Racial transformation
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2010) |
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The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (October 2012) |
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. These changes are currently done through a variety of methods including surgery or chemical treatments.[citation needed]
Racial transformation is similar to passing; however, it requires someone attempt a medical procedure, rather than lying about one's race or a physical disguise such as in the movie White Chicks. Racial transformation refers to something surgical, medical, or an attempt at permanence.[citation needed]
Attempted full physical transformation is exceedingly rare, but some see a number of controversial appearance-changing practices as motivated by racial assimilation[citation needed], though most practicing them claim their motivation is purely aesthetic.[citation needed]
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University studies [edit]
University of California, Berkeley offers a course on racial transformation, including references to Michael Jackson.[1]
Skin whitening, often with harsh and potentially dangerous bleaches, is common in some parts of the world particularly in China, and some parts in Asia, Africa and Jamaica.[citation needed]In the U.S.A. and Europe tanning is very popular although tanning has shown many times to be very dangerous and harsh to the skin. Also in white/European communities tanning is not seen as trying to change one's race. Whites have instead tried to adopt other races mannerisms (Vanilla Ice, the Beastie Boys, Eminem, Mark Walhberg, Tom Cruise playing a Samurai)[citation needed] In today's society skin lightening/whitening and hair coloring/straightening are seen as trying to become white/European. In many cultures such as in Asia's many cultures lighter skin was seen as someone of wealth and who did not have to work in the fields and was also a sign of beauty. Skin lightening had taken place in Asia and various places before the slavery in the U.S.A. and the Americas.[citation needed]
Tanning controversy [edit]
Some consider tanning as an attempt to attain an ethnic skin color by looking darker. This argument may carry some weight seeing how popular Spray on Tans are.[citation needed] The main issue is about some southern European countries with warm climates such as Italy, Portugal and Spain (particularly the southern regions of these countries), where some people have olive skin complexions (although not all of them, only in the southern parts of these countries). The same can be said of white Latin Americans who live in warm climates who primarily descend from these groups: interestingly, despite being thought of as white, their skin complexions are viewed as the ideal skin tone goal of tanning for white people who wish to get a tan.[citation needed]
However, some[who?]argue that tanning is a natural skin process, especially for European peoples in summer, unlike skin bleaching. What is more, it is not widely promoted as fashionable all year long (for health reasons mainly), whereas skin bleaching which can be noticed in many magazines and media, regardless of the season. We can think, for instance, of the l'Oreal ad controversy, featuring the singer Beyoncé, who looked strangely paler than her normal skin tone.[citation needed] It is sometimes argued that white people also resort to plastic surgery, getting nose jobs, for instance. It should be noticed, however, that they never do so to adopt typically non-white features. As a matter of fact, even white people eager to get a tan are not willing to adopt other non-European features, such as jet-black eyes and hair, slanted eyes or most typically non-Caucasian features.[citation needed]
Plastic surgery [edit]
Some plastic surgery procedures, such as Asian blepharoplasty, a surgical process designed to create an upper eyelid crease in people of East Asian descent, or rhinoplasty to change the appearance of an "ethnic" nose, can also be seen in a racial context. Lip augmentation (lip collagen and lip implants) is a very popular surgical procedure choice of white women, this surgical procedure enlarges the patients lips to a fuller lip size, changing their lips from Caucasian to African American.
Race choice and transformation in pop culture [edit]
Fictional studies of race choice and transformation have often occurred in drama and literature and especially in works of science fiction. In Greg Bear's books Eon and Eternity, new human consciousness is created in a virtual realm and the parents choose the race of their children when it is time for them to be 'birthed' into the real physical world. In this work as well, many humans do not conform to the standard human shape and choose a variety of form and sizes in which to exist both in the physical world and in the virtually.
In an episode of the animated TV show South Park, Kyle tries out for the basketball team, but is not very good. Wanting to be better, he goes to a plastic surgeon and asks if there is a surgery to make him tall and black. The doctor recommends a "negroplasty" for Kyle. The surgery is done, but Kyle's knees break during the basketball game. The doctor decides to revert him back to his normal white self, for a "small fee".
In another example, the movie Soul Man from 1986 involved race transformation of a white applicant to Harvard Law School. Unable to pay for tuition, the main character received a scholarship under the pretense of being black. [2]
The cast of the MTV reality TV show Jersey shore openly voice their preference for having darker skin/ tanning. They openly discuss their dislike of having light/ pale skin, so they tan themselves to a more ethnic skin color.[citation needed] They happen to be "Italian" or portraying the state's large Italian American community, although most of the staff are not of Italian descent.[citation needed]
