To think Rachel Dolezal is an utter charlatan

[MercyMyJewels]

twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/846410886671732736

Apparently there is a thing called transracial now.

What next, transbeastial?

Well clearly she's quite,quite mad but I do agree that transracial makes more sense than transgender.

There are plenty of people who, biologically, are not of binary gender.

Gender has nothing to do with biology. It's either a collection of sex-role stereotypes that would be better done away with altogether or (as far as I can make out) a form of self-expression. New York City currently recognises 31 of them.

Stonewall now defines transgender as "any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression does not conform to conventional ideas of male or female gender, or the sex they were assigned at birth. This includes all binary and non-binary gender identities and those who have an absence of gender identity."

So the people Ego and NotCaryl are talking about, who have serious dysphoria, are lost somewhere in a mass of genderfeelz bollocks.

I don't think this vagueness does anyone any favours, least of all genuine transsexuals.

Getting fucking sick of men identifying as women to gain advantage and steal women's safe spaces.

Fuck if to the far end of fuck.

As for this complete faker and idiot who lies about everything I can't understand how anyone sensible doesn't laugh in her stupid face.

I am just not aware of many white people who are suffering from sickle cell

though diabetes I have on both sides of my family - many of my family on my Asian side (and there are not all blood related) have it once they have passed the age of 70 which is very concerning (especially as an uncle of mine recently suffered from the most terrible death caused by diabetes complications) and this hasn't all be caused by diet (though I wouldn't be surprised if some has) on my mums side it is just one family member

should this really be ignored because of the term race is used (maybe a different terminology should be used)

I never post on these threads, but can i just say that i fucking despise and loathe the term CIS woman. Fuck off! There is no such thing. It's an offensive made up concept and means nothing. I'm a woman. That's what i am. Fuck off with your cis bollocks.

quencher, that was really interesting. Thank you for posting that link.

should this really be ignored because of the term race is used (maybe a different terminology should be used)

Or you could read the article.

any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression does not conform to conventional ideas of male or female gender, or the sex they were assigned at birth

So if you're not a stereotype, you're trans. Which you can resolve by choosing a stereotype. Or by 'living as' the sex you're not, but also not embodying the stereotypes associated with that sex - in which case, why bother? Fucking mad.

CIS = bollox, agree. Transexual just as valid as transracial or transfeline in my mind but I am not phobic or hating about any of them but willies can stay in their own male spaces please. Rachel thingy = opportunist nutter.

the point I made was originally in reply to race doesn't matter

that medicine should be based purely on this or people are separated/overlooked on this is a different matter

if I ignored on forms my ethnical background ds wouldn't have had his TB jab and I wouldn't have been monitored for diabetes so much when pregnant (and I don't think I would have been tested to see if I carry sickle cell but I might be wring about thatl)

is the construct of race simple now I have not said it was or that it is all about race

and yes I did read it

I don't see how anyone ever thought she was black. She looks Caucasian with a tango tan and a terrible perm.

I think I want to watch that south Park now where Mr garrison turns into a woman.
Brilliant.

I agree with only a tiny part of what she said - that "race" is harder to define as it's not an either/or as it is with being either male or female. I think it's interesting that Obama was said to be quite clearly "black" although he had a white mum. Lots of people are mixed race and having parents and gradparents from lots of different ethnicities is becoming more common. It's like those millions of people in America who say they're Scottish because their great granny was from Inverness. However if I were a black person, I would be pissed off at a person with no black genes or ancestors trying to represent me or telling me how to be a better black person.

It's EXACTLY the same as transgender. You can't change your DNA from black to white any more than you can change it from male to female and it's a downright lie to pretend you can.

I really believe this would not be an issue if people felt more at liberty to wear whatever they liked, call themselves what they liked and just generally be themselves without sticking labels on everything.

I watched the Newsnight report - quite clear that this is a messed up woman. She reports an unhappy childhood, with parents who weren't as great as they might have been. She felt a great sense of social injustice and while at Uni mixed almost exclusively with black students. Many assumed that she was black, mixed race or albino. She didn't correct them. She identified with her black friends more than she did with her family. She said that ticking the box for "black" on a form felt like hte natural thing to do - she wanted to associate herself more with the black community than the white community,
even though biologically, she's white.

I think she has some serios issues going on there.

should this really be ignored because of the term race is used (maybe a different terminology should be used)

Um, yes?

In Germany, I have not ever seen a form with a box for "race". Doctors just ask if you have a family history for certain diseases, such as diabetes.

That works perfectly well, and clearly is much more suitable to determining your risk of certain illnesses than asking for "race". Race is a social construct intended to make it easier for white people to determine whom they are allowed to treat with contempt. It was never intended to make screening for diseases easier.

Transracial makes a lot more sense than transgender in that people's racial background can be very complex, enough so that an individual can choose how they identify. I am Celtic by descent but with my hair covered and a tan I have several times been asked if I'm mixed race. Poor RD seems a troubled soul, no less deserving of sympathy and therapy than many who insist they can become the opposite sex.

Sex, otoh, is a binary. You're either one or the other, aside from disorders of development. Each one of us had a male and female parent.

Transgender is only controversial because activists demand we agree that people can actually change sex. If transwomen accepted the truth: that they are gender non-conforming men, the issues would fade away. As VestalVirgin so rightly said, it's only when transwomen try to force women to accept them as women that we are forced to point out that this isn't true.

but that is when you see a doctor

I didn't have a family history apart from one great grandparent of diabetes when I was pregnant that changed within a few years (and not of sickle cell I was ignorant about who can carry it)

it would be preferable but at times screening can just cut down that time and do we all know our families medical history

It's EXACTLY the same as transgender. You can't change your DNA from black to white any more than you can change it from male to female and it's a downright lie to pretend you can.

Not exactly the same. With "race" there are many people where it is not exactly clear which "race" they are to be considered, because of mixed ancestry. They cannot change their DNA, but it is possible for a person to be a mix of "races", and to be considered a different "race" in different places.

However, "gender" was always assigned on basis of a very obvious biology, and there are very, very, very few people whose sex is not obvious when they are naked.
Women are also oppressed on basis of your sex in all countries alike, and are assigned feminine gender everywhere.

egosumquisum1 Do you never get exhausted defending this issue? - it seems patently clear that there is a general hatred of transsexualism on MN.

I agree Rachel is a charlatan. Personally I can pass for most races which has helped me greatly if I'm truly honest. Italians think I'm Italian, Arabs think I'm Arabis and the English think I just have a bit of a tan.

Empress: '"Stonewall now defines transgender as "any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression does not conform to conventional ideas of male or female gender, or the sex they were assigned at birth. This includes all binary and non-binary gender identities and those who have an absence of gender identity."

So the people Ego and NotCaryl are talking about, who have serious dysphoria, are lost somewhere in a mass of genderfeelz bollocks. '

I agree with you. The arguments about what it means to be "trans" have become very confused. I think a lot of people could understand, at some level, the idea that trans people feel they are trapped in the "wrong" body. But once you get into ideas like "non binary" or people who don't have any gender identity, or don't conform in all respects to conventional ideas about their gender (and who does, frankly?), then the term "trans" becomes meaningless.

Is being "trans" a matter of science (female personality in male body, or vice versa), or is it a matter of political choice?

if I ignored on forms my ethnical background ds wouldn't have had his TB jab and I wouldn't have been monitored for diabetes so much when pregnant (and I don't think I would have been tested to see if I carry sickle cell but I might be wring about thatl)

is the construct of race simple now I have not said it was or that it is all about race

Yes, fair enough. Though that is a double-edged sword if we look at race rather than ancestry and genetics, for all the reasons given in the article. While your appearance/self-stated 'race' helped people to decide to test you for sickle cell disease, it might also have prevented you from being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

I think this is probably a bigger problem in the US, where people with any black ancestry are viewed (and often view themselves) as black, while their ancestors might be 90% white/caucasian and carry far greater a proportion of risks of diseases associated with that background. I suspect in the UK, what with people using the phrase 'mixed race' a lot more, fewer things would be dismissed on a subconscious level as being diseases only suffered by 'other races' in someone who is 90% those 'other races'.

but that is when you see a doctor

When you don't see a doctor, then filling out a box for your race doesn't exactly help much, either, because you don't know which risks you have inherited from which branch of your family.

And "race" doesn't cover it. If you're Amish, (or your parents are and you left the community and are now atheist) then you are very clearly "white" in terms of race, and you ticking that box won't help anyone diagnose you with anything. If, however, the doctor sees you, and can ask you where your parents are from, they'll know that you are at higher risk for specific diseases.

A doctor will only be able to screen you for diseases you are at higher risk for due to your ancestry if you tell them about said ancestry; not if you are forced to decide which "race" you are to be counted as without even knowing about risk factors.

Perhaps "race" works for you because your genetic background is so homogenous that you can easily decide on a "race", but that's not exactly common.

People like Ego, who has had surgery and who suffers gender dysphoria, are very much in the minority among transwomen now. The Alex Drummonds, the Stephonknee Wolschts and the Riley J Dennises are where it's at these days. Men without dysphoria, men with misogynist kinks, men who keep and use their dicks. This is why it's become such a hot topic.

Posters who are genuinely interested in RD and her motivation might find this interview with her interesting

Vladimir, there isn't "a general hatred of transsexualism on MN."

What there is, in fact, is a contingent of people who will not accept that social constructs trump biological reality, particularly when women's rights are threatened.