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|Society & Culture|
Passing is the sociological term used to define and classify the actions of people who are able to be regarded as members of social groups other than their own, or the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of the gender they physically present. In the case of trans people, passing does not imply deception on any level.
Because of the high-profile, political nature of racial identity and sexuality passing, these are the two forms of passing that the media and popular culture most often focus on. However, passing is more common than most people realize. In fact, it's possible that incidents of racial and sexual passing are not the most common forms of passing, just the most well-known. Some examples of other forms of passing include:
- An atheist raised in a religious family who pretends to still have religious beliefs when visiting family and childhood friends;
- A job applicant who lies about previous experience, education and qualifications, and then must maintain the lie after being hired.
- A person raised in an upper middle class or wealthy family who pretends to be a "self-made" middle class person, especially if they can make obscene profits from their "ordinary guy" image; (e.g., Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Kevin Trudeau)
- "I Married a Gay Man": An interview with an anonymous fundamentalist Christian woman who confirmed that her closeted husband was gay after he gave her chlamydia while she was pregnant.
- ↑ It also has been argued that "passing" among trans people has as much to do with gender attribution by others as the behavior of the trans individual themself.