To what extent is family a part our identities?

Answer 1

Depends how you look at it. Socially, espacially in our society now, it doesn't mean much to anyone else. Doesn't really define you in the least, in someone else's eyes, usually. The truth is alot deeper then that, you can't really have any identity, even if your our adopted, without that defining you. Its just the nature of it. Your experiences defines you, and by that very nature, espacially since a large portion of people still raise their own kiddos, them raising you defines you, on top of the fact they are the givers of your genetics. So at the least they define your apperance, at the most they really define who you are as an individual. We can argue free-choice all we want, but they GIVE you the environment and the compassidy to undertand that free-choice so you can't really separate them. That all aside, simply put, they are your identity, we just live in a society that doesn't give much respect to that anymore.