My cultural identity is made up of many factors. I was born and raised in the San Antonio area. Both my parents are from Mexico, my mother moved here when she was nineteen and my father moved here when he was five. When they first moved to the San Antonio area, they were lower class and lived in the poorest neighborhood in San Antonio. When I was about three years old, we moved to South San Antonio. My mother is Catholic and always tried to get us to church, but over the years we became busy on Sundays and only came at Christmas and Easter. My Hispanic culture is involved in my life through all the traditions my mother tries to keep at home during the holidays. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay They both taught me to embrace my Mexican culture, but also to respect other cultures. They taught us to speak Spanish, but over the years going to school affected whether we spoke Spanish until we forgot most of the language. When I was in elementary, I wasn't placed in a bilingual class, so I was taught that I wasn't supposed to speak Spanish in school because no one else in my class spoke it , so I started to forget how to speak it. When I entered middle school, I made friends who spoke Spanish and learned that it was okay to speak it but that I had already forgotten most of the language. I always try to connect with my Mexican heritage. There are many things I still don't know, like my ancestry. I want to know where my family really comes from. In most families, men have more freedom than women. I'm not the type to go out with my friends without a cousin with me. They get more privileges because they are “men” and they are “strong.” Males can do whatever they want without telling anyone, but females have to ask permission for everything. My parents believe that “bad things” might happen to us if we go out alone. I respect my parents' wishes, but sometimes it's hard knowing that you can't do everything the men in your family do. Sometimes, when my family and I would go exploring in the small towns around us, we would find ourselves in a town that was predominantly white. We would receive strange looks and sometimes glares from random people we passed. Simply because we spoke Spanish and we are slightly darker than them. It was strange because we were mostly from Hispanics and other cultures. We didn't stay long because we were uncomfortable because of the strange looks we were getting. My cultural identity represents who I am as a person and who my family is. My family is my model for my cultural identity. Even through some stereotypical things for men and women, I would like to share some of the things that represent our cultural identity. I would love to keep all the Hispanic aspects of my parents' cultural identity, but lose all the "men are better than women." I am a strong Mexican American from South San Antonio and I am proud that this is my cultural identity. A person's identity is shaped by many elements such as nationality, physical appearance, race, ethnic group, religion and language. All of these can affect a person's identity, but only,