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A thought that came to mind during discussion last class was the idea that a biracial person sometimes feels as though she has to choose which race she identifies as, and when she doesn't, the world still asks, "what race are you REALLY?" And the idea that people self-edit and airbrush in their minds to really observe the race of another person. I made this connection to our discussion of transgendered people, and the idea that the world self-edits in its observation of gender. So, then, I asked myself, is being mixed race but considering oneself black essentially the same as a transgendered person considering themselves one sex they don't necessarily have the genes of? And is "passing" as a black person essentially the same as "passing" as a man or woman? More importantly, what are the differences between these two categories, race and gender, that might make "passing" in each category a distinct endeavor?

Moraga talks of being seen as a different color by people of different colors. From her writing, it almost seems as though people want her to fit in with their race. White people see her as white, latina people see her as darker. For a man transitioning to woman, the women might not be so quick to welcome him into their community, because of certain bodily appearances that might make it impossible for him to "pass" as a woman. This goes back to the theory of socially constructed gender. So, then, if gender transitions are in fact harder to make than racial transitions, is the body a more important statement than a home?