The publishers of this book, Public Affairs in New
York, categorize it as sociology. This is an interesting comment on the
contemporary blurring of so many formerly distinct disciplines. Certainly, the
book has a sociological slant but it is also biographical (as one would expect
from this author who has written some well known social biographies) and is
colored throughout by psychological insights.

‘Passing’ is the term used to
describe the process of consciously, semi-consciously or subconsciously
projecting oneself to others as different from what one is or perceives oneself
to be. The author is interested less in the fraudulent and criminal acts of
passing, such as teachers pretending to have degrees that they have never
earned and doctors with no medical qualifications, than in those people who
choose or have to pass because of the intolerance of society. She therefore
homes in on racial, sexual orientation, religious and gender issues. The book
has an introduction, six main chapters €“ three on race and/or religion and
three on gender/sexuality issues, an epilogue and then a full critical
apparatus with copious endnotes and a stunning bibliography which includes not
just books and articles  but also web pages and film reviews. This last feature
makes the book extremely useful to scholars working in a wide variety of
fields.

The three chapters dealing with
race issues are definitely sociologically, psychologically and ethically
interesting. The first concerns a young man born of a Jewish mother and an
African-American father. The couple divorced, the mother disappeared totally
from the scene and the boy was brought up as part of a black family. However,
because of his auburn hair and almost Caucasian features he could get away with
being white and he found it increasingly convenient to do so. Not only did he
frequently pass as white but he also described himself as Jewish. All of this
had the unfortunate consequence that he could never take any of his friends
home! The author discusses whether this was truly passing because he was part
white and a Jewish mother is the normal prerequisite for being Jewish. She puts
the problem into context by looking at the race laws, particularly in Virginia
where for much of the twentieth century one drop of Negro blood was enough to
have someone branded as a mulatto.

The second racial case is most
surprising and rather saddening. A white girl brought up in a staunchly WASP
tradition goes to university, gets a job as a teacher and acquires a boyfriend
who is half Puerto Rican and probably half African-American. Everything goes
swimmingly until she is invited by the local black women’s group to act as
master of ceremonies at their charity fashion show. Shortly before the event
she realizes that they have invited her because they think that, although she
looks white, because she has a black fiancé,
she must be black. She realizes that she has been inadvertently passing, spills
the beans and pulls out of the event. The relationship with the fiancé finally collapses although the
story does have a happy ending.

The third racial case also involves
religion and is a poignant tale. A girl of first generation Puerto Rican
immigrants passes herself off as Spanish in order to integrate better in school
and get round the convention that Spanish means Caucasian while Puerto Rican
means Black. Her ruse never actually worked very well and she always felt much
more at home with dropouts and tearaways. Dropping out of college herself, she
realized that she had an attraction towards the Jewish faith and converted to
Orthodox Judaism. Here again, despite trying to pass as a born Jew, she was
never made to feel at home while not being technically ostracized. The sad
little story ends with her finding a non-Jewish boyfriend to replace the rather
unpleasant Orthodox Jewish fiancé,
ceasing to be an active Jewish worshipper and succeeding in finding some peace
of mind.

The second set of case studies
relates more to gender and sexuality issues. The first of these three is about
a young man in a Jewish theological seminary training to be rabbi in the Jewish
Conservative movement. Although he dated members of the opposite sex, he slowly
realized that he was gay. At that time there was heated debate about whether
gays could be ordained as rabbis but the prevalent view was strongly in the
negative. The seminarian therefore had to make what was an increasingly
conscious decision to pass as straight. He was, thanks to a little help from
his friends, extremely successful in passing himself off in this way, was
ordained and became a very successful rabbi. When his position was secure, he
ceased passing.

The second is about a gay woman who
was determined to join the armed services at a time when the army, navy, air
force and marines were intensely homophobic. She was extremely good at her job
and was promoted several times. She had some very narrow escapes but managed to
successfully pass throughout her career. It is a strange reflection of how far
tolerance has yet to go that she could not be named for fear of retroactive
prosecution and the loss of her military pension.

The last case is slightly odd. It
concerns a man who wrote under his own name as a poet but who used a female
pseudonym as a music critic. This study is not as convincing as the other five
since it is not obvious that social intolerance was an overriding factor. It
was more a case of its being easier to break into the music criticism business,
especially as regards rock music, if one were a woman rather than a man.

This is a thought-provoking book.
Sympathy with most of the people featured was certainly provoked by the
colorful and sensitive accounts. This reviewer was struck by how recent and
perhaps how fragile society’s tolerance of various forms of otherness is. Most
modern societies are still heavily influenced by social and religious
traditions that historically have been very intolerant of otherness or, as many
would call it, deviance especially when it comes to issues such as homosexuality.
Pressures to gain equal rights occasionally provoke a backlash so that we
sometimes move two steps forward and one step back. This book would certainly
repay those who buy it by opening their eyes to how intolerant societies have
been and how delicate our contemporary and hard won rights to otherness are.

© 2004 Kevin Purday

Kevin M. Purday
is Head of the Cambridge International High School in Jordan and recently completed the Philosophy & Ethics of
Mental Health course in the Philosophy Dept. at the University of Warwick.

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