It is from a psychoanalytic perspective that this class will explore the logic of identification common in the United States--a country defined by social pressure to declare one’s identity. We can begin by assuming that nobody fully knows who one is. Claims of identity, which often collide with subjective experience, must be examined critically. If identity offers meaning and a sense of self, it can also diminish one's singularity, which generates a struggle for those whose gender expressions like clothes, body language, speech patterns, social interactions, etc., do not align with social expectations traditionally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth or for those whose bodies are racialized. This course is based on the critique of psychoanalysis and sexual difference that the instructor developed through their practice in Philadelphia’s barrio where they encountered populations marginalized by race, gender, class, or immigration status. With key readings from Freud, Lacan, Winnicott, Erikson, Benveniste, Althusser, Halberstam, Mock, Long Chu, Butler. Lichtenstein, and Preciado, this class will tackle the function of identification in the construction of the self from a cultural and psychoanalytic perspective; it will combine clinical insight, cultural analysis, and discussions of case studies. We will describe and analyze various experiences of embodiment, showing how these experiences modify identity at the sexual, social, and racial levels.