Telegraph article: "whites can be black if they wish"

[WistfulBarnacles]

Long time lurker in Feminism Chat, but first time poster!

Interesting article in The Telegraph today "Whites can be black if they wish, says lecturers' union" www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/18/whites-can-black-wish-says-lecturers-union/

Essentially, UCU (University and College Union) has said it supports self-identification for race as well as gender. Kathleen Stock is quoted as tweeting that this policy is "nonsensical, anti-intellectual propaganda".

Trevor Phillips is reported as saying that allowing people to self-identify their race meant members of ethnic minority communities "lost out". Which arguably is the same for women too? I felt the article was trying to subtly make the connection between self-identification of race and self-identification of gender and how both are problematic but I would be interested in the take of others on this.

The thing is transracial has a lot more basis in reality than transgender. My family is very mixed, there are young 2 girls in my family who have one mixed parent, and one white. One of them looks very obviously ‘mixed’ and the other looks completely white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. They are the same ‘race’ though. So race as a construct becomes pretty meaningless.
Unlike biological sex, which is isn’t.

So it confuses me why race is upheld as a factual thing, and sex as a construct, when it’s clearly the other way round.

This is an interesting discussion about this:

twitter.com/AndrewBartletta/status/1194554625271255040

Watch as people talk themselves into believing that objecting to trans-race is problematical.

very interesting, and similar to what I covered in my diversity training, regarding Gender, that everyone is neither wholly female or male, the transgender person delivering the training stating "they were more female than [natal born] women in the room" so the argument went that we were all on a "spectrum" which sort of brings in the further argument for non-binary.

Leading on from that, it could be argued that many of us inherit a number of characteristics from our ancestors, therefore someone who appears white, may have a significant amount of DNA that means they are "actually black"

However, it completely misses the point of someone who may be white, and experienced the privilege accorded to white people is using the "benefit" of presenting as a member of the more oppressed class, in this instance to reap a benefit accorded to that class. In this instance to access funding for minority groups.

BTW i'm white, and its interesting that I've only seen examples of privileged white males, self ID'ing as women ? Do MRA and TRA's feel threatened by the legal protections given to vulnerable groups, so seek to find a way to enjoy these "privileges" that really comes down to an erosion of rights for those with protected characteristics under E.A 2010..

Maybe they are closet supporters of the Gender Self ID and are hoping to bring attention to it through further fucked up ideas ??!!

Again, it's the neoliberal self versus class analysis, and how social constructs actually operate in the real world.

Anthony Lennon, a white theatre director who describes himself as an "African born again", Aren't we all Africans? Isn't the human race just the African diaspora. I can't stand much more of this idiocy. I'm identifying as Neanderthal.

The thing is transracial has a lot more basis in reality than transgender.

Which is why segregationist societies have always tied themselves in knots over tiny fractions of 'mixed' heritage.

All of this only ever works in one direction. It is impossible to identify OUT of an oppressed class because they world still sees you as you are. You can identify into that class however and collect your accolades for overcoming adversity and sod the people born into that class - right? I'm tired of Identity politics lets all advocate for reality instead.

Have you read the paper this quote is taken from? As usual it is an attempt to explain how we are all supposed to pretend men are women or else men will feel bad.

www.ucu.org.uk/media/10564/UCUs-position-on-Trans-inclusion/pdf/Trans_inclusion_November_2019.pdf

They are now saying we should talk about it instead of the die in a fire stuff we unusually get, but as they have also said that they only want to talk about how wrong everyone everyone is, then it's a bit pointless.

I think they should keep a close eye on Maya's tribunal tbh because they will be expected to refer to this case in future.....and it completely undermines every thing they have said here.

Unions are useless.