Abstract
Goal: The term “Transracial Identity” first appeared in science around 2017. The people concerned identify themselves with a different ethnicity or nationality, respectively they feel a strong attraction to it, in contrast to the one they were born into. Transracial identity can possibly be compared to Transgender or Body Integrity Dysphoria. The leading question of this article is: How does “transracial identity” affect the life circumstances of those affected? Methods: A questionnaire with items about personal information and the feelings of being transracial was created. The Big-Five-Inventory-10 was used aiming at investigating parallels of personality in Transracials. In addition, Düsseldorf’s Questionnaire of Transidentity, and the Questionnaire of the Body Integrity Identity Disorder were used to find out parallels with Transgender or Body Integrity Dysphoria. Sample: The study consists of a sample of 14 subjects, who identify as transracial (average age 30 ± 8.9 years, 35.7% (n = 5) male and 64.3% (n = 9) female). Participants from nearly all ethnicities identify with nearly any other race. Results: A correlation between discontent of life and the desire to change the race could not be stated. The hypothesis that individuals, identifying with another ethnicity or race, more often suffer from a mental disease than the general population, could be accepted. However, it remains unclear whether the dissatisfaction with one’s own race can cause depression or if depression is the cause of the “transracial identity” and whether those affected believe they can solve their psychological problems by changing to a new identity. Parallels to Transgender and Body Integrity Dysphoria were found. Regarding attractivity, unhappiness with their appearance is of vital importance. Thus, transracials’ satisfaction with their bodies and faces is rather low. This can be explained by the fact that their current biological ethnicity, with which their appearance is also connected, does not correspond to the desired ethnicity.
Highlights
Belonging to an ethnic race is genetically determined and includes an abundance of typical characteristics, in particular skin- and hair-color, body structure, and facial features
Nease (Nease, 2017) underlines the connection between asexuality and homosexuality with the “transracial identity” in her study about the “transracial identity”, similar findings could be recorded in this study
Bisexuality and homosexuality occur above-average frequency among “transracials”. Whether these findings are due to chance or whether the “transracial identity” is positively correlated to bisexuality and homosexuality is not clear and needs to be recorded in future studies
Summary
Belonging to an ethnic race is genetically determined and includes an abundance of typical characteristics, in particular skin- and hair-color, body structure, and facial features. It seems important not to underestimate this fact in our social life even in the mixed cultures of the modern world Movements such as “Black is beautiful” try to compensate this arousing pride in the given ethnicity. Past studies used the term “transracial” to describe individuals who identify with or feel a strong attraction to another ethnicity, as opposed to the current one into which they were born (Tuvel, 2017). This identification goes beyond mere wishful thinking or a sense of belonging to a particular group. The term “transracial” can be understood as beyond, that is, beyond the biological, original identity and associated ethnicity
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