If I can change my sex, why can't I change my race?

[fakenamefornow]

I am white British, family all.white British, from England. I have blond hair and blue eyes. I do have some African blood though, many generations back, I don't feel African in any way though, never even been there, and feel no particular connection to the continent. I love my African heritage though, just because it's interesting.

If I had a black husband, black children lived among a black community and this was were I felt most comfortable, why couldn't I describe myself as black? Actually I think know why, I just don't understand why changing sex (or rather gender) is treated so differently, when sex, unlike race, really is binary. Not wanting to offend anyone and apologies if I haven't used the corrected terms. I really am curious though.

More complex indeed. I don't have the answer. Its not ok to change race for all the reasons discussed so you could start with thinking about reasons that it might not be ok to change sex. Are there any?

MyNameIsInigoMontoya

That age analogy just blew me away a little, I have to say. It is exactly the same thing to me as 'identifying' as the opposite sex. Even down to things such as you could 'dress as' a 70 year old if you chose to but this does not mean you are indeed 70 years old. You can get botox at 70 and look ten years younger but you will still be 70, and so on. To me this is the perfect analogy.

I think all of the arguments as to why you can't change race (which I agree with) apply equally to changing sex. I don't understand how anyone can see the former as unacceptable and the latter as fine and progressively dandy. And yet this seems to be the mainstream liberal view.

well wouldya looky here!

This clever clogs has done both!

What a self-obsessed, deluded fucking arsehole.

wow, that Tweet (in the article) is just jaw dropping cisoff!

you cant because i bet as soon as you actually lived life as a black person for one day you'd want to be white again because of all the systematic racism they experience

changing race is not the same as changing sex.

people have a sex change because they were born in the wrong body

white people want to be 'transracial' because they want to pick and choose what parts of black culture they experience and its white privilege at its finest

Actually, the site discussing physical racial differences to which Olenna linked is seriously dodgy. There is clearly a lurking agenda that is very distasteful, so I suggest that we shouldn't set too much store by it.

See how the site's founders describe themselves, for example;

"What We Believe
"Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society—language, religion, class, ideology—it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of some of the most serious challenges the Western World faces in the 21st century.

"The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race, whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism.

"American Renaissance
"American Renaissance was published as a monthly print magazine from October 1990 through January 2012. All back issues are available here. AR has had a web presence since 1994, and we consider AmRen.com to be the Internet’s premier race-realist site. Every weekday we publish articles and news items from a world-wide race-realist perspective.

"Who We Are
"American Renaissance and its website are run by Jared Taylor, Henry Wolff, and Chris Roberts. Our mailing address is Box 527, Oakton, VA 22124 and our telephone number is (703) 716-0900."

people have a sex change because they were born in the wrong body

It is transphobic to say this now you know? Not all trans were 'born in the wrong body' and to suggest they are is 'othering'. Some pare perfectly happy with their penises and such but just want to be known as women.

*Some are perfectly happy with their penises and such but just want to be known as women.

No one is born in the wrong body. We may not like aspects of our bodies but they are indisputably ours.

In my v limited understanding surely sex = ethnicity (biological/"real") and gender = race (social construct) in this argument?