It wasn't just to change his opinion, but to really understand how society treats LGBT.
Reminds me a lot of Black Like Me, where in the '50s a white guy changes his skin (with medical help and makeup) to become a black man so that he can understand what it means to be black in America.
Your analysis reminds me of a book I taught earlier this year. It's entitled, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. He was a white man from Texas who underwent cosmetic procedures to darken the pigment of his skin. He then lived as a black man in the South during the 1950's for several months in order to give a "true" account of what it's like to live with racism.
The inherent problem with the project, while it did result in a fascinating book, lies in the original premise; it isn't a book about being black in the South, it's a book about a white man pretending to be black in the South during 1950's.
You might be interested in the book Black Like Me, in which the white author darkened his skin to experience life in the Jim Crow South as a black man. I haven't read it since 8th grade English, but I remember it being fascinating and heartbreaking.
The officer suddenly discovered his minority status as an adult, without the years of dealing with prejudice, discrimination, racial jokes, denial of the benefit of the doubt, and the coping mechanisms that come from going through that on a daily basis.
To be honest, there's a lot of stuff that isn't explicitly social justice stuff that will give you the same basic information. Most of these issues have been around (and known) way prior to the recent rise in activism. Some of the books that were most useful to me were:
If you haven't, you should read Black Like Me. It gives some anecdotal accounts of what it is like to be black in an area that has segregated businesses.
>I think it matters where "she" claims to empathize with the struggles and feelings of people who were actually born as women and then runs around lecturing other men like she has any authority on the matter.
She definitely doesn't have authority on matters during childhood or before her transition age, but if she can pass as a woman on the street, for instance, then she can definitely be an authority on how random women are treated by strangers. If she passes for a woman at work, then she can definitely comment on the treatment of women in the workplace.
Basically, her capacity to speak with authority on the matter is a function of how consistantly she passes in a given context, and if how independent that context is to a woman's life in the period before Wu's transition age.
> It's like a white guy arbitrarily declaring himself African American and claiming he fully understands and empathizes with race-based issues the moment he makes said declaration; it's completely idiotic.
Well, no, it's not quite the same, because it's really fucking hard to pass as an African American when you have white skin and facial features.
I wonder if anyone during that time were likewise trying to claim he could speak with no authority on the treatment of black people because he wasn't born black.
It wasn't just to change his opinion, but to really understand how society treats LGBT.
Reminds me a lot of Black Like Me, where in the '50s a white guy changes his skin (with medical help and makeup) to become a black man so that he can understand what it means to be black in America.
Your analysis reminds me of a book I taught earlier this year. It's entitled, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin. He was a white man from Texas who underwent cosmetic procedures to darken the pigment of his skin. He then lived as a black man in the South during the 1950's for several months in order to give a "true" account of what it's like to live with racism.
The inherent problem with the project, while it did result in a fascinating book, lies in the original premise; it isn't a book about being black in the South, it's a book about a white man pretending to be black in the South during 1950's.
You are not the first. It's an interesting book, if you haven't read it.
You might be interested in the book Black Like Me, in which the white author darkened his skin to experience life in the Jim Crow South as a black man. I haven't read it since 8th grade English, but I remember it being fascinating and heartbreaking.
The officer suddenly discovered his minority status as an adult, without the years of dealing with prejudice, discrimination, racial jokes, denial of the benefit of the doubt, and the coping mechanisms that come from going through that on a daily basis.
It's like an IRL version of the movie "Black Like Me". Wikipedia. Summary. Amazon.
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
To be honest, there's a lot of stuff that isn't explicitly social justice stuff that will give you the same basic information. Most of these issues have been around (and known) way prior to the recent rise in activism. Some of the books that were most useful to me were:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Like-John-Howard-Griffin/dp/0451234219
I loved Dreams from My Father and [The Color of Water] (http://www.amazon.com/Color-Water-Tribute-Mother-Anniverary/dp/159448192X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417378244&sr=1-1&keywords=the+color+of+water), and they're relatively recent.
There are reasons some books become classics though - you should check out [Voices in the Mirror] (http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Mirror-Autobiography-Gordon-Parks/dp/0385266987/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417378538&sr=1-1&keywords=gordon+parks+autobiography), [Black Boy] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-Record-Childhood-Youth/dp/0061130249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417378427&sr=1-1&keywords=black+boy), [Invisible Man] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Ralph-Ellison/dp/0679732764/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417378361&sr=1-1&keywords=invisible+man), and [Black Like Me] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Like-John-Howard-Griffin/dp/0451234219/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417378875&sr=1-1&keywords=black+like+me) for instance
Black Like Me absolutely change how I see the world and understand human experience.
Was he inspired by this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451234219/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_t4Fnxb2EB1PDP
If you haven't, you should read Black Like Me. It gives some anecdotal accounts of what it is like to be black in an area that has segregated businesses.
Start here
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Like-John-Howard-Griffin/dp/0451234219
>I didn't now there was a procedure for that.
Black Like Me
>I think it matters where "she" claims to empathize with the struggles and feelings of people who were actually born as women and then runs around lecturing other men like she has any authority on the matter.
She definitely doesn't have authority on matters during childhood or before her transition age, but if she can pass as a woman on the street, for instance, then she can definitely be an authority on how random women are treated by strangers. If she passes for a woman at work, then she can definitely comment on the treatment of women in the workplace.
Basically, her capacity to speak with authority on the matter is a function of how consistantly she passes in a given context, and if how independent that context is to a woman's life in the period before Wu's transition age.
> It's like a white guy arbitrarily declaring himself African American and claiming he fully understands and empathizes with race-based issues the moment he makes said declaration; it's completely idiotic.
Well, no, it's not quite the same, because it's really fucking hard to pass as an African American when you have white skin and facial features.
There was one man, many decades ago, who did everything short of plastic surgery in order to pass as an AA man, and he wrote a book about how he was treated.
I wonder if anyone during that time were likewise trying to claim he could speak with no authority on the treatment of black people because he wasn't born black.