The Return of "Trans-Black" Person Rachel Dolezal
I, for one, am glad she's back.
Dolezal hit the news about the same time the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner story really got churning. It was more-or-less simultaneously announced by the internet thought police that (a) we were all obligated to immediately and unequivocally accept that Jenner was literally a woman, and (b) we were all obligated immediately and unequivocally reject the claim that Dolezal was black...and, of course, (c) we were forbidden from discussing, doubting, or thinking in any way about the obvious, overwhelming similarities between the two cases.
But, of course, it is a rare thing indeed for such a perfect counterexample to a trendy theory to pop up in such a timely manner. It's a testament to the power of PC to control public discussions that it was able to basically prevent public comparison of the two cases.
Thing is, Dolezal's claim to being black is just about exactly as strong as Jenner's claim to being a woman. (Which is to say: completely weightless...but that's not important right now.) The left has decreed that both gender and race are "socially constructed." ('Socially constructed,' to the extent that it means anything at all, means about ten different things by my count (and I actually have counted); 'gender' used to mean something precise and important and useful--but now it, too means, basically, everything and nothing at all.) The left also declared that Jenner, by thinking of himself as a woman and adopting a more feminine appearance, had literally become a woman. (One branch of the theory declares that Jenner has always been a woman...even while fathering children...) However, though Dolezal thinks of herself as black and adopts a more black appearance, she has not only been declared not black, she has been declared a racist for claiming to be black. And, of course, whereas "outing" Dolezal we declared good and even obligatory, "outing" someone who is "trans" is considered to be a very great transgression indeed.
There really is just no way to sustain these opposite judgments about cases that are, by the lights of the relevant theory, almost exactly the same.
In short: either Jenner isn't a woman or Dolezal is black.
More generally: the left either has to give up its position on transgenderism or it's got to admit that some people are transracial.
Dolezal hit the news about the same time the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner story really got churning. It was more-or-less simultaneously announced by the internet thought police that (a) we were all obligated to immediately and unequivocally accept that Jenner was literally a woman, and (b) we were all obligated immediately and unequivocally reject the claim that Dolezal was black...and, of course, (c) we were forbidden from discussing, doubting, or thinking in any way about the obvious, overwhelming similarities between the two cases.
But, of course, it is a rare thing indeed for such a perfect counterexample to a trendy theory to pop up in such a timely manner. It's a testament to the power of PC to control public discussions that it was able to basically prevent public comparison of the two cases.
Thing is, Dolezal's claim to being black is just about exactly as strong as Jenner's claim to being a woman. (Which is to say: completely weightless...but that's not important right now.) The left has decreed that both gender and race are "socially constructed." ('Socially constructed,' to the extent that it means anything at all, means about ten different things by my count (and I actually have counted); 'gender' used to mean something precise and important and useful--but now it, too means, basically, everything and nothing at all.) The left also declared that Jenner, by thinking of himself as a woman and adopting a more feminine appearance, had literally become a woman. (One branch of the theory declares that Jenner has always been a woman...even while fathering children...) However, though Dolezal thinks of herself as black and adopts a more black appearance, she has not only been declared not black, she has been declared a racist for claiming to be black. And, of course, whereas "outing" Dolezal we declared good and even obligatory, "outing" someone who is "trans" is considered to be a very great transgression indeed.
There really is just no way to sustain these opposite judgments about cases that are, by the lights of the relevant theory, almost exactly the same.
In short: either Jenner isn't a woman or Dolezal is black.
More generally: the left either has to give up its position on transgenderism or it's got to admit that some people are transracial.
posted by Winston Smith at
8:55 PM
2 Comments:
C'mon Winston, they'll never do that. And "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" (Emmerson. I'm not sure if it exactly applies, but another version came to mind "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".
Ironically, race is far more of a social construct than gender is. Of course, race is based on physical differences like skin colour and hair texture, but what counts as a separate "race" depends partially on culture. Some people considered "mixed" or "brown" in South America are considered "black" in North America. Race has some implications for medical issues, e.g. likelihood of having skin cancer or sickle cell anemia, but that's mostly minor. Mixed race people are very common and usually healthy.
Sex on the other hand is much more binary. Intersex people exist, but they're rare and usually have health problems. Gender roles vary across cultures, but the division between male and female exists everywhere. There are major health implications: most obviously the ability to get pregnant or to impregnate someone else, but also different types of cancer, effects of certain drugs, likelihood of getting autoimmune disorders or having a heart attack before age 60, etc.
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