In the article In Defence of Transracialism, the author Rebecca Tuvel explores different arguments against and for transracialism, standing clearly with the latter. Her main idea lies in the point that a strong and genuine sense of identification with a certain social group is similar in its essence to the transgender person’s feeling of belonging to another sex. Tuvel (2017) implies that “the possibility of being rejected [while applying for a membership in another social group] reveals that transition to a different identity category is often accepted in our society” (p. 263). In her opinion, if a person displays a strong will to interchange their identity, whether gender, social or racial, they should be allowed to do so like transgender people are allowed to change their gender and/or sex.
The second article, written by Dembroff and Payton, Why We Shouldn’t Compare Transracial to Transgender Identity, engages in a heated disagreement with the idea that transracialism has a similar mechanism to the gender and/or sex transition. The authors’ central argument is that the major reason transracial identity cannot be viewed in the same way as transgenderism is the existence of discrimination that affects both of them very differently. Dembroff and Payton (2021) state that “while transracial individuals eschew much of the weight of anti-Black oppression and white supremacy, trans women and cis women alike are burdened by the legacy of patriarchy.” In my opinion, this is a perfect point, as the factor that affects racial minorities the most is the intergenerational oppression that impacts all spheres of people’s lives. The case presented by Dembroff and Payton is stronger than Tuvel’s, for it takes into consideration the historical aspects of the concept of race, which comprises the very definition of racial identity.
Why We Shouldn’t Compare Transracial Identity with Transgender Identity
Dembroff and Payton’s article Why We Shouldn’t Compare Transracial to Transgender Identity had heavily criticized the tendency to link the idea of transracialism to the concepts used for justifying gender transitioning. The first central argument the authors use is that people who attempt to change their race identity have not experienced both historical and personal racial discrimination. This fact makes them unable to perceive the identity they pursue fully. Dembroff and Payton (2021) state that “someone cannot make themselves more likely to experience the intergenerational health and economic impact of systemic racism simply by identifying as Black.” For example, discrimination and oppression are mostly universal for both cis and trans females, but a white person would not experience the racism that people of color receive on a daily basis. This statement leads to the second main argument: the historical aspect of such discrimination. According to Dembroff and Payton (2021), “gender inequality, unlike racial inequality, does not primarily accumulate intergenerationally.” Although there is a lot of manifestations of gender discrimination throughout history, it is still a socialization matter rather than a socioeconomic inequality.
I agree with the authors that transracial identity should not be compared to transgender identity, as they lie in very different categories of human self-identification. In my opinion, the reason that transracialism should not be compared to transgenderism is the fact that the latter is determined by biological and neurological factors, in addition to self-identification. While race can be viewed in a more biological matter, it is still more of a social construct. A racial identity contains not only the person’s thoughts about themselves it also represents the cultural and socio-historical legacy behind it. Transitioning from birth-assigned gender to the one person identifies with does not erase that legacy – but the transition to a preferred race does. I support the authors as they claim that the essentialist approach should not be employed in the matter of both race and gender, as these concepts are ever-changing and expanding. However, we cannot deny the historical conditions that shaped each race, which must be considered when speaking about transracialism.
References
Robin Dembroff, D. P. (2021). Why We Shouldn’t Compare Transracial to Transgender Identity. Boston Review.
Tuvel, R. (2017). In Defense of Transracialism. Hypatia, 32(2), 263–278.