Racial transformation (individual)

Racial transformation is the process by which someone changes their appearance with respect to race, either from their current race to another race or to a new category.[1] These changes are done through a variety of methods including temporary or permanent alterations, plastic surgery, chemical treatments, whether for the skin or hair, colored contact lens, and wigs.[2][3]

It is similar to passing, but rather than taking advantage of extant attributes or soft temporary methods like cosmetics, this is using hard permanent methods, of varying degrees of success, in acquiring, or removing, racial features.[4][5]

Motivations include racial assimilation or aesthetic reasons.[6][7][8]

History

In 2006, Cressida Heyes, professor of Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Alberta, addressed Janice Raymond's rhetorical question “Why are there 'transexuals' but not 'transracials'?” She disagreed that certain historical examples were, in fact, actual examples of racial transformation. Archibald Belaney (aka Grey Owl) was considered passing. Michael Jackson's changes in appearance were “making himself into his own aesthetic vision...that just happens to make him look more white than black.”[9]

Plastic surgery

Ethnic plastic surgery is a growing phenomenon over the past decade as it becomes more acceptable and affordable.[10][11]

More than 3.2 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed on ethnic patients in 2013, an increase of 243 percent since 2000. Twenty-five percent of all cosmetic plastic surgery patients were Asian, Black, or Hispanic, surpassing the number of men who opted for procedures in 2010.[10]

In popular culture

The novel Your Face in Mine by Jess Row is set in a near-future world in which a doctor has developed what he calls "racial-reassignment surgery". The book's main character, Martin Lipkin, is partly of Ashkenazi Jewish descent but has transformed himself into an African American named Martin Wilkinson to demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedure.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "When Does Plastic Surgery Become Racial Transformation - BuzzFeed News". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  2. ↑ West, Lindy (July 29, 2014), Can You Change Your Race? 'Ethnic Plastic Surgery' Raises Big Questions, Jezebel
  3. ↑ "A Trip Into the Ethnic Plastic Surgery Minefield -- The Cut". The Cut. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Roberts, Deborah; Smith, Candace (Oct 3, 2014). "As More Minorities Go Under the Knife, Some Fear Cosmetic Surgery Could Obscure Ethnicity". ABC News.
    Slupchynskyj says he sees patients of all races, though he admits that many of them seem to want similar looks
    Sylvia Barnett, worries that her daughter is losing her ethnic identity by changing her nose
  5. ↑ O'Connor, Maureen (July 28, 2014). "Is Race Plastic? My Trip Into the ‘Ethnic Plastic Surgery’ Minefield". NY Magazine.
  6. ↑ Martin, Charles D. (2002). The White African American Body: A Cultural and Literary Exploration. p. 163. ISBN 9780813530321. The examination of the African man turned white affords [Scully's] partner, Mulder, the opportunity to compare the skin of the victim to another contemporary white Negro. "I know there's a Michael Jackson joke in there somewhere," he quips, "but I can't seem to find it."
  7. ↑ Shiffman, Melvin A.; Di Giuseppe, Alberto. "Race, Ethnic, and Cultural Issues Involved in Hispanic Rhinoplasty". Advanced Aesthetic Rhinoplasty: Art, Science, and New Clinical Techniques. p. 176. ISBN 9783642280528.
  8. ↑ Dolnick, Sam (Feb 18, 2011). "Ethnic Differeces Emerge in Plastic Surgery". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Changing Race, Changing Sex: The Ethics of Self-Transformation". wiley.com. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Briefing Paper: Plastic Surgery for Ethnic Patients". 2013.
  11. ↑ Alford, Bobby R.; Sturm-O'Brien, Angela K.; Brissett, Annette E.A; Brissett, Anthony E. (2010). "Ethnic trends in facial plastic surgery". Facial Plastic Surgery. 2 26. doi:10.1055/s-0030-1253496. PMID 20446200.
  12. ↑ Lambert, Josh (August 15, 2014). "'It all begins with the Jewish nose'". Haaretz. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
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