The origins of self perception

It's easier to define or categorize things in opposition or comparison to. For example we can classify smooth and rough in opposition to each other, laying out ground work for what something is or isn't. Most of our categorical definitions compare and borrow and contrast from pre-existing concepts or ideas. Our self perceptions are no different. We create ideas about ourselves based on social norms and in a specific cultural narrative of what you should or shouldn't be. For example how feminine I judge myself to be is based on contemporary western ideals of femininity and how closely I align myself within that model. My self perceptions are born out of social parameters. My opinion of my femininity is also relative to the female icons I perceive and the people in my own life who fall somewhere along the spectrum relative to me. I define myself relative to the scale I create by seeing and perceiving other's femininity. Together these factors become the groundwork for my ideas about myself.