-health-
older-adults-162815.

“When Will Sports Stop Policing Femininity?” Human Rights Watch, 28 Oct. 2020,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/01/when-will-sports-stop-policing-femininity.