Weak Analogy? If you support transgender, to be consistent, you should support people who wish to identify as another race.
Historical archive only. New interaction is disabled.
Original Question
I realize this gets into some philosophy/politics/science, but I am curious what the members think on this topic. The claim is that this is a weak analogy , thus fallacious. Agree? Disagree? To what extent?
Comments on Question
In addition to my in-depth answer below; what do we mean by 'support'?
Do we mean 'accept' (as in, if Becky Smith thinks she's black, go along with it), or 'advocate' (as in, start transracialism into an acute social movement where white black-identifying people would, say, benefit from racial diversity quotas)?
The argument could be more or less reasonable depending on how 'support' is defined, as the former would rely on less similarities between transracialism and being transgender in order to be valid.
Well this falls under the assumption that both "race", and "gender" are socially constructed. But this analogy ignores the multiple strains of social constructivism (some are weak constructs where it is subjectively viewed by society, and some are strong constructs where society views that specific construct, in a structural manner; like race).
(Also I don't know if this would fit but I'm thinking its a false dilemma, or possibly a false equivalence.)
Identifying as "another race" has more scientific credibility. The claim that people who have gender dysphoria have seemingly different brains than their outward appearance suggests has struck me as politically INcorrect. I.e. Women/men are ALL supposed to share a type of brain. I'm pretty sure scientists don't have several billion brains to study this by to make their conclusions. However, I know some people can show genetic evidence, even if small, of having another race in their biology.
So, yes weak analogy, false equivalence, maybe I've read that gender confusion has risen 1500% among teenagers in the last decade. I've never thought there was any confusion amongst teens....Aren't teens mature and mostly stable?
As it stands, this can be considered weak analogy and non sequitur.
However, since the words "gender" and "race" are relatively often used in different meanings, I would ask a person who states something like this to explain his position to me, to explain to me why he thinks that "gender" and "race" are so similar.
Answers
3A key difference is that we are generally trying to abolish race but we are not trying to abolish gender.
This was actually discussed in feminist academia recently. There was a bit of a ruckus about it...
Let's parse the argument that it is a valid analogy.
P) Gender is socially constructed.
P) We accept people who identify as another gender. (transgender people)
P) Race is also socially constructed.
Implicit P) Race is more like gender than unlike it
C) To be consistent, we should accept people who identify as another race ('transracial' people).
The argument is that since both race and gender are socially constructed, as far as treating 'trans' people goes, there is no morally relevant difference that justifies accepting one and not the other - which is that implicit premise P. If the implicit premise - the linchpin of the syllogism - is false, then the argument falls apart as its remaining premises no longer imply the conclusion (non sequitur).
As it is, the premise is not empirical (it is false), from the point of view of most trans rights activists. This is because even though both race and gender are affected by sociology, they are not equally so. Gender has at least some basis in brain chemistry (hence the existence of gender dysphoria), so someone's gender identity could be mismatched with their biological sex. There is no possibility of this for race, since it is purely socially constructed (and also inaccurate).
So...it is a weak analogy. I'd love to see what other people say about this though.
No fallacy, but the subjects need to be clarified rather than generalized.
Race and gender are equivalent psycho-social constructs that evolved from very primitive evolutionary instincts. No false equivalence.
This can be validated through advanced studies in evolutionary psychology, behavioral science, and neuroscience. Anyone schooled in religious mythological traditions will be familiar with how the myths of race (Chosen Ones) and transgendered gods and goddesses preoccupied the ancient world, cultures, and imaginations.
More recently, (Sherman and Cohen 2006) The Yale Cognition Project has studied how humans develop and engage in IPR or Identity-Protective Reasoning. Both genderism and race can be considered factors in personal (tribal/communal) identity formation. (Jeb Bush listed himself as Hispanic on a form).
If race and genderism contribute to a person’s means of identity protection then it should be considered without necessarily supporting or invalidating them altogether.
Master Logical Fallacies Online
Take the Virversity course and sharpen your reasoning skills with structured lessons.
View Online Course
It seems like you are correlating having gender dysphoria with being immature. Having the gender dysphoria doesn't mean your immature.