Why is gender fluid, but race isn’t?

ok but what is gender I would ask you

I identify as being ... wrote:

Why do some segments of society believe that gender is fluid but lose their mind if someone claims a race with very little or even no DNA of that racial group?

If you agree that gender is fluid, then race should be fluid too.

M & M grew up surrounded by black culture. He embraces black culture. Why can’t he identify as black if he chose to?

What about the white African American studies professor who identified as black and lived life as a black woman. Why can’t she be viewed by society as black?

What if Obama started saying he is a white man. He actually has a lot of white DNA. But no one would ever accept him as being a white man.

My point is gender isn’t fluid.

M&M????? Ha! Heck even *I* know that is wrong!

I know, it took me a few seconds to figure that out! Hahaha

Well done OP this is actually a thought provoking question since both gender and race are social constructs. And before I continue let me explain what I mean by that.

There is a difference between sex and gender. Sex involves biological characteristics whereas gender is one's presentation to society. For most people they are the same. For some people they are not, and it's not always a choice (read the wikipedia entry on "intersex" - sometimes the combination of chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, and genitals do not all 4 point to one sex or the other). Intersex people are the prime example of when a gender is chosen, and why this is a social construct.

Race is also a social construct and the clearest example is President Obama. Black father, white mother, and he was considered black by society just based on his appearance. It's completely an invented thing.

Anyway - since they are really both inventions by society, it is interesting that we can self classify for one and not the other. I won't speak for people of color, but I'm guessing the argument is that it's unfair to "play dress up" as a race with less power if you have the ability to switch back at any time. That seems to be argument when it comes to blackface and the cultural appropriation of dressing up as a minority for Halloween for example. It's disrespectful to take advantage of the good parts of being a minority (some people say black culture is "cooler" for example) but then you can swap back to a more privileged race if the going gets tough.

M&M is plain, but identifies as a peanut M&M.

These things aren’t complicated.

Liquids are fluid.

Gender is not a liquid.

Race is a contest where the fastest competitor is the winner.

Skin color variations are due to pigmentation from the amount and location of melanin in one’s skin. It is passed down genetically through one’s ancestors.

Ancestry is neither a liquid nor a race.

Discrimination is making choices based on various differences between people and things. Some discrimination is legal and some types are illegal. Some discrimination is legal but ethically questionable.

Race isn't "completely an invented thing". You can't be white and be black. You can be mixed race. Obama was 50% caucasian and 50% black. That's not "completely invented" and a social construct. Gender is definitely a social construct though. Sex is not. Therefore you cannot "identify" as a sex or race because it makes you a liar. You either are black or partly black or you aren't. You can say you're black if you're partly black but NOT if you're fully white. Same with sex. If you have testes you can't say "I don't have testes". But you can say I identify as female if you have testes.

I actually think this is quite an intelligent question even if some people are going to laugh at it.

There is a degree in flexibility within race - mixed race people justifiably could identify as white or black, particularly people who may have a POC as a grandparent. There's something called 'passing', which means someone with non-white heritage would could be seen as white in most contexts. There's also subjective cases such as middle eastern and north African populations.

Remember that race is a completely fictitous status and so the aim is to abolish it's role in society. There would be nothing wrong with identifying as another race although it would be needless as I think most people realize the being black or white or anything else has little bearing on ability or behavior even if stereotypes exist - they are frequently challenged.

With sex and gender, although this too is socially created in terms of the roles and behaviors expected, we are not at a point in history where we recognize this fully. Therefore until we've reached a point of equality, we will have trans people who identify with the opposite sex or feel neither category is suitable for them. This isn't needless as having those individuals undermines the dichotomous view of 'men' and 'women' that society has.

Because gender is a social construct whereas race, like sex, is not.

You're welcome.

You do have a point that many of the same people that support people’s rights to identify as a different gender disparage people who identify as a different race.

Maybe they shouldn’t be so harsh.

Preach, brother!

L L wrote:

You do have a point that many of the same people that support people’s rights to identify as a different gender disparage people who identify as a different race.

Maybe they shouldn’t be so harsh.

And here's the crux.

raceisnot wrote:

Race isn't "completely an invented thing". You can't be white and be black. You can be mixed race.

.

[/quote]

What do you mean you can't be white and be black? In the Year 2000 census, for the first time, people could check "white" and "black." I believe that the same is true in this year's census.

Let me throw this out there.

"Gender" is to "sex", as "race" is to "culture".

Annnnnnd, discus.

Mr. Pedantic wrote:

"Gender" is to "sex", as "culture" is to "race".

FTFY

I have a somewhat different question. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that one were sick of the whole mess--the groundless, pointless, historically contingent miasma that is "race" in America. Suppose you were somebody who had allowed yourself to check the expected box your whole life--white, black, whatever. And suppose you decided that from now on, whenever presented with any occasion to declare your race, to check "other."

I'm talking about all the obvious places: US Census, driver's license application, EEOC forms, job applications, birth certificates for your children. Every place where you're expected to play the game. Suppose, like Mario Savio giving birth to the Free Speech Movement.....

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels ... upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop!

.....you just said F--k it. It's all a charade. A measurable percentage of "white" Americans have African ancestry and don't know it, because a significant number of "black" Americans back in the day were so lightskinned, having only one "black" grandparent out of eight (so-called octoroons, like Homer Plessy), that they crossed the line, passed as white, intermarried with whites, and added some African blood to the "white" gene pool.

It's all a hustle. People on the Left who capitalize White and Black are part of the hustle. People in the alt-Right who capitalize White and embrace their (purported) whiteness are part of the hustle.

It's all a hustle. It's a shadow play. People who buy it are living in the matrix.

Suppose you'd taken the red pill, woken up--not "got woke" but actually woke up--and said, "I'm done."

What I'd like to know is, how would you begin to put the plan into action?

Global warming/ Climate change is a TRILLION dollar plus industry. It isn't going away. Racism, also in a sense, is an industry. Just ask Al Sharpton, David Duke, and Jessie Jackson.

You might start by watching Kmele Foster. He refuses to identify as black (or Black). He's not claiming to be white. He's just refusing to play the game.

The term for this new activist consciousness is "race abolitionism." Pass it along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHeLBIDuS6M

half tights wrote:

Mr. Pedantic wrote:

"Gender" is to "sex", as "culture" is to "race".

FTFY

Oh 'ish., yeah. That's a legit fix, thank you. PEDANTIC MY ASS, amirite?!?!?