Blog Post:  What does it mean to “modulate your outsider identity”?  Do you agree that everyone has “outsider” aspects to their identities, aspects they might choose to hide?

To modulate your outsider identity is to hide or diminish any quality that may be viewed as undesirable by an inside group. The idea that people tend to cover traits they personally view as undesirable is universal. This is evident when people attempt to hide physical disabilities or change their name in an effort to hide their ethnicity. Covering is something everyone does, whether we know it or not, because we have all certain outsider qualities. It is impossible to not posses several outsider qualities because, depending on the insider groups one wishes to be a part of, the same quality can be both an insider and an outsider quality. Covering is significant, in terms of inclusion, because it as a common factor all people share. Too often we view inclusion as a way to get marginalized groups; women, people of color, gays, into the insider group. Covering makes one think that inclusion isn’t bringing people into existing groups; it is redefining our social structure so that everybody is in one inside group and no one is left on the outside. An understanding of covering, can lead to a view of inclusion that involves everyone doing an active part to redefine how we separate ourselves into groups.