Tale of Two Women

Both women profiled in these essays portray themselves as strong feminists struggling with societies preconceived perceptions of identity. Wilson describes having her looks judged as masculine based on her baldness. Anzaldua is assumed to be Spanish or Mexican but considers her to be “Chicana”. Both women have a case of mistaken identity by society.

Anzaldua strongly identifies her heritage by her language. As she states:
Chicano Spanish sprang out of the Chicanos need to identify ourselves because we are a complex heterogeneous people” (55).

She describes Spanish culture as a melting pot. By altering the Spanish language by dialect or hybridization of two languages the people of Spanish decent were able to gain a sense of racial or ethnic identity, even if removed from the source of their original language. This in some sense is an invention of a new identity loosely and yet not indirectly correlated with their “original” language and the resulting identity.

Wilson strongly identifies herself as a female yet appears to others as a masculine figure. This is referenced when she boasts about her breasts – an unmistakable female trait, in light of the other visual indicators that people perceive as feminine.

“Forget the round face… what about the 40 C’s?” (22).

I make assumptions all the time. There is an ideological imprint embedded in all of us. Society is programmed to take short cuts in the thinking processes; most of the time its not inherently malicious or even intended. When we see bird we don’t automatically think “Double-crested Cormoranta” rather we reduce our internal referencing system to that which we are familiar. To most of us, unless you are an orthinologist, that object in the sky is simply a “bird”.

People have the right to identity but because a preconceived notion is being challenged it not right to persecute ignorance.