(no subject)

[leejooheon]

Ive gone down a rabbithole of people who want to change their race and "transition" to a different race. Which feels wrong but im having a hard time articulating why. Like, gender and race are both social constructs, so I understand why one would say if gender transition is real, so is race transitioning. And like, i do think race and gender function differently, but i find it hard to articulate why. Im kinda stuck trying to find a coherent response.

Comments

[kiramori]

As someone who has not researched about the subject (so it's mainly just a opinion), i think that even if gender and race are social constructs, they are both very different constructs. Money is also a social construct, but i can't identify myself as someone with a lot of money. So something being a construct doesn't mean it's arbitrary.

But other than that, i think transitioning race would undermine the ideals of race equality and the message of resistance that is part of that race. All in all, races and culture are tightly knit together, and culture is dynamic — Culture changes based on context, location and contact with other cultures. That's healthy and natural. I think transitioning race could create sterile cultures devoid of meaning, because it is impossible to trully transition race without forgoing the culture associated with it and thus, depriving that culture of it's natural dynamic changes. While it is possible to adopt a new culture, it doesn't come with the meaning attached to it the same way someone born and raised in that medium knows and care for.

The thing is, if you can experience any culture without being part of it and if race doesn't mean anything without culture, then transitioning race is pointless.

[leejooheon]

I think this is a really good way of putting it!