The Scene staff
What is gender?
Gender is a social construct based on the assigned norms created by a society. It is distinct from sex in that sex is based on certain characteristics like genitalia, chromosomes and hormone function.
Gender is the social expectation related to sex. I say let’s abolish it.
Gender abolition is the praxis (synthesis of practice and theory) to challenge and dismantle systems of oppression like patriarchy, heteronormativity and hierarchy. It’s a complete departure from the system of gender. No longer will there be male or female, simply people living their lives outside of that social construct.
The term sex itself has a few problems. It categorizes people based on a few traits, but why do those traits determine our categories? Why is gender a core to identity when it’s an artificial thing that doesn’t exist and was created by humans? Why do we accept these lines of sex and gender?
In psychology, a common phenomenon related to gender is called “grouping.” The Gestalt school of philosophy discusses how we as humans have to group together stimuli for us to understand the world. While grouping may be inevitable, we as individuals don’t have to assimilate into those categories.
Gender has its roots in patriarchy. To oppress, you have to categorize the oppressor and the oppressed. People decided that observable features like genitalia would divide society into two, men and women. Men systematically oppressed women and made them subjugated to men’s will.
Gerda Lerner, a historian and author, wrote in her book “The Creation of Patriarchy,” that:
“The appropriation by men of women’s sexual and reproductive capacity occurred prior to the formation of private property and class society. Its commodification lies, in fact, at the foundation of private property.
“Gender is the catalyst that allowed men to justify their subjugation of women. They could dehumanize women by separating them into a distinct other.”
American philosopher Judith Butler, while not being a gender abolitionist, talks about how the idea of gender constrains identity, saying:
“There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its ‘results.’”
Butler is essentially saying that gender identity is retroactively constructed by the continued performance or expression of gendered behavior.
Philosopher and feminist writer Shulamith Firestone wrote in her book, “The Dialectic of Sex,” that:
“The end goal of feminist revolution must be … not just the elimination of male privilege but of the sex distinction itself; genital differences between human beings would no longer matter culturally.”
Firestone touches on gender abolition as an extension of feminism, demonstrating gender’s link to misogyny but also as the end goal of feminism.
“That’s great, but it sounds awfully utopian,” you may be thinking. While the end goal may seem utopian, there are still steps you can take to reject the constructs of gender in your own life.
First, you can experiment with gender expression, trying different hairstyles not associated with your identity or wearing different clothing and using different mannerisms. Anyone can challenge the notions of gender directly by changing how they appear.
Second, you can change your language and what pronouns you use. Try experimenting with other pronouns like they/them, or if you want to really challenge societal norms, you could try using neo-pronouns.
Neo-pronouns are not typical pronouns (for example fae/faer). While these pronouns are harder for most people to understand, in that confusion you may be able to get them to evaluate gender and their relationship to it.
If you would like to go further and truly embody the highest version of this idea, then you could reject pronouns altogether, asking to only be referred to by name. Some people will choose not to respect your choice, but many will attempt it. In their attempt, it will make them evaluate their use of language.
Third, you can evaluate and deconstruct how you fit into the societal roles associated with your gender. What behaviors are associated with your gender identity? Are these behaviors useful to your life and your perception of yourself?
In fighting the construct of gender, we give ourselves more freedom to express ourselves. We fight against systems that have long oppressed us, and we get to decide who we are by breaking down the illusions created by society and history.