In the Native American, we've spent over a century dealing with pretendians—pretend Indians. These are non-Natives who falsely claim a Native identity to order the win the personal and professional benefits that are available to us Indians. There are dozens of high successful pretendians working in academia, Hollywood, and the book world right now. Here's a Wikipedia article about the phenomenon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretendian
All of this is incredibly sad. My heart breaks for anyone ashamed of themselves for their race, gender or whatever. But we've all been there to some degree. Growing up I was told that I should get a tan all the time. I'm as white as paper and physically can't tan. I am almost albino looking but it's just what I am.
I just wish there were enough adults around to say that stereotypes exist but they aren't something to aspire to or change yourself for. Everyone is unique. No one fits perfectly into a mold and that's a good thing. You can be a feminine man or a masculine woman. You can be a quiet Italian. You can be a loud Japanese woman. Life is diverse and that's why it's so beautiful. Chasing after a fantasy of who and what you are leads only to misery. Finding peace with who and what you are, and appreciating the differences of others, is the key to peace and happiness. Maybe someday we'll get there.
1. *cough* Rachel Dolezal. *cough* Jessica "La Bombalera" Krug *cough* Raquel Saraswati. *cough*
This is probably racist, sexist, and violates the rights of the gay community, but all the examples given are of females. Not sure if there is any conclusion to be drawn from this.
2. Has anyone tried to actually go to Korea or wherever and try this? I imagine that actual Korean people would think a non-Korean person who claims to have wholly or partially changed their DNA to Korean DNA and that means that they get to be treated like long-lost Koreans had lost their minds somewhere in the process.
Yikes, this article is so exclusionary and invalidating to trans-Asians. Your rhetoric is violent and hateful, you need to check your cis-racial privilege! Trans-Asians are Asians! 😚😚😚😚
I could see this going either way. On the one hand, the right is very much poised to shut this down as an extension of the backlash against transgender movement and the left will want to shut it down as part of cultural appropriation. On the other hand, I could see someone making an app that takes your picture and "filters" your selfies to look like another race and it goes viral.
I can feel their pain. I was born into the body of a handsome white man. But I've always felt like I was supposed to be a *very* handsome white man.
As someone who's never identified with either of my races, I've always found the concept of wanting to be another race (in today's day and age where explicit racism is increasingly growing unacceptable) as strange
"It makes sense that most “transracials” are identifying as East Asian. When I think about how many non-Asians in America perceive East Asian people like myself, certain stereotypes come up: quiet, shy, introverted, bookish. In short, the same traits an introverted teenage girl that spends all her time on the internet would have."
Maybe. However, bear in mind that while normies may associate Asians with being shy and bookish, those who became entranced with some idealized version of Asian cultures via anime and such may have very different stereotypes about Asians!
In 1959, John Howard Griffin, a white man, stimulated the melanin in his skin to pass as Black (called Negro at the time). He did this by taking methoxsalen and spending hours under an ultra-violet (UV) lamp with the guidance of a dermatologist. Then he visited several states in the South of the USA, observing segregation and writing the book "Black Like Me."
Methoxsalen has serious side-effects that would prevent any self-respecting doctor from prescribing it for elective, cosmetic reasons. Still, I'm surprised that we haven't seen a trend of off-label use.
I've read much of Griffin's book. He seemed to consistently be treated as a Negro by the whites, yet there were times he couldn't blend in among Blacks. He needed guidance on how to conduct himself, plus his appearance seemed a bit off. Not surprisingly, there's more to being Black than just skin color.
As an African-American, I wasn't particularly offended when Rachel Dolezal did this a few years ago. I do draw the line at drugs and surgery for minors, the same as I do with transgenderism. Do I need to "affirm" anyone in either case? For me, depends on the context. I don't think people with 100% European ancestry should be allowed to take advantage of any programs that are designed to assist black people, to the extent that any survived the recent SCOTUS decisions, and I don't think that biological males should be allowed to play girls' and womens' sports, or change in girls'/womens' locker rooms, etc., but if someone of European ancestry wants to ID as black, or a biological male wants to ID as a woman, I'm willing on a personal level to respect their decision by referring to them as such.
Millions of East Asians have had surgery to remove epicanthal folds. It is not "race affirming surgery", but it is entirely about the same kind of racialized beauty standards you described here...
In the Native American, we've spent over a century dealing with pretendians—pretend Indians. These are non-Natives who falsely claim a Native identity to order the win the personal and professional benefits that are available to us Indians. There are dozens of high successful pretendians working in academia, Hollywood, and the book world right now. Here's a Wikipedia article about the phenomenon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretendian
>it is impossible to change your race because of the systemic inequalities inherent to being born into a certain race
Good to know there were no systemic inequalities around being born as a certain gender in history.
All of this is incredibly sad. My heart breaks for anyone ashamed of themselves for their race, gender or whatever. But we've all been there to some degree. Growing up I was told that I should get a tan all the time. I'm as white as paper and physically can't tan. I am almost albino looking but it's just what I am.
I just wish there were enough adults around to say that stereotypes exist but they aren't something to aspire to or change yourself for. Everyone is unique. No one fits perfectly into a mold and that's a good thing. You can be a feminine man or a masculine woman. You can be a quiet Italian. You can be a loud Japanese woman. Life is diverse and that's why it's so beautiful. Chasing after a fantasy of who and what you are leads only to misery. Finding peace with who and what you are, and appreciating the differences of others, is the key to peace and happiness. Maybe someday we'll get there.
Excellent post. Keep up the great work.
Excellent writing! Quite enjoyable, and oh so true...
1. *cough* Rachel Dolezal. *cough* Jessica "La Bombalera" Krug *cough* Raquel Saraswati. *cough*
This is probably racist, sexist, and violates the rights of the gay community, but all the examples given are of females. Not sure if there is any conclusion to be drawn from this.
2. Has anyone tried to actually go to Korea or wherever and try this? I imagine that actual Korean people would think a non-Korean person who claims to have wholly or partially changed their DNA to Korean DNA and that means that they get to be treated like long-lost Koreans had lost their minds somewhere in the process.
Yikes, this article is so exclusionary and invalidating to trans-Asians. Your rhetoric is violent and hateful, you need to check your cis-racial privilege! Trans-Asians are Asians! 😚😚😚😚
I could see this going either way. On the one hand, the right is very much poised to shut this down as an extension of the backlash against transgender movement and the left will want to shut it down as part of cultural appropriation. On the other hand, I could see someone making an app that takes your picture and "filters" your selfies to look like another race and it goes viral.
I can feel their pain. I was born into the body of a handsome white man. But I've always felt like I was supposed to be a *very* handsome white man.
As someone who's never identified with either of my races, I've always found the concept of wanting to be another race (in today's day and age where explicit racism is increasingly growing unacceptable) as strange
"It makes sense that most “transracials” are identifying as East Asian. When I think about how many non-Asians in America perceive East Asian people like myself, certain stereotypes come up: quiet, shy, introverted, bookish. In short, the same traits an introverted teenage girl that spends all her time on the internet would have."
Maybe. However, bear in mind that while normies may associate Asians with being shy and bookish, those who became entranced with some idealized version of Asian cultures via anime and such may have very different stereotypes about Asians!
In 1959, John Howard Griffin, a white man, stimulated the melanin in his skin to pass as Black (called Negro at the time). He did this by taking methoxsalen and spending hours under an ultra-violet (UV) lamp with the guidance of a dermatologist. Then he visited several states in the South of the USA, observing segregation and writing the book "Black Like Me."
Methoxsalen has serious side-effects that would prevent any self-respecting doctor from prescribing it for elective, cosmetic reasons. Still, I'm surprised that we haven't seen a trend of off-label use.
I've read much of Griffin's book. He seemed to consistently be treated as a Negro by the whites, yet there were times he couldn't blend in among Blacks. He needed guidance on how to conduct himself, plus his appearance seemed a bit off. Not surprisingly, there's more to being Black than just skin color.
Suprised you didn't know and I'm far from happy to report that, that they absolutely do in fact have “race-affirming surgery” or “melanin replacement therapy”. Here's the British guy who had a series of surguries to become Korean: https://news.sky.com/story/oli-london-british-influencer-defends-identifying-as-korean-after-surgery-to-look-like-bts-star-12344765. And here's the German woman who took melanin-enhancing drugs that turned her skin black: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5925643/controversial-german-model-martina-big-who-turned-herself-black-accused-of-lying-about-her-age-as-school-pics-emerge-suggesting-shes-40-not-29/.
As an African-American, I wasn't particularly offended when Rachel Dolezal did this a few years ago. I do draw the line at drugs and surgery for minors, the same as I do with transgenderism. Do I need to "affirm" anyone in either case? For me, depends on the context. I don't think people with 100% European ancestry should be allowed to take advantage of any programs that are designed to assist black people, to the extent that any survived the recent SCOTUS decisions, and I don't think that biological males should be allowed to play girls' and womens' sports, or change in girls'/womens' locker rooms, etc., but if someone of European ancestry wants to ID as black, or a biological male wants to ID as a woman, I'm willing on a personal level to respect their decision by referring to them as such.
Millions of East Asians have had surgery to remove epicanthal folds. It is not "race affirming surgery", but it is entirely about the same kind of racialized beauty standards you described here...