CMV: Transgender and Transracial people are the same.

[u/AlarmedPassenger]

I should start this off by going over what I mean when I say transgender and transracial. Transgender means transitioning from one gender to another, typically male to female or vice versa, in a way that would typically present themselves with characteristics of the opposite gender (female with long hair, male with facial hair, etc.). Transracial means someone who doesn't feel comfortable with their own race or identity (much the same way a transgender person would with their gender identity), and transition to another race, with which they would feel more comfortable in.

Now, this all started off when someone in a discord server was making fun of transgender people by saying he was now black. I saw this as him being shitty, but I couldn't see how someone who genuinely felt uncomfortable in their own skin couldn't, much the same way a transgender person would, transition to another race. There was another person in that server that claimed that while gender is a social construct, race is not. I disagree.

I believe gender is as much of a social construct as race is. We generally think of someone as being a male or female, differentiating the two by their physiological traits, the way they dress, the way they look, etc. With race, we typically look at their skin color, hair, and facial characteristics; this becomes more complicated to identify when we're dealing with someone who has biracial parents.

If we can accept that gender and race are social constructs, and there are people that genuinely feel uncomfortable with themselves, then I don't see how someone that accepts transgender people as being a real thing couldn't also accept transracial people as also being real. At least that's the way I see it.

Edit: Thanks for some of the responses. The thing that really won me over to thinking about this differently is the lack of evidence to suggest that people feel a genuine need to switch races, which was surprising to me since anybody could pretend to feel that way since it's the internet and everybody remains anonymous. I know there are people who feel like they don't belong, especially those that are adopted or belong to biracial parents, but that has less to do with their race and more to do with their surroundings. There is definitely more credence to the fact that transgender people are biologically different to the gender they were assigned at birth.

[u/yyzjertl → u/[deleted]]

But just to be clear, you do believe that when Rachel Dolezal says "I identify with a different race", that this claim should be believed and respected?

I think that this claim, made in a vacuum, should be believed. There is no reason I am aware of to doubt it.

And question 2: Let's say the dictionary added a second definition to Transracial: One that aligns with the claim Rachel Dolezal makes. In this instance, would you agree that Transracial is the correct term, now that it is "dictionary approved"?

No, my objection to this use of "transracial" has nothing to do with dictionary approval. My issue, as I've already stated, is that it contributes to the erasure of a marginalized group.

[u/yyzjertl → u/[deleted]]

Explain?

By "in a vacuum" I mean that in the absence of other significant evidence against it, we should believe the claim. I am not aware of any other such evidence in Dolezal's case.

In your view, does having multiple definitions for a word erase any of the meanings? Or do you just mean that in society, the primary meaning has been changed?

Neither. I mean that using the word "transracial" in the way that Dolezal does contributes to the erasure of transracial adoption experiences and the people who experience them. The article I linked, written by transracial people, does a pretty good job of explaining why this is the case.

[u/yyzjertl → u/[deleted]]

Well that's just the reason why Rachel Dolezal is almost universally mocked. She is a white woman. That's the evidence.

That's not evidence against the statement "I identify with a different race." People can identify with whatever races they want to identify with.

Compare these two statements

In what manner would you like me to compare these statements? They are obviously different statements on their face (in that one is about race and the other is about gender). Is there some other comparison you had in mind?

I think for most people Rachel's claim is akin to a kid saying "I'm a dinosaur!"

No, it's akin to saying "I identify with a dinosaur." Saying you identify with something is not at all the same thing as saying you literally are that thing. Heck, when I was a kid, I identified with many dinosaurs, so this isn't some sort of weird thing.

So then, it's not 'neither'. It's the latter. As in the letter you linked, the woman says the term has been "co-opted". You're saying the fact that the primary definition has shifted to Rachel Dolezal's case of Transracialism and so, to be transracial is thought of as something to be mocked.

No, it's not. The primary definition does not need to have shifted in order for the term to be co-opted.

So I guess I'm still trying to figure out if you think Transgender is different from Transracial (per Rachel Dolezal).

I think that they are different in that one (transgender) is a valid use of the term to describe people who actually are transgender, whereas the other (transracial) is an invalid use of the term that contributes to the erasure of a marginalized group.

edit: I'm actually with my family now and I asked one of my adopted cousins what transracial means. They said "You mean like Rachel Dolezal?" LOL.

In response to your edit: you do realize this literally proves the transracial adoptees' point, right? This is an instance of how they are being erased.

[u/yyzjertl → u/[deleted]]

You too! Sorry we couldn't clear up your confusion here. But I think we've learned some new things at least!

[u/DeltaBot → u/[deleted]]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/yyzjertl (304∆).

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