To determine someone’s race we use physical aspects such as facial features, skin color, hair, clothes, and type of car, and to determine someone’s gender we look at hair, feminity vs. masculinity, and how they dress, though I believe we are becoming more progressive on this. For the most part I would say that society and my parents outlook on the world had shaped how I perceive racial and gender identity by showing and confirming how you should act, what is okay, and what is not okay. I also believe that determining identity greatly depends on the area you live in and what you are being exposed to. So, since I chose to watch and read about Caitlyn Jenner, I am going to focus mainly on gender identity.

            To start off, to determine what race a person appears to be we look at their skin color, facial features, hair, clothes, and car. However, half of these physical aspects are because of the social constructs we have developed about each race (Lecture 5.1). For example, white people are generally associated with higher incomes, so they have nicer cars and wear nice clothes. African Americans are associated with lower incomes, have less nice cars, and wear less nice clothing. I don’t believe this is as much of a problem with other the races, but the constructs are still there. The problem with this way of thinking is that we don’t necessarily see what is real. What we see are a combination of real physical features and social ideas forming into determining the exact race of the person (Freedman et al 2011).

            Furthermore, we determine gender by physically looking at hair, feminity vs. masculinity, how people dress, and their genitalia. We have ideas in our heads that girls should not be muscular, dress feminine, have long hair, and be nice. Our ideas on boys are that they shouldn’t cry, should do sports and avoid theatre, and should dress masculine. So, when we see a person and we are trying to determine this we look at each feature and make an overall ruling. When Caitlyn started undergoing the transitioning process she was judged because her facial features started looking more feminine and people were making assumptions (Sawyer 2015). Likewise, sometimes you can’t tell, and people get frustrated because it’s not “normal”. In the short film “Breaking Free” by Ruby Rose she mentions how she is gender fluid and doesn’t identify with either gender for the most part, she is an “androgynous person” (Access Hollywood 2015). Although I think we are starting to become more open to these ideas for the most part we have certain features we look for. Additionally, we look at genitalia to define a man or a woman. When transgender people want to compete for sports this is the criteria for their category even though they could identify as the opposite gender. Caitlyn Jenner did not undergo genitalia surgery, but still identifies as a woman (Vanity Fair 2015). As I said already, I think that is starting to change with more transgender people sharing their stories and finding their place, we are still far from getting rid of this idea. This begs this issue as well that feminists are getting frustrated that we would get rid of that because if you were born a woman, biologically speaking then it is an important part of how you’ve been treated and identify(Burkett 2015).

            Lastly, the culture of society, how my parents perceive the world, and where I grew up has shaped my ideas of race and gender to form my ideas on how I perceive racial and gender identity. I grew up in a small, very white and Republican town. About ten percent of our district was not of white descent. There was hardly any diversity so when I went up to Michigan State the experience was new but not unwelcoming. My parents were pretty open minded and shared many of those ideas with me. They made sure I was accepting of anyone no matter their sexuality, race, gender, etc. I did not realize that most people didn’t experience this in my hometown until I started to grow up and see the culture around me. The culture represented just about any racial and gender stereotype, while heavily showing the social constructs many people believe to be the truth. Had my parents raised me differently I believe I would be more closed minded because of this and where I grew up. I didn’t really realize that all of this was related and formed these opinions (McCall 2005).

            To conclude we determine what race a person is by looking at physical aspects such as their face, hair, skin color, clothing, and type of car. We determine the gender identity of people based on their feminity or masculinity, hair, clothing, and gentitalia. Finally, a mix of our culture, my parents, and my hometown have shaped how I perceive racial and gender identity. This post was educational to me and I feel like I really did learn a lot. I know it is not anyone’s place to try to tell someone how they should or should not view something, but I think this week was a good reminder that it is important to educate ourselves on the topic in order to fully understand and formulate our opinions.

1. Department of Anthropology, director. Intersectionality. Women and Health, 23 May 2019, anthropology.msu.edu/anp270-us19/lecture-videos/intersectionality/.

2. Freeman, Jonathan, and Et al. “Looking the Part: Social Status Cues Shape Race Perception.” PLOS ONE, 26 Sept. 2011.

3. Sawyer, Diane, director. Bruce Jenner: The Interview. 2015.

4. Access Hollywood, director. Ruby Rose – 2015 “Gender Fluid” Interview with Access Hollywood. Women and Health, 31 May 2019, anthropology.msu.edu/anp270-us19/lecture-videos/ruby-rose-gender-fluid/.

5.  Vanity Fair. “Caitlyn Jenner: The Full Story.” Vanity Fair, 2015, www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/06/caitlyn-jenner-bruce-cover-annie-leibovitz.

6. Burkett, Elinor. “What Makes a Woman?” 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-woman.html.

7. McCall, Leslie. “The Complexity of Intersectionality.” Edited by Rutgers University, drive.google.com/file/d/1T1vTIDNdSXi3ux0DOJnfB4UMra-Xv3tv/view.