#transbigotry

Sometimes in my desire to edit my content down, I leave things out. This video was initially about 12 minutes long and I edited it down because there are honestly so many things to say about the issue of race and gender. A lot of people are attacking me for my comments about race having a basis in biology. I felt like I made it clear enough that when I was discussing race I was discussing the hereditary traits that tend to push us into these categories of racial groups.This is explicitly why I discussed skin tone and melanin and how that was a trait developed out of evolutionary necessity. 

 I acknowledged that "race" was a social construct because it IS a social construct. It's a social construct with real life implications that we can try to downplay because of the fact that "race" as a concept has no basis in biology and I think that's a worthwhile conversation to have. However, we are each born into a world with history and history has dictated that people of my skin tone in this country have a history of systemic racial discrimination in this country. So regardless of the fact that "race" as a concept cannot be reduced really found biologically, our phenotypic differences have absolutely drawn certain lines that cannot be deconstructed through self identification. 

Now I realize that many people are slowly but surely trying to construct conversations about how that sounds JUST like gender. Well, gender and sex are both social constructs. Sex does not inform gender and if it did, there would be over 30 or so genders that could be proven via chromosomes. But that's really not how gender works. Gender is both social and mental. Gender is fluid. It's both performative and not performative. Just because someone performs a certain gender doesn't mean that is consistent with their gender identity. Caitlyn Jenner is a readily available example of this. Despite performing the socially constructed "male" gender for decades, she did not identify that way. 

I grew up in a mostly Chinese/Korean neighborhood. Because of that I feel a strong kinship with Asian women. My friendships with Asian women and time spent with their families were a large part of my upbringing and to some degree the culture that I was raised among. However, claiming that I "identified as Asian" would be both dishonest and incredibly erasing of the experiences that Asian women have in this society that I will never have. Above all, it's entitled and misguided. Am I free to state so, absolutely, but this doesn't make it appropriate or even relatively correct. I may identify with Asian culture and find it fascinating and beautiful, but crossing the line and stating that I am that crosses the line into a very dangerous scenario where I am appropriating someone's identity simply because I think that it is beautiful or fascinating. At the end of the day that's violence and while I'm sure many people who are considered black by society's standards do not mind this, I do as a black woman first and foremost. Our identities are often robbed and taken away from us and placed onto white bodies for consumption and entertainment. That is our history and the same can be said for so many people of color. 

When I see Rachel Dolezal as a concept (because I'm reserving judgment on her as a person though I'd have ever right to judge her accordingly) I see a perpetuation of the imperialistic nature that has ravaged so many lands. This entitlement to things we carve out for ourselves because of oppressive systems that we can't even have because we entertain the idea that a white woman might "really" be one of us. What we cannot forget is that Rachel Dolezal filed a lawsuit against Howard University, an historically black college (that wouldn't exist without the racism perpetuated by white society) for discriminating against her as a white woman. Let that sink in. Not only did she get a full ride to an historically black college, but she sued them for discriminating against her for her race-which she identified very proudly as white. 

The reality is that Rachel Dolezal identifies with black culture and black struggle and those are experiences she will never truly have. 

On the flip side, I've been a woman my entire adult life. My transition (which to be honest wasn't really all that complicated or shocking) is one of the largest reasons why I am a feminist. Going from the point in life where my gender confused people to being seen exclusively as female made me realize just how scary this world is for women. My adult experiences, especially now, are women's experiences. For better and for mostly worse that is how I am seen in society. There is no privilege in being a woman-especially a black woman. No amount of debates with me online about my gender will ever change the fact that I am seen and handled as a black woman in society. So this conversation bothers me quite a bit more as a black woman than it does as a trans woman, but I am of course trans and this conversation also impacts trans people in a very negative and dangerous way. 

Many people seem to not understand the point about honesty that I made in my video. I believe that this is a willful ignorance, but allow me to explain: Whether you agree or disagree with trans lives, being able to come out and openly state that you are transgender takes honesty. When Caitlyn Jenner married several women and had several children she was living her life dishonestly. She wasn't disclosing or expressing to her partners who she was (though she did at a certain point). A lot of people want to parlay this into a conversation about how trans people who transition are lying to themselves and those around them. This isn't even a point worth addressing so I'll overlook it entirely, but I wanted to reiterate that agree or disagree, support or don't support, opening up about these feelings takes honesty. Rachel Dolezal sued her college as a white woman for discrimination against her as a white woman. She put on documents that she was African American, knowing that she isn't and occupied the few spaces carved out for black women, knowing that wasn't who she was. 

Let me draw this parallel for you. I am a woman, but I am not a cis woman, there are certain things that I will never understand because of that and this is something I've accepted years ago. While I can have opinions on things like reproductive rights etc, I would never place myself at the head of that discussion and present myself as someone who is impacted by these conversations personally. I'm not. I can support and advocate for the women who are, but placing myself in that conversation as the head of it is inappropriate. This is what Rachel did. She could have very easily positioned herself as a white woman who strongly supported the black community. I would have been there cheering her on, but she crossed the line and continues to cross the line. This is the same woman who turned to latinx students and activists and told them that they didn't "look" latinx enough to participate in classes or certain advocacy pursuits. Please realize how heinously inappropriate that is and stop defending her. 

Stop comparing my life to hers. Her life as a black woman boils down to academia, a bottle of self tanner, and a wig. My experience as a woman is the only one that I know. It is not quantified by the very little makeup I tend to wear or the second hand clothes I enjoy to adorn my body with. Completely nude, I am a woman,stripped of everything feminine, I am a woman. My womanhood isn't defined by my femininity. It is not a costume. If I bleached my skin and wore a blonde wig, there would be no debate over whether or not I was white. You would simply laugh at the idea and dismiss it. We give credence to Rachel Dolezal's possible blackness due to the "one drop" rule  where she could very well be "black" because we view whiteness as purity (though we know it not to be) and even if someone passes as white, if they're black they're black. This isn't the case with Rachel Dolezal. White passing POC go through their own specific issues and her representation in the media isn't helping these issues. People who say that "black people have been passing as white for centuries" are deliberately ignoring the why when and how. The answer to every question is racism and survival. Rachel Dolezal didn't need to identify as black to see benefit in this world. In fact her advocacy would have perhaps been more effective as a white woman.