What Are You? Both, And Neither
Avoid the Comms Crisis: Learn the New Language of Gender Now
What is race? Is it skin color, the cultural mores someone grew up with, or, as gender is increasingly — how one identifies?In a New York Times op-ed piece, the author talks about her bi-racial daughter, who may know a thing or two about the gender spectrum (rather than the binary), from herself being a "mix." She also talks about her mixed-race son, who has answered the question, "What are you?" with "Not Chinese." He identifies as white.As with gender, one can identify one way, and still be seen (and treated) by others another way.Or, race can be refused. One woman who was part of the Hapa Project, told the photographer: “I am a person of color. I am not half-‘white.’ I am not half-‘Asian.’ I am a whole ‘other.’”As multiracial Americans continue to grow in number, racial absolutes, like traditional gender binaries, will join their place on the spectrum in what we call the trend of Blurred ID.
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