Rhetorical Self-Fashioning as Embodied Choice

Sor Juana masterfully shaped her public identity through careful writing and calculated self-revelation—presenting herself as obedient nun while asserting intellectual authority, performing humility while claiming expertise. Rhetorical self-fashioning acknowledges that identity is not merely discovered but actively constructed through how we present our bodies and voices to the world. This is not insincerity but sophisticated agency: recognizing that our self-concept is partly authored by us through deliberate choice. We choose what to reveal, what to emphasize, what to minimize. Our bodies become texts we compose. This concept is especially powerful for those marginalized by visible identity—race, disability, gender—where strategic presentation becomes survival and self-determination. Sor Juana's model shows that authentic identity and strategic presentation are not opposed; rather, the ability to control one's narrative and self-representation is itself a form of freedom and genuine selfhood. How you present matters because it shapes what becomes possible.