Non-binary gender

Announcements

• Study guide for midterm is at Canvas
• We will discuss the Dembroff article about driver's licenses next time. Rebecca Reilly-Cooper optional. 
• We are also going to discuss the Aimee Stephens Supreme Court case, which will be heard on Oct. 8. 

Non-binary genders

• Non-binary, genderqueer, bigender, agenders
•  Non-binary vs. gender-free

Article #1: "Which Box Do You Check?" (Amy Harmon)

• non-binary options on driver's licenses (discuss next time)
• profiles of non-binary people
• pronouns--singular "they"

Gender neutral vs. non-binary

• gender neutral "they"
• talking about one person with unknown gender: "The whistleblower made their life much more complicated."
• talking about many people with different genders: "If a student has a question, they should feel free to ask."
• non-binary "they"
• speaking about Robin Dembroff: "They are a Yale philosophy professor"
• Merriam Webster defends non-binary "they"
• Is it hard?
• AP story about Sam Smith (later retracted and rewritten)

Article #2: "Why Be Non-Binary?" (Robin Dembroff)

Their main claims:

1. On existing theories about gender, non-binary gender isn't even possible or can't be coherently understood
2. Being non-binary is a "political stance"

Theory #1 (rejected): gender kinds are identical to (reproductive) sex kinds

1. On this view only intersex people would be able to be non-binary
2. But most non-binary people do not have intersex conditions, and most people with intersex conditions are not non-binary
3. And anyway, the gender=sex view is false

Theory #2 (rejected): gender is the social interpretation of sex

1. Haslanger--your gender depends on whether you're marked for subordination or privilege by your actual or perceived sex features
2. Many non-binary people don't seem to be "marked" in this way or are marked "female" or "male," so they wind up classed as gender-free or women or men.  

Theory #3 (rejected): the spectrum view, where non-binary people are "in the middle" and androgynous

1. Many non-binary people are not androgynous (people in NYT article and this video are not all androgynous)
2. Many androgynous people are not non-binary (Alison Bechdel, author of the great graphic novel Fun Home)
3. The spectrum view is actually binary, in a way (two poles)

Theory #4 (rejected, discussed in "Beyond Binary", p. 9-14) being genderqueer is having a genderqueer gender identity

• Let's discuss next time

Theory #5 (Dembroff's proposal): non-binary is a "political identity" 

"Rather than insist that men and women can be and can do anything, I and other nonbinary persons question why we categorise people as women and men at all." (Aeon)

In what sense does this create a gender? 

Article #3: "Beyond Binary: Genderqueer as Critical Gender Kind"

Two types of resistance  (p. 16)

Three things that can be resisted

Critical Gender Kinds

1. Genderqueer--existential resistance to the binary assumption
2. Trans man or Trans woman--existential resistance to the genital assumption
3. Butch lesbians, femme gay men--existential resistance to the social assumption

Gender Critical Feminism

Which philosophers on our syllabus: Holly Lawford-Smith, Rebecca Reilly-Cooper, Kathleen Stock

The larger GCF movement: people from all walks of life; mostly women, often lesbians; mostly in the UK and Australia

Label: they call themselves "gender critical feminists"; their critics call them "trans exclusionary radical feminists" (TERFS), which GCFs regard as derogatory

Why all the controversy?

1. Holly Lawford-Smith's views fairly typical 
2. Views often expressed much less respectfully than she expresses them

Activism vs. philosophy:

1. GCFs are working against the liberal reform of the Gender Recognition Act in the UK (we will discuss later)
2. GCFs are against the way sport governing bodies are increasingly permitting trans women to compete in women's sports

Some reactions to these philosophers in the philosophical community in the last year:

1.  Calls for exclusion of GCFs from campuses, publications, conferences, etc.
2. 12 philosophers challenge exclusion of GCFs
3. 33 philosophers defend exclusion of GCFs 
4. GCFs protest their exclusion

Why are we reading GCFs in this class?

1. They are politically influential, at least in the UK
2. Some of their views are aligned with conservative views in the US, and the conservative views are influential here
3. So that you have an accurate picture of debates in the philosophy of gender
4. Because "philosophy needs friction" (but let's keep it polite and respectful)

Question: Why do you think Sophie-Grace Chappell was willing to talk to Holly Lawford-Smith?

Debate teams

Here

Being Trans (2)

Transgender identity "in their words"
The video is at the top of a CNN news story of a trans woman being shot in Dallas on Friday Sept. 20.
Wed Sept 25. Suspect arrested.

Being Trans

Debates--need volunteers for NO

Debate 1—10.28--Sexism and misogyny Is sexism a major problem in US society? Is the term “misogyny” useful? Are female political candidates often rejected because of misogyny?  Are women vulnerable to rape and harassment partly due to misogyny? 

Debate 3—11.13—Discrimination against trans peopleShould anti-discrimination policies protect trans people in every conceivable context? Should trans women have every single right enjoyed by cis women (and likewise for trans men/cis men)? Should people be protected, under anti-discrimination policies, simply based on their self-declared gender?

RR for next time

Language (tab)

Ben Barres

• Stanford neuroscientist (died in 2017 at 63)
• distinctive features of story
• "I was born the wrong sex"-- how he describes in the letter
• language: "male to female transsexual" --> "trans man" (see language tab)
• video (linked to name)

Julia Serano

• PhD in biochemistry, writer, performer, activist
• excerpt is from Whipping Girl (2007, 2016)
• gender identity, two senses: (1) gender you consciously choose to identify as, (2) subconscious sex
• How Serano explains subconscious sex (p. 80)
• basis in brain (p. 81)
• connection to gender norms (p. 82)
• blind spots of cis people (p. 87)
• language issues: "MTF", "transsexual"
• website (linked to name)

Nicole Maines

• age 22, now an actress on "Supergirl"
• excerpt is from Becoming Nicole (by Amy Ellis Nutt)
• how did Nicole experience gender identity as a child? More like Barres or Serano?
• could trans gender be due to a congenital ("born with it") brain difference if Nicole and Jonas are identical twins?
• interview with Ellen Degeneres (linked to name)

Intersectionality/Resemblance Nominalism

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• talk today
• RR for next time
• accommodations
• debates--will discuss and assign next Wednesday
• no class Oct. 11

CRENSHAW ON INTERSECTIONALITY (REVIEW)

NATALIE STOLJAR: "DIFFERENT WOMEN"

Argues for: 1. gender nominalism, 2. resemblance nominalism (about gender), 3. cluster theory (about gender)

Argues against: 1. gender universals, 2. realism (about gender), 3. kind essentialism

TERMINOLOGY

Homogeneous--unified, similar, like the group of objects below

Universal--the something they have in common, the greenness they share

Realist--believes that there are such universals

Total Nominalist--believes there are no universals uniting this group, believes these items are united in name only (NOMEN means name), believes there are no universals uniting any group

Partial Nominalist--believes there are no universals in many cases where you might expect them. Stoljar is a partial nominalist. 

Heterogenous --  Like the group below.  Nominalism seems to be the right view about this group.  The group is unified in name only ("things in someone's purse").

Things in someone's purse

Somewhat heterogeneous --  These people have one sperm donor and different mothers. It's not a totally heterogeneous group but not as homogeneous as the group of green objects.

Resemblance nominalism-- There is no universal in this case--nothing all the siblings have in common. Yet there are resemblances that ought to be noticed and explained. (This example literally involve visual resemblances but other cases don't.  For example, Stoljar's game example.)

Cluster concept-- A list of features that explains the resemblance.  The resemblance is based on each person having "enough" features from a list like this:

1. Auburn hair
2. Strong jaw
3. Brown eyes
4. Pronounced eyebrows
5. Straight nose
6. Pink skin tone

STOLJAR: RESEMBLANCE NOMINALISM IS THE RIGHT ACCOUNT OF GENDER GROUPS

THE PARTICULARITY ARGUMENT

THE COMPLEXITY ARGUMENT

Intersectionality

Poll


Watch 4:45 to 11:00

Haslanger, Continued

Haslanger, annotated
Ben Barres
Caitlyn Jenner

Haslanger

Article, annotated

Intersex Conditions

Language

• hermaphrodite (outdated)
• intersex
• disorders of sexual development (DSD)
• differences of sexual development (DSD) 
• use the pronouns the person prefers

Avoiding confusion

• Intersex is a biological condition that is medically diagnosed
• Intersex is different from trans, though someone could be both
• Intersex is not a sexual orientation

Incidence 

• Fausto-Sterling's estimate is 17 in 1000 (1.7%)
• others estimate far fewer (e.g. 1 in 2000)
• depends what is counted as an intersex condition

A few kinds of DSDs

1. Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)

• have XY chromosomes
• starting during fetal gestation, body produces testosterone but doesn't have normal receptors for it
• complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS):
• appear female externally (they have female-appearing genitals and have vaginas)
• internally, they have testes and no female internal organs
• not fertile
• mainstream medicine: doctors advise raising as girls, removing inner testes
• Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS)
• People with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome

2. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)

• adrenal problem that can cause intersex condition in people with XX chromosomes
• body produces no cortisol and atypical testosterone 
• XX baby may be born with small penis
• cortisol problem and other issues have to be medically managed
• can usually have children
• mainstream medicine: doctors advise raising as girls, performing surgery
• People  with CAH