Why can't I claim I'm black or disabled, but can claim I'm a bloke?

[SirChenjins]

I'm none of the above btw...

I realise that sounds flippant and I genuinely don't mean it to be. Can someone please explain in simple terms (I'm still very much learning about the whole gender issue so realise I should probably know this) why I can't claim to be any of the other protected characteristics (and rightly so - because I'm not) but somehow we've got to a stage where I can call myself Mr Dave and everyone is expected to go along with it? Are we likely to see more cases of people challenging the other protected characteristics as time goes on?

Have been wondering this myself for a long time. And given women as a group have been oppressed forever, why is being a transwoman not considered cultural appropriation?

Ps. I actually think everyone should just wear and act however they want as long as they don't cause any harm to anyone else. I just don't get the double-standards with different protected characteristics.

Because certain groups shout loudest, and have managed to persuade other people that if they don't listen then something horrible will befall them. And have managed to get the backing of scared people in power.

I've just read through a job application pack that said,:

We welcome all applications especially from women who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic or those who identify as from a marginalised or under represented background.

So, maybe you can?

I mean, disability and race are also categories people can sometimes make subjective decisions about if they identify as something or not. I know a pair of siblings who are mixed race white/Asian and one identifies as PoC and the other as white - both are fairly fair skinned and look kind of racially ambiguous to me.

I have a diagnosis of type one bipolar disorder. I don't identify as disabled as I feel like it's under control, lots of people with my diagnosis do, because of how they feel it impacts them.

Give it a go OP. Identify as trans-national eg you are a UK national, but you identify as a Japanese national.

Nationality is as much a social construct as gender where as race has an immutable scientific basis like sex. I'm surprised more people aren't trying it - maybe they are making the mistake of labelling it trans-racial which is as impossible as much as trans-sexual is.

I think it could be a thing - imagine the mess it would make of immigration laws 😂

Because men can also be disabled and/or black. Men aren’t affected by other men calling themselves women. Only women are.

I am imagining Remainers in the UK identifying themselves as EU nationals to get a passport

I'd very much like to identify as able rather than disabled please. Reality can be a nuisance.

I'm going to claim that I'm slim and size 12. Anyone who says otherwise is fattist, and I shall cry, whinge and complain to anyone who will listen

Well, you can self-identify as disabled to an extent. You can get a Sunflower (hidden disabilities) lanyard just by paying for it, no questions asked

And in Scotland, you can self-identify as disabled and will be entitled to get help from a government funded advocacy service to apply for twelve different benefits (though you would presumably have to satisfy criteria set by the government) and also to appeal against any refusal.

Hmm, I remember waiting for our turn at an exhibit at a science centre, where people had to input their characteristics. The little girl in front of us was very confused when it asked for race, there was an option that looked like her mum and one that looked like her dad, but none that seemed to fit for her.

There is a factual element to race, but it is not as clear cut as sex. Racial physical characteristics can be obvious or less obvious, people can have parents and grandparents from different ethnicities. People can be raised in one culture or another, can be adopted etc.

It seems like there are lots of good reasons people could feel an affinity to a racial identity they do not have.

Sex is much odder, I appreciate that people may not identify with the stereotypes of their sex, and we are told that gender identity is separate from traditional gender roles, masculinity/feminity and sex. Yet they seem to conflate it with changing sex rather a lot.

I don't feel I have a gender identity but I don't mind if others feel they do (I also don't have a football team I support and don't believe my horoscope means anything, however I do have a hogwarts house but I'm sure lots of people don't bother with that)- there are lots of spaces/situations in which sex doesn't matter, but where it does, we should go by biological sex not gender identity.I can't think of a use case for sex not mattering but gender identity being vital.

I was just about to say this

A Sunflower lanyard doesn't give me access to a blue badge for example, or allow me to claim that I need adjustments at work for a condition I don't have, or enable me to claim things I'm not entitled to - I would have to (quite rightly) prove that I have a disability.

In terms of race, again I couldn't claim (as a white woman) that I was black or from another ethnicity to gain access to eg health services specifically for minority groups. I suppose I could claim that my grandmother was from India (she wasn't) and therefore I identify with that culture because I like saris and curries - but I would imagine that I would get short shrift when it became apparent I was not of Indian descent. Rachel Dolezal got rightly castigated for pretending she was black by assuming some sort of stereotypical costume (as per many TW i.e. men).

It will be interesting to see what happens - but it feels like it's the next step in a long line of madness.

I really DUNNO

I work at a university and got an email offering financial support to those identifying as deaf, so yes it does seem to be a thing (in some settings 🙄)

How can you identify as deaf? You're either hearing impaired or you aren't

Bet they won’t let me compete in the paralympics though….

Exactly @Lastnamedidntstick what men are allowed to do when they present as women is pretty much a free for all, but other protected characteristics remain just that - protected.

I agree OP,
Fancy dress style "blackface" make up /The Black and White Minstrels have been socially unacceptable for years, yet "womanface" is ok...?

It's because women don't matter in the sense of being people with full agency, are not allowed to have boundaries and are not allowed to be 'selfish'. The same woman IS allowed those things in the other groups she might belong to, such as a particular race, religious, ethnic or disability category.

But not as a woman.

I have learned this from following the trans debates.

You mean "men" I think.

Sometimes on forms I tick white British, sometimes mixed other, sometimes mixed carribean. Purely because I'm so mixed though and lazy so tick whatever one appears first

My goodness, shall we all try it?! 🤞

There's a few race fakers that have been exposed of late, mostly in North America I believe. A lot of them in some sort of spokesperson role.

It strikes me that the left now worships identity with the same moronic ferocity as the far right. It's suddenly the most important thing about a person.