A strange phenomenon is currently spreading on TikTok. It is the acronym RCTA. This term describes a gathering of people who watch videos in the belief that they could thereby change their ethnicity. The acronym RCTA stands for „race change to another.“ Translated into German, this is another term for „transracial.“ This term is meant to express that a person can change to another race or culture. In addition, in connection with this phenomenon, another term appears, which is called ECTA, which in German means something like „change of ethnicity to another“.
What does RCTA mean on TikTok? Meaning, explanation, definition
As the most famous example of transracial people stands a British influencer named Oli London. He claimed that he was a Korean. To pursue this belief, he underwent quite a few plastic surgeries to look like Jimin from the South Korean boy group BTS.
The RCTA community is not ostensibly concerned with changing their appearance so that they can be classified as a different race, but rather they believe that they can subliminally solidify their desired identity. Most people in this community focus on transitioning to East Asian ethnicities. This is often due to a preference for K-dramas, anime culture, and K-pop.
On TikTok, for example, RCTA-identified people are often criticized. In addition, they are also often portrayed as ignorant. The biggest criticism of this community is that they are accused of not being able to properly classify what it means to be an ethnic minority. They are also said to underestimate racism and the accompanying prejudices associated with a particular race.
The principle of RCTA
Behind the new trend is the need of various people to transition from one culture to another cultural identity. Most RCTA adherents achieve this transition through appropriations of various stereotypical and external characteristics of a culture as well as its background.
At the same time, however, the term ECTA usually goes hand in hand with RCTA. For the people who identify with ECTA, it is more a matter of their firm belief that they were born into a false culture. Therefore, they want to change their appearance to visually adopt the desired identity. It is not uncommon for them to shy away from cosmetic surgery.
It can be observed, however, that RCTA supporters are clearly differentiated from the ECTA community. The RCTA community proves this by the fact that they are much more deeply involved with a culture than just approaching a culture externally and focusing on cosmetic repairs.