Passing (sociology): Difference between revisions

Though passing may occur on the basis of a single subordinate identity such as race, often people's intersectional locations involve multiple marginalized identities. Intersectionality provides a framework for seeing the interconnected nature of oppressive systems and how multiple identities interact within them. Gay Asian men possess two key subordinated identities which, in combination, create unique challenges for them when passing. Sometimes these men must pass as straight to avoid stigma but around other gay men they may attempt to pass as a non-racialized person or white to avoid the disinterest or fetishization often encountered upon revealing their Asian identities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Han|first1=Chong-suk|last2=Proctor|first2=Kristopher|last3=Choi|first3=Kyung-Hee|date=May 2013|title=I Know a Lot of Gay Asian Men who Are Actually Tops: Managing and Negotiating Gay Racial Stigma|journal=Sexuality & Culture|volume=18|issue=2|pages=219–234|doi=10.1007/s12119-013-9183-4|s2cid=145758850}}</ref> By recognizing the hidden intersection of the gendered aspects of gay and Asian male stereotypes, these two distinct experiences make even more sense. Gay men are often stereotyped as effeminate and thereby insufficiently masculine as men. Stereotypes characterizing Asian men as too sexual (overly masculine) or too feminine (hypo-masculine) or even both also exhibit the gendered nature of racial stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love|last=Espiritu|first=Yen|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2008|location=Lanham, Md|pages=179}}</ref> Thus, passing as the dominant racial or sexuality category also often means passing as gender correct. When Black transgender men transition in the workplace from identifying as female to passing as cisgender malesmen, gendered racial stereotypes characterizing Black men as overly masculine and violent<ref>{{Cite book|title=Speak my name: Black men on masculinity and the American dream|last=Belton|first=Don|publisher=Beacon Press|year=1997|location=Boston |pages=315}}</ref> can affect how previously acceptable behaviors will be interpreted. As one such Black trans man discovered, he'd gone from "being an obnoxious Black woman to a scary Black man", and therefore had to adapt his behavior to gendered scripts to pass.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schilt|first=Kristen|date=August 2006|title=Just One of the Guys? How Transmen Make Gender Visible at Work|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/1af5948ddb5920ed2e3a55bc1da415759b314c9d|journal=Gender & Society|volume=20|issue=4|pages=465–490|doi=10.1177/0891243206288077|s2cid=144778992}}</ref>