Wednesday, July 08, 2009

I'm afraid to leave the country

A Canadian citizen is in jail in Kenya because she doesn't look like her passport photo.

This makes me afraid to leave the country.

I never look like my photos. In my first driver's licence photo, I had my hair down and no glasses. If I went out with my hair up and glasses on and then got carded, they wouldn't believe me. I'd have to take my hair down and remove my glasses just to get a drink.

I wear makeup that changes the relative skin tone of various facial features. Among other things, I make the skin around my eyes lighter and my cheeks and forehead darker. In some pictures (especially small photos like you'd find on a passport) it isn't apparent that this is a function of the makeup. Depending on the situation, I might travel in full makeup, or in no makeup, or in what was originally full makeup but has worn off with sleep and sweat to the extent that I look like a dead whore. Any one photo is not going to reflect all of these possibilities, and I can't necessarily organize my life so that my makeup condition will be the same every time I travel.

Depending on the lighting and what I'm wearing and how I've done the rest of my makeup, my skin tone can inspire comments ranging from "Are you okay? You look really pale." to "Where are you from? I mean originally? I mean what's your heritage?"

How can I possibly feel safe in this context?

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