I'm confused. I've seen a lot of outrage and upset, until finally I had to google "transracial" to figure out what was even going on.
I feel like we've finally gotten to the point where there's a large support for the LGBT community. Obviously there's plenty of opposition as well, but we're having open conversations about things now, celebrities are making positive strides for those communities, and in general we're headed in the right direction, even if it's sloppily and slowly.
But now there's a new kind of identity mixup. Instead of a man in a woman's body or a woman in a man's body, we have what looks to be a white woman claiming to be black.
My offhand reaction is that it sounds ridiculous, and I understand that it's douche-y to pretend to be something you're not in order to reap the benefits. A lot of people are accusing Dolezal of faking her race in order to get special treatment, jobs, etc. But I'm not sure how they can know what her internal motives are.
After giving it some thought, I also don't understand how it's terribly different from being transgender. Women have been oppressed, and denied the right to vote, and even now are seen differently than men in many ways, including negatively in leadership positions. And there are plenty of groups and scholarships and support networks for women to help remedy that. Could not a man want to masquerade as a woman in order to be treated differently?
And really, what is it that defines gender or race? Gender used to seem pretty clear cut; you've got one set of parts and you're a man, the other and you're a woman. But there's so much culturally that goes into how we think of women vs men, and how we define gender roles that it becomes much more complicated.
Honestly, I think race was always far more complicated than gender. If race was the same as ethnicity, then it would be simple. Ancestors from Africa? You're black. Ancestors from Europe? You're white. But we all know someone with dark skin whose family has lived in England for several generations isn't going to be considered "white" because he or she is from Europe and the same of light skinned people living in Africa.
Race is very hard to pin down. It's a mix of color, features, background, family culture, even clothing choices and speech mannerisms.
So now that gender has become this tenuous, shifting thing, how one earth can we claim that race is so clear cut and obvious?
It's entirely possible that there's something I'm missing, some defining quality that differentiates race from gender. Are they 2 separate issues? Or are people upset because this is new and new things don't have credibility? Genuinely curious to hear what you guys think.
EDIT: Stephanie gave me a link to something that expounds a little bit on the points I made (evidently I'm not the first to think of them). If you're interested it's a YouTube video by Kat Blaque.
I'll summarize though: She goes over the whole scenario pretty thoroughly but I think the main point she makes is that race is something you biologically inherit from your parents while gender isn't. So to change your race is to adopt a culture you didn't grow up with, and how could you possibly know what it really feels like to be a member of that group without the full experience. Which I guess would imply that gender doesn't have it's own culture.
She also says that changing your race (or "pretending to be something you're not") is not an option that is open to everyone. Someone who is black and darker skinned would not be able to just decide to be white. And while I could see that being difficult, I'm not sure I totally buy it. I mean, you can have surgery to change your physical body parts, so is it really outside the realm of possibility that you could change the tone of your skin? You can definitely change your features.
I'll have to think a little more on it. It's an interesting concept and my logical deduction isn't matching up with my gut reaction, so I'm not sure which side I'm leaning toward.
I feel like we've finally gotten to the point where there's a large support for the LGBT community. Obviously there's plenty of opposition as well, but we're having open conversations about things now, celebrities are making positive strides for those communities, and in general we're headed in the right direction, even if it's sloppily and slowly.
But now there's a new kind of identity mixup. Instead of a man in a woman's body or a woman in a man's body, we have what looks to be a white woman claiming to be black.
My offhand reaction is that it sounds ridiculous, and I understand that it's douche-y to pretend to be something you're not in order to reap the benefits. A lot of people are accusing Dolezal of faking her race in order to get special treatment, jobs, etc. But I'm not sure how they can know what her internal motives are.
After giving it some thought, I also don't understand how it's terribly different from being transgender. Women have been oppressed, and denied the right to vote, and even now are seen differently than men in many ways, including negatively in leadership positions. And there are plenty of groups and scholarships and support networks for women to help remedy that. Could not a man want to masquerade as a woman in order to be treated differently?
And really, what is it that defines gender or race? Gender used to seem pretty clear cut; you've got one set of parts and you're a man, the other and you're a woman. But there's so much culturally that goes into how we think of women vs men, and how we define gender roles that it becomes much more complicated.
Honestly, I think race was always far more complicated than gender. If race was the same as ethnicity, then it would be simple. Ancestors from Africa? You're black. Ancestors from Europe? You're white. But we all know someone with dark skin whose family has lived in England for several generations isn't going to be considered "white" because he or she is from Europe and the same of light skinned people living in Africa.
Race is very hard to pin down. It's a mix of color, features, background, family culture, even clothing choices and speech mannerisms.
So now that gender has become this tenuous, shifting thing, how one earth can we claim that race is so clear cut and obvious?
It's entirely possible that there's something I'm missing, some defining quality that differentiates race from gender. Are they 2 separate issues? Or are people upset because this is new and new things don't have credibility? Genuinely curious to hear what you guys think.
EDIT: Stephanie gave me a link to something that expounds a little bit on the points I made (evidently I'm not the first to think of them). If you're interested it's a YouTube video by Kat Blaque.
I'll summarize though: She goes over the whole scenario pretty thoroughly but I think the main point she makes is that race is something you biologically inherit from your parents while gender isn't. So to change your race is to adopt a culture you didn't grow up with, and how could you possibly know what it really feels like to be a member of that group without the full experience. Which I guess would imply that gender doesn't have it's own culture.
She also says that changing your race (or "pretending to be something you're not") is not an option that is open to everyone. Someone who is black and darker skinned would not be able to just decide to be white. And while I could see that being difficult, I'm not sure I totally buy it. I mean, you can have surgery to change your physical body parts, so is it really outside the realm of possibility that you could change the tone of your skin? You can definitely change your features.
I'll have to think a little more on it. It's an interesting concept and my logical deduction isn't matching up with my gut reaction, so I'm not sure which side I'm leaning toward.
Thoughts on the transracial concept? Got any insights for me on the difference between race and gender?
