Identity

Something I've been thinking about lately is personal identity, or identities. I'm a wetlands ecologist, therefore a scientist. I identify as a woman. I like to run, but does that make me a runner? It's all very complex.

I've seen a lot of arguing on Twitter lately about scientists vs who gets to claim being a scientist. Academia vs private/industry/government, like that somehow makes someone more or less of a scientist. In my opinion, neither is better, necessarily, though one category is better suited for the individual scientist. I don't like to hustle for money or want to get my PhD, so academia is not suited for me. I do like to work on projects and can run projects (just don't want to hustle for the grant money) so non-academia is better for me. To each their own, but why do we keep fighting about it?

Also, why do we keep fighting about who is vs who isn't a scientist? Do you do science? Then you are a scientist. The word scientist itself was formed to be more inclusive, so let's just be inclusive. If you do science and want to identify as a scientist (or not identify as a scientist and identify as something else) then go for it.

The same goes for other categories/identities as well, thought I don't often feel as comfortable claiming those identities as my own. I am a scientist, have been for years, and totally do identify as that.

I also do triathlons, but does that make me a triathlete? It does, but I don't feel comfortable describing myself that way for some reason. Same with running. I've run many events (including a marathon & an ultra marathon) but I don't describe myself as a runner. I love photography and really enjoy it, but don't really claim the photographer identity. I totally have a right to these identities, just like you have the right to whatever identities you want.

I think my real point is - if you do X activity, that gives you X identity, and then it's up to you if you want to claim it or identify yourself as such. There's also many other identities encompassing social, gender, and other areas. But mainly let's just stop putting others into boxes and just let everyone identify themselves how they wish to! Scientists included!