I know its been discussed before, but I need clarification again - why is Transgender so much different than someone saying they are Transracial? I understood before - gender is not biological, etc. but now with the blurring of biology within this ideology I am confused with this argument.

submitted by lunarenergy8 from self.GenderCritical

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[–]transwoman 11 insightful - 4 fun11 insightful - 3 fun12 insightful - 4 fun -  (2 children)

I'm not GC myself but I am transgender so I suppose I could shed some light on this distinction between being transgender and being transracial. I know this is a space for GC views and people so if I'm overstepping, please remove my post, I don't mean to invade this safe space.

So I think where GC and QT agree is that there is a distinction between the concepts of sex and gender, where sex represents the biological distinction between those who are male and those who are female, and gender is a culturally and societally influenced concept of expectations, roles, and expressions that are arbitrarily forced upon the 2 sexes through socialization and other environmental factors.

I think the same thing applies to skin color vs race. Skin color is a biological reality, and race is a concept that's culturally and societally influenced and is forced upon people usually based on an arbitrary distinction of a person's skin color and other environmental factors.

That being said, I'm not really aware of the surgical or medical processes by which someone can change their skin color, my mind goes to melanin levels but I have no clue if melatonin levels can be influenced forcibly like that. But assuming that it's possible for someone to change their natural skin color, I don't really see an issue with it. It would be like if someone dyed their hair from naturally brunette to blond. Socially speaking, that person might be regarded as white or black or whatever artificial category created around by the concept of race, and I don't particularly see a problem with this either, as race is ambiguous to begin with anyway.

I think the truth is that we are more hesitant to accept the idea of transracial people due to the massive amount of historical oppression that have been placed on people of color for centuries through imperialism, slavery, segregation, and overall, systemtic racism. But in reality, presuming there are ways to change your skin color through some kind of medical process, I don't necessarily see an issue, since skin color should be an inconsequential part of a person; it's just like someone's hair or eye color. It's a part of that person, and in our racist society it may have shaped how they grew up and lived, but ultimately it's something that in an ideal world shouldn't be something used to oppress people.

I don't know, what are everyone else's thoughts? Sorry this is kinda long 😬

[–]pertinaste 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think the same thing applies to skin color vs race. Skin color is a biological reality, and race is a concept that's culturally and societally influenced

This would be very clear to people if Americans just started calling what they're talking about "ethnicity", as the rest of the world does, rather than "race".

That being said, I'm not really aware of the surgical or medical processes by which someone can change their skin color

Two points here.

  1. Skin color doesn't matter. DNA doesn't even matter. Virtually all African-Americans have European admixture in their genome. The average is probably 40-50%, and it can reach 90% or more. So in terms of skin color and genetics, this population would be more correctly characterized as "Afro-European Americans". And yet, they're still a cohesive and coherent demographic group, precisely because skin color and DNA don't matter. It's all about how people classify each other, and in the US, the one-drop rule still operates, among both Blacks and Whites. In Brasil, these two populations would be more like a dozen different ones, which just reinforces the idea that this is cultural and not genetic.

  2. Skin color can indeed be changed. Michael Jackson is the most famous example. John Howard Griffin is another.

I think the truth is that we are more hesitant to accept the idea of transracial people due to the massive amount of historical oppression that have been placed on people of color for centuries through imperialism, slavery, segregation, and overall, systemtic racism.

It's now common when you bring out the transgenderism=transracialism point for one or more people claiming to be Black to say that you have no right to make this comparison, that you're a racist for doing it, and so on. In fact, I strongly suspect the people who say this are trans activists, simply because there is nothing offensive in making such a comparison, and --most importantly-- the transracialism argument is the silver bullet that destroy all trans arguments, so no efforts must be spared to take it out of circulation.

[–]transwoman 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree, ethnicity is probably a better word to use. I think the term race is so prevalent simply due to the fact that the United States was built on imperialism and racism, so the language becomes a little unclear.

Thank you for the info regarding skin color as well as examples of those who have. You're right to say that skin color itself shouldn't matter, but it's the arbitrary classifications of ethnicity/race that are the source of the problem.

I also agree that the people who accept transgenderism but not transracislism are probably being intellectually dishonest and inconsistent logically speaking. Both ideas are highly similar, and one cannot be considered without the other, in my mind.

Thank you for reacting kindly to my comment by the way. I appreciate those who are willing to have open discussions, and I think that more discussion like this are needed. People such as yourself who respond in a good faith manner have really changed how I perceive GC as a whole.