Developed from Cooley’s looking-glass self, the theory of reflected appraisals is frequently used to explain how appearance influences the racial identity development of mixed-race people. However, postulating that racial identity develops via the internalization of the perception of what race one thinks others assume him or her to be rests on the assumption that others consistently perceive the individual in the same manner. Although true for many people, the appearance of mixed-race people is often ambiguous and changeable and is perceived differently depending on context, which results in mixed-race people’s being ascribed to, and interacted with as if a member of, a variety of different races and ethnicities. This fact illuminates a gap in our knowledge of how appearance influences racial identity absent consistent perception by others. Drawing on 30 interviews with mixed-race adults from a variety of racial backgrounds in the United States and United Kingdom, the author examines not only the particular experiences with differential racial perception that mixed-race people have but also the mechanisms by which appearance influences identity when one experiences varying perceptions from others. This work ultimately extends the theory of reflected appraisals by advancing the idea that, under certain conditions, identity can form from experiences being consistently inconsistently perceived when that consistent inconsistency itself functions as a reflected appraisal of a particular identity.

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The idea that mixed race individuals are physically attractive is a commonly accepted stereotype. Past research in which whites (Australians and British) and Asians (Japanese) were asked to rate the attractiveness of a racially heterogeneous group of faces has shown that mixed race phenotype was judged the most attractive. In this study, I examine whether there is empirical evidence for this Biracial Beauty Stereotype in the United States. Using the data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, I examine self and interview ratings of respondents' physical attractiveness and, in an extension of the previous literature, conduct multinomial logistic regressions to ascertain whether level of attractiveness is associated with different racial identification choices for mixed race individuals. My results indicate that there is in fact a belief in mixed race individuals' superior beauty in America; but, with regard to identity, beauty is not associated with identity for all mixed race groups.

Obtaining parental consent for youth to participate in research is a standard requirement in the United States. However, the assumption that involving parents is the best way to protect youth research participants is untenable for some populations. This study draws on interviews with 19 LGBTQ+ mixed-race participants to examine lay views of parental consent requirements for LGBTQ+ youth research participants. Qualitative data analysis found concerns about potentially outing LGBTQ+ youth to intolerant parents. Interviewees also asserted that adolescents aged 16 and older are competent enough and should have the autonomy to consent themselves. Finally, interviewees raised several methodological concerns regarding the biased research that may result from parental consent requirements. We agree with others that U.S. Institutional Review Boards should end uncritical requirements for parental consent for older adolescents and should routinize the use and study of alternative protective measures.

This critical reply engages in a critique of the prominence of "white logic" and "white methods" (Zuberi and Bonilla-Silva 2008) in academic publishing. We assess how the construction and proliferation of white knowledge(s) shapes analysis and interpretation, argumentation, peer review, and ultimately, publication. We call for a rejection of what we name "white distraction" and encourage the academic community to move toward more inclusive and decolonial modes of thinking, reviewing, and publishing.

While critical Mixed-Race studies (CMRS) has paid attention to the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality in sampling and analysis, most studies disproportionately focus on women. This means that generalizability of findings and theories to men should not become axiomatic. Regarding black Mixed-Race people, for example, the theory that rejection from black people is influential for many black Mixed-Race individuals’ identity development is derived from interviews with mainly women. Explicitly noting that these processes are not as applicable for men, yet offering no accompanying theorizing as to the influence of gendered interactions on men’s racial identity development, appears to have become the standard. Therefore, bringing together data from two studies that explored black mixedness in the United States and the United Kingdom, this article joins a nascent literature on the gendered experiences of Mixed-Race men. Our analysis shows that, unlike black Mixed-Race women, black Mixed-Race men’s mixedness is often constructed as compatible with the heteronormative gender identities that are constituted in racialized peer groups. As such, black Mixed-Race men are able to cultivate a sense of strategic sameness with same gender black peers. This and other findings are discussed in light of their implications for CMRS’s intersectional theories of identity development.

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