Consumption as Identity Politics

Sor Juana lived within rigid identity categories imposed by colonial Mexico—as a woman, as a person of mixed heritage, as an intellectual in spaces designed to exclude her. She navigated these constraints while asserting her authentic self. Similarly, consumption never exists in a vacuum; our choices communicate identity and values within power structures. Ethical consumption requires examining how we use products to perform identity: Are we consuming to conform to expectations or to express genuine values? Do our purchases reinforce systems that marginalize others like ourselves? This framework asks us to consume consciously as an act of self-definition, choosing alignment between our stated values and actual purchasing, rejecting false identities marketed to us, and using consumption as a form of ethical self-expression rather than unconscious conformity.