The difference between Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal, explained

If Jenner can claim to be a woman, why can't Dolezal claim to be black?

Caitlyn Jenner
(Image credit: Richard Levine/Demotix/Corbis)

When the story of Rachel Dolezal broke last week, the internet immediately exploded with much thinkpiecery and gnashing of teeth. In case you've been living under a rock, Dolezal, the head of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, apparently misrepresented her life history in order to pass herself off as African-American.

An immediate point of comparison was with Caitlyn Jenner, who recently came out as a transgender woman on the cover of Vanity Fair. If Jenner can change from male to female because she insists that gender is a construct, then why can't someone switch from white to black, or vice versa?

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.