Does how others perceive you ethnically shape how you identify yourself?

[Sikeliot]

I am frequently told, by my mother's side of the family, that I resemble my father. People who meet me hear my last name and identify me as Italian/Sicilian American, despite that I am mixed with many things. I am told, when people know my background, that I look neither Iberian nor Slavic, and I am never accepted as either one. I am frequently mistaken for various Southeastern European and East Med ethnicities, while I am not ever accepted as Portuguese or as Polish.

This has influenced the way I identify and perceive myself.

[Baluarte]

Yes, of course.
First impression and overall judgement of you includes your face/phenotype.

[Sikeliot]

But what I mean is, if you identified as one thing and people perceived you as something else, would you change the way you identified?

[Smeagol]

if you identified as one thing and people perceived you as something else, would you change the way you identified?

No.

[arcticwolf]

Fuck no! I know I am a Slav, I know I'm Polish, but I'm one ethnicity so I don't have the opposite point of view.

[Sikeliot]

I'd find it hard to consider myself something if no one else considered me it. If I was mixed race and looked black, I would feel awkward considering myself white, for instance.

[Baluarte]

But what I mean is, if you identified as one thing and people perceived you as something else, would you change the way you identified?

Depends
If you're 100% something, then no. A 100% German guy (by descent) has every right to feel German even if he is dark haired/dark eyed, and with exotic traits.

However, a mixed person, can easily prefer one side over the other if he feels closer/ressembling a particular ancestry than the other one.
Identity comes from the self, but also from the environment.

[Swearengen]

...

[Sikeliot]

However, a mixed person, can easily prefer one side over the other if he feels closer/ressembling a particular ancestry than the other one.
Identity comes from the self, but also from the environment.

Like use me as an example. I am 25% Portuguese, 25% Polish, 12.5% Sardinian, and 37.5% Sicilian/Calabrese, and I look 100% Sicilian/Calabrese with classical Ancient Greek features, and everyone sees me as Italian American and I am always mistaken for Greek. If I identified more strongly with my Polish or Portuguese heritage people would be confused, and so I would feel weird identifying a way people don't perceive me.

[ChocolateFace]

Depends
If you're 100% something, then no. A 100% German guy (by descent) has every right to feel German even if he is dark haired/dark eyed, and with exotic traits.

However, a mixed person, can easily prefer one side over the other if he feels closer/ressembling a particular ancestry than the other one.
Identity comes from the self, but also from the environment.

This!


Same reason why Mulattoes usually associate with their black side.