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The world is constantly changing, with new issues arising every day and finding support from the broader community. For example, today, society is far more accepting of transgender people than it was a couple of decades ago. The discussion of the eligibility of transgender identities inevitably gives way to the consideration of other changing identities. Thus, a recent debate concerns transracialism and whether a transition from one race to another should be viewed as socially acceptable on the same basis as transgender identities. This essay will examine two articles providing different views on transgender and transracial identities and argue that considerations used to support the transgender community are not transferable to the issue of transracial.
The article Why We Shouldn’t Compare Transracial to Transgender Identity by Robin Dembroff and Dee Payton asserts that a transracial identity should not be compared to a transgender one. The authors suggest that the discussed identities are based on different concepts, disallowing the same considerations employed to defend transgender persons to support transracialism. Gender classification is primarily viewed as a result of the interactions between biology and culture (Dembroff & Payton, 2021).
In the last 150 years, the biological notion of sex was changed and enriched after the discovery of hormones, chromosomes, and various intersex variations (Dembroff & Payton, 2021). Similarly, the cultural and societal perspectives on what gender is and who can be viewed as a man or a woman changed significantly. Race is an equally complex concept, but it is a social and historical one. Although it is somewhat based on biology, race is also viewed from an intergenerational perspective as representatives of different races inherit the privileges and disparities experienced by their predecessors. Thus, the views on what constitutes gender and race continue to change and should not be strictly defined.
The authors emphasize the importance of experience and culture in the transgender and transracial identities. Dembroff and Payton (2021) note that the experience of gender inequality and sexism are not intergenerational, and both cisgender and transgender women may be exposed to misogyny. Meanwhile, transracial can be viewed as cultural appropriation as a person identifying as Black is unlikely to have experienced the same disparities and intergenerational inequality within the African American community. Therefore, it can be stated that people do not truly become part of that community by claiming to be Black. Overall, the considerations that are employed to support transgender persons should not be utilized to represent the issue of transracial.
In contrast, the article In Defense of Transracialism by Rebecca Tuvel asserts that considerations that support transgender people should be extended to transracial individuals. The author considers and refutes four arguments against transracialism to support the claim that it should be embraced by society. First, the researcher states that the argument of lack of black experience is not valid as persons identifying as Black may have the same experience of racial abuse as the light-skinned African Americans (Tuvel, 2017).
Second, Tuvel (2017) rejects the idea that ancestry is a legitimate factor for determining one’s racial identity. In countering this argument, the author labels ancestry a status-quo and compares it to the transgender people being identified with their biological sex (Tuvel, 2017). However, biological sex can be changed with the help of hormonal therapy and gender reassignment surgery. Such therapies and operations are the choice of the individual and only affect them. Meanwhile, a person cannot change their ancestry, and the rejection of their heritage is an action that impacts others. Although both biological sex and ancestry should be considered a status-quo, the latter cannot be changed.
The third argument supporting transracialism is based on the belief that it is not harmful to the black community. Tuvel (2017) believes that transracial individuals who identify as Black affirm the Back culture and do not intend to insult the African American community. However, the author does not consider the implication of cultural appropriation and how the members of the community feel about a person from a dominant culture claiming to be a minority.
Finally, the author rejects the idea of white privilege in transracial in the cases of white people identifying as African American. According to Tuvel (2017), the fact that a transgender woman can revert to the male gender assigned to her at birth, returning to the position of male privilege, should not preclude the transition. Nevertheless, male-to-female transitioning is a serious procedure that is difficult to revert fully and should not be employed as a counter to white privilege. Furthermore, the author notes that many African Americans lighten their skin to appear whiter. This argument should also be discounted as lighter skin does not translate into privilege.
In summary, comparing the issues of transgender identities and transracial reduces the complex nature of both to an arbitrary set of rules. When discussing transracialism, it is crucial to appreciate the importance and enormity of one’s cultural heritage and its effect on individuals and communities. Gender is a complex notion that stems from biological stems but is largely socially defined and not inherited. Meanwhile, race is a social and historical construct, and a person who identifies as Black despite their white ancestry claims to belong to a minority while accessing their inherited white privilege.
Furthermore, the theory of moral contractualism rejects transracialism as it breaks the terms of the social agreement of race being defined by one’s ancestry (Southwood, 2018). Overall, transracial should not be covered by the same considerations used to defend transgender individuals. The issue of transracial identities differs from that of transgender ones, and arguments developed in its support are mostly unfounded.
References
Dembroff, R., & Payton, D. (2021). Why we shouldn’t compare transracial to transgender identity. Boston Review. Web.
Southwood, N. (2018). Moral Contractualism. Oxford Bibliographies. Web.
Tuvel, R. (2017). In defense of Transracialism. Hypatia, 32(2), 263–278. Web.
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