Property in One's Own Story and Identity

Sor Juana fought throughout her life against having her identity written by others—as merely a woman, a nun, a colonial subject, a heretic, or a tool of the Church. She insisted on her right to define herself through her own intellectual work and self-presentation. This concept extends property rights into the realm of identity and narrative: you own your own story. Libertarian justice must protect individuals from having their identities colonized, rewritten, or claimed by others—whether through gossip, propaganda, institutional classification, or forced conformity. When authorities silence someone's voice or impose a false identity, they commit a kind of property theft as real as stealing physical goods. Sor Juana's insistence on telling her own story in her own words was a property claim: this narrative belongs to me. In contemporary contexts, this principle protects against reputation harm, identity appropriation, forced categorization, and the erasure of marginalized voices. Libertarian justice requires recognizing that your life story, your self-presentation, and your identity are properties you rightfully own and control, and that others cannot legitimately expropriate or rewrite them.