Question: What visual cues do we use to determine someone’s race or gender? And, what has shaped your ideas of race and gender that inform how you perceive someone’s racial or gender identity?

Race and gender are both typically seen as binary in American culture meaning that people are either white or black (or brown) or they are a woman or a man. These social constructs have caused us to put people into boxes often where they do not belong or where one identifies differently. 

The American racial binary has largely been constructed as an effort of white supremacy. When we look at visual, and non visual characteristics related to whiteness they are those that are perceived as positive in our society whereas those cues are not for black people. The Freeman article discusses many stereotypes often associated with one race or another than we often pick up on through visual cues. For example, one’s attire can indicate class status that is then related to racial status (Freeman et al., 2011). We often use visual cues such as these to determine race. While many of the visual cues we have as an American culture are racist and outdated, they are still incredibly relevant to how people are perceived. The hue of one’s skin is a rather obvious determinant of race, and while I think that that is important to recognize, the bigger issue is what we associate with a race. What does it mean when we assume someone is white or black? We have connotations attached that are often wrong and racist as people of all races are individuals with multifaceted personalities and identities which make concepts like intersectionality so crucial. But ultimately, I wonder what it means for us to perceive race as we know it is culturally constructed. 

It is confusing for people to understand cases such as Rachel Dolezal’s in believing they are African American and many have come after her with intense hatred for her proclamation of blackness (Cohen, 2015). By looking at Dolezal, confusing flags arise for our brains trying to categorize her visual presentation. She has light skin, but black hairstyles. These visual cues interrupt our normal categorization. One of the things I find most interesting about this is the question of Dolezal’s gains by pretending to be black because we often think of racial inequality as negative and therefore black people have to deal with a systematically racism. But there have been many conversations about how cultural appropriation has benefitted white people. The one example that rings in my head is the drastic complection change that we have seen by Ariana Grande. Visual cues such as tanner skin, weaves, and fashion that leads one to believe the once very pale, red headed pop star has started changing her look for some benefit. 

Gender is also a binary created as a form of domination. Men have created a system that benefits men by establishing masculinity as powerful, strong, and smart and femininity as weak, small and dainty. These feed into our visual cues surrounding gender. Visual cues of gender include makeup (sultry mascara), bras and shapewear (cleavage-boosting corset), and being sexual avaliable (sultry poses) all aspects encapsulated in Catilyn Jenner’s look post transition (Burkett, 2015).  Therefore, for Caitlyn Jenner to perform gender properly, she had to give off very certain visual cues to be taken seriously as a woman. 

Personally, I’ve always thought of many of these things as a spectrum. While I was raised with stereotypes ingrained in my head about race and gender, my own experiences inform me as well.  I’ve had friends who have transitioned from male to female, friends who fall outside the binary and identify as non binary but I am more challenged by the racial aspect of this idea. I’ve also had friends who have felt incredibly confused by their race or their physical appearance due to it not matching their upbringing. One of my best friends is of Korean origin but raised by white parents here in Michigan. One time she told me “I forget I’m Asian until I look in the mirror.” She feels lost, like she can’t be white because she isn’t white, but has little connection to other Asians. Race goes beyond just a physical characteristic because of our society so heavily impacted by socially constructed ideas  The Freeman article brings up ideas about multiracial people and how we categorize them based on stereotypes (2011). There is a spectrum of racial identity but its not something we ever really claim, it’s given to us right? I ask that as a question because visual cues seem very unfair to cram us into boxes of identities that don’t fit us, but race is almost solely based off perception of skin color.

Burkett, E. (2015). What Makes a Woman?. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-woman.html. 

Cohen, I. (2015). Watch Rachel Dolezal’s Long, Unbelievably Incoherent Interview with Melissa Harris-Perry. The National Review. Retrieved from https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/dolezal-interview-isaac-cohen/. 

Freeman, J. B., Penner, A. M., Saperstein, A., Scheutz, M., & Ambady, N. (2011). Looking the Part: Social Status Cues Shape Race Perception. PLoS ONE.