Challenging the Gender Binary

Question 1

Summarize the four lines of argumentation Serano suggests are used to suggest that trans women aren’t “really women”.

Answer 1

1. Biology: Biological disqualification from womanhood, which relies on genetics and genitalia.
2. Socialization: Lack of socialization as a girl
3. “Male Privilege”: The notion that trans women still hold male privilege and have “male energy”
4. A caricature of women: The belief that trans women are superficial, and that being a woman is more than that.

Question 2

Summarize the four categories of argumentation Vaid-Menon suggests are used to deny the rights of trans* and gender non-conforming people. Provide an example for each

Answer 2

1. Dismissal: “common sense” and they/them pronouns in the singular. Belief that it is a fad
2. Inconvenience: Too many options (confusion). Infringement on femininity or masculinity. Forcing an agenda on them.
3. Biology: The idea that because biology states there are two sexes, that is all that exists within society. Biology is cultural and political. Reproduction
4. “Slippery Slope”: Identifying as objects. Legislation concerns. The inherent “meaning” of manhood or womanhood.

Question 3

Serano’s rebuttals to the 4 arguments against trans women

Answer 3

1. Flawed notions of biology, and are sexist/anti-feminist. Women are more than their genitalia, and are still women even if they cannot reproduce/missing some parts.
2. Ignores trans girls who transition young, and feminist values assert socialization can be learned/unlearned.
3. Defaults to given understandings of gender, and privilege is a starting place (flexibility)
4. Lots of conservatives who oppose “gender ideology” are the ones who strongly agree with the existence of gender roles/expectations

Question 4

Difference between gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex

Answer 4

Biological sex is more rigid, relying on measurable physical factors. Gender identity is whatever gender a person feels and believes that they are. Gender expression is how a person demonstrates their gender to the rest of the world. These three things do not need to be the same, or they can be.

Question 5

Schuklenk et al. argue that looking for the origin of sexual orientation operates from a homophobic framework

Answer 5

In searching for a biological cause for sexual orientation, non-heterosexuality is pathologized. If something needs to be explained, then it must be because it deviates from the norm. These studies assume that straight is the norm, and that something changes in a fetus’s development that alters it. There is an implied motivation to “cure” or prevent homosexuality.

Question 6

Naturalistic fallacy

Answer 6

The naturalistic fallacy is the idea that because something exists in nature, it ought to be that way. This conflates what is natural with moral positivity. It pathologizes queerness as something negative and different, even if it is not the individual’s fault.