There's another element of being comfortable in our skins that has nothing to do with skin -- although the skin issue is important and definitely connected.

Imagine a gathering of similarly hued people. Some will be standing comfortably and engaging with the world easily. Others will hunch, stay back, and fear being pointed out.

Some people will feel pretty comfortable wherever they go. They encounter strangers without fear. Others will be comfortable only with their family and friends. What's the difference?

Some people believe that they have just as much right to breath the air as anyone else and they project this sense of entitlement (to walk, to breathe, to live).

If you've been treated as a second class citizen, is it possible to act like a first class citizen?

I think, perhaps, over time we grow into our skin.

In the on-screen world, where no one knows you're a dog, it's easier to be comfortable with our identity and self-projection. Does that growing sense of self transfer to the non-screen world? Are you comfortable with your own self-projection on the screen where your words are the only skin people see?

I'm throwing these questions out there.

And everything that kleinbl00 said is bang on. As usual.