When Bruce Jenner transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner, there was
a lot of talk about the genetic and biological origins of gender (all the way down
to the chromosomes) and yet . . . and
yet, the brain still has the power to give someone a different gender identity.
As those debates (because a lot of people disagreed with
this position), I spent a lot of time thinking about my own identities. I have
never had any gender uncertainty. I am
certainly not an alpha male by any stretch, but never doubted the basic
category. But I have other identities
too and those have much less genetic and biological roots.
My strongest identity could be Jewish. That has ethnic,
cultural, and religious components. But
the evidence is clearly that people change all three of these identities all
the time. So whereas my Jewish identity
has been strong since as long ago as I can remember, it is not surprising that
others transition.
Another identity I have is of being Caucasian (although I
dislike the term). But even this has been
shown to have no genetic basis. And if
you send your DNA to one of those genealogy testing labs, they will most likely
tell you that you are 12% this group, 10% that group, 15% another group . . .
. It is not black and white (literally
and figuratively). We all have some of
each, as well as red, yellow, blue and green.
Some people show one side more than another (very pale or very dark
skinned etc). But if you look at
history, there were rules like “one drop of black blood” or “even one Jewish great
grandparent” that locked you into one particular identity as far as the law was
concerned. Mixed race children were
often defined first by the color of their skin, as interpreted by the people
around them as they grew up. Not be
personal preference.
So that gets me (finally) to my point. Can you change your
racial identity like Caitlyn Jenner changed her gender identity? If you are born to white parents (who
probably both have x% African-origin DNA) and your skin color is white, can you
feel black the way Bruce Jenner felt female?
Or vice versa? Based on the
biology, this should be more likely than with gender.
It is unfortunate that one of the first examples in the wake
of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition is Rachel Dolezal (http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Rachel-Dolezal-s-world-crumbles-after-racial-6329347.phpv). She claimed to be white for a long time as
seems to have “transitioned” more based on deception and the desire to further
her civil rights career than for any real feelings of racial identity. If this turns out to be wrong, I apologize
for doubting her. But based on the descriptions of her past behavior, it
certainly seems that way.
But putting her case aside, I suspect that this is more
common than we realize. In part because most people would react the way they
did with Ms. Dolezal, even if an individual has a legitimately different feeling
of racial identity than their parents would provide genetically or socially at
home.
