What is Identity?

1 Who is Batman?

Students can answer this question in a variety of ways. They can discuss his wealth, his childhood trauma, or his career as a crime-fighting superhero. Most would likely mention Batman’s secret identity, Bruce Wayne.

Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne. Could we also say that Bruce Wayne’s secret identity is Batman? Why or why not?

As students respond, steer the conversation to the question of what shapes identity, including how different identities interact. Help students see that we can be made up of many identities and not all identities are equally important. For example, Batman’s traits and attributes include his race, his accent, his relationship to his family and friends, his costume, his gadgets etc. Are all these traits equally important? Should an identity be built on any single trait or attribute?

2 What does identity mean? 

Dictionary.com defines “identity” two ways:

A) What a person is (something that they are); The fact of being who or what a person or thing is; “He knows the identity of the bombers”

B) Characteristics that make up an identity (something that they have): the characteristics determining this [person or group of people], for example, “Attempts to define a distinct Canadian identity”

ACTIVITY: 

In groups of two, take all the characteristics you mentioned and ask students to decide if these traits make up the Batman identity or are they just characteristics of Batman? Give students 10 minutes to discuss, then have them come back to the big group with their answers. These next questions should help students develop the basic concepts of their own personal identity:

Begin the discussion by getting your students to think about the core of Batman’s identity. Help them see that even without his gadgets or his costume, Batman is a man committed to fighting injustice. This is the core of his identity because that seems to be his most important characteristic.

3 What are some ways people describe their own identity?

People find identity in race, gender, sexuality, faith, age, marital status, relationships, etc. Use images in the slideshow to help. These images portray identities based on religion, race, disability, body type, or activities like sports or computer gaming and sexuality. These images include a movie called, “Crazy, Rich Asians” and Toronto Raptors fans.

4 Why is identity so important for so many people?

Today, many people take their identity very seriously. It defines everything for them. Help your students explore why identity is so important. Help them see that identity helps people identify with a community, for purposes of peer support, the comfort of a familiar culture, etc. It is important for many because it helps define who they are, as well as how they relate to their tribe or circle of friends, and even what values they hold.

For many, identity shapes their politics, their perspectives and what they think of themselves.

ACTIVITY

IDENTITY EXERCISE—Say to students: “Make a list of the characteristics that form your identity. Put each item on a separate sticky note and place the sticky notes on a piece of paper, starting with the most important aspect of your identity and going down to the least important aspect of your identity.” When each list is complete, have students partner up and compare their lists. Have them explain to their partner the reasons for the ranking they gave to particular characteristics. Get them to discuss these questions: 

Are there similarities between our lists? Differences? What explains the differences?

Because many characteristics shape who we are, we have to decide which of our many traits make up the most important part of our identity.

5 How do people choose their identities? 

Use the Session 2 slides to show the little boy from the Calgary pride parade. He is wearing a T-shirt that says, “When I grow up, I’m free to be what I want to be.” Ask the students what they think about that shirt. Explain to them that many people now determine their identity by how they feel, not by facts about their body.

Read these definitions to them:

• Feelings: an emotional state or reaction or the emotional side of someone's character; emotional responses or tendencies to respond.

• Facts: a thing that is known or proved to be true. 

6 What happens when feelings determine our identity?

VIDEO: Coming Out As Trans-Everything
Take a look at this video. It is from a non-Christian site called College Humor. Even though they claim that transgenderism is a real thing, they seem to suggest that there is no limit to how people can feel and what identity they can choose.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypxi6Oat8s4

The video is satire, but it seems to be mirroring what is happening today. With your students take a look at these examples of how people’s feelings are shaping their identity:

A) Rachel Dolezal, a white woman who identifies as black and changed her name to Nkechi Diallo;

B) Chloe Jennings-White, a woman who identifies as disabled and calls herself transabled, even though she has no physical disabilities;

C) Paul Wolscht, a man in his fifties and father of seven, who left his wife and kids to live as a six-year old girl named Stefonknee (pronounced ‘Stephanie’) Wolscht;

D) Richard Hernandez, who now identifies as Eva Tiamat Baphomet Medusa—or Tiamat, a dragon;

E) Otherkin Community: This is a Facebook group designed for people who claim to be members of another species.  

7 What do you think about these identities?

All these people feel an identity different from what their body would suggest, so they argue their feelings are more important in shaping their identity than the fact of their physical body. Ask your students if they accept that gender can be fluid. Would it be fair to say that all these identities can be fluid too?

8 Ask your students, “Is it better to base your identity on facts rather than feelings? Why or why not?”

Explain to the students that feelings can’t change reality, that as a matter of fact, feelings can’t be trusted to determine identity because feelings constantly change. 

VIDEO: Show the image and video of Ellen Lietzow, someone who struggles with anorexia nervosa. She thought her body was fat, even though she was extremely thin. 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_wunBuuETE

Ask the students if they are willing to say that Ellen’s view of herself was wrong. If they agree that how she viewed her body was wrong, then get them to explain why they think that. Encourage students to recognize that what Ellen’s body was really like is more important than how she felt.

To illustrate that facts should shape feelings, use the slide to show your students a t-shirt available online that says, “There are more than two genders.” But then show how the t-shirt is only available in men’s, women’s, and children’s sizes! This means even a shirt that says there are more than two genders cannot escape the fact that human beings only come in two genders. Explain that facts can change feelings but feelings cannot change facts. In another session, we’ll discuss the best way to choose an identity.

9 What identity does God offer us?

As a group, read this biblical passage together.

Explain to the students that gender and race don’t disappear when we follow Christ. The passage is saying our identity is found in our Designer, rather than derived from our feelings. Besides, when we base our identity on how God feels, rather than on how we feel, we will find our real value and worth. God knows us much better than we know ourselves and shows us our value in how much He loves us.