According to biological theories, psychological and behavioral gender differences. Cultural essentialism is the practice of categorizing groups of people within a culture, or from other cultures, according to essential qualities. However, gender essentialism is not supported by evidence. In the family, women are the natural homemakers, while men are the traditional breadwinners each generation learns to perform these complementary roles by means of gender role socialization essence of masculinity for men is competitiveness, whereas for women it is. The assumption made by pure essentialism and by every other theory considered in this paper is that children actually make the inferences that follow from their essentialist theories. There is no original or primary gender a drag imitates, but gender is a kind of. In contrast to gender essentialism, which views differences between men and women as innate, universal, and immutable, social constructionism views gender as created and influenced by society and culture, which differ according to time and place, with roles societally defined as appropriate for a person of a given sex becoming the standard against which members of that sex are measured. Gender, gender difference, gender essentialism, mothering and motherhood are individual fields of study however this thesis provides a sociological exploration of the intersections between these different fields. It is everpresent in conversation, humor, and conflict, and it is called upon to explain everything from driving styles to food preferences. Dec 29, 2016 gender essentialism meaning gender essentialism d. Gender essentialism the social construction of gender and. Poppers opposition toessentialism dates to his open society 1945,also.
One use of a theory of discourse for feminist politics, then, is in understanding social identities in their full sociocultural complexity, thus in demystifying static, single variable, essentialist views of gender identity. I focus primarily on the difference between essentialism about a kind and essentialism about an individual. In this chapter i distinguish among different theories of gender essentialism and sketch out a taxonomy of gender essentialisms. Philosophical critiques of essentialism have been invoked to question the validity of explanatory social theories and methodologies. Psychology of gender essentialism and feminist theories. Gender essentialism is a concept used to examine the attribution of fixed, intrinsic, innate. Gender essentialism is a concept used to examine the attribution of fixed, intrinsic, innate qualities to women and men. Feminist perspectives on sex and gender first published mon may 12, 2008. Essentialism, in ontology, the view that some properties of objects are essential to them. The basic tenet of psychological essentialism is the idea that humans have a core belief that unobservable essences are causally responsible for the surface features behaviors we observe. Given the ubiquitous influence of gender in a persons life, a number of theories have been developed to explain gender development.
Essentialism was presumed to be a negative aspect of feminism. In this theory, there are certain universal, innate, biologically or psychologicallybased features of gender different from sex that are at the root of observed differences in the behavior of men and women. Exploring the relationship between lay theories of gender. However, the argument that social phenomena have relatively stable, durable features. Essentialism and anti essentialism in feminist philosophy. Exposure to scientific explanations for gender differences. From sex roles to gender structure sage publications. In the present studies, we predominantly operationalize essentialist explanations as. The main alternative to gender essentialism is the theory of the social construction of gender. If gender essentialism is more likely to have an adverse effect on female than male. Note what happened to larry summers, then president of harvard, when he suggested that the scarcity of women in science and engineering might be because of gender differences in intrinsic aptitude. Gender theories 1 two basic types biological essentialist.
Unlike the arguments i discuss in the body of this paper, my concern is neither with the truth of essentialism in general nor with the dangers of gender essential. Essentialist and social constructionist theories of causes for gender. Existentialism says there is no essence no intrinsic meaning that can be confirmed by the senses or reason. Essentialism and antiessentialism in feminist philosophy. Gender is embedded so thoroughly in our institutions, our actions, our. Gender ideologies, youth sports, and the production of soft. Key concepts hegemonic masculinity patriarchal dividend.
For example, it can be used to justify the idea that jobs traditionally held by women. View notes gender theories 1 from wst 100 at arizona state university. The belief that males and females are born with distinctively different natures, determined biologically rather than culturally. Anti essentialism refutes the idea of anything existing as essential, therefore essential natures of sex and gender, determined by metaphysical concepts. Instead, it is a common system of biases that affect how the world works. The argument here is that any claim that x is a cause of y is equivalent to, or founded on, essentialism in sense 1 above. Gender is biologically determined people are born gay. According to essentialism race, sex, gender, and sexuality are. Critically evaluate the understanding of gender as discourse. This paper identifies and discusses four distinct meanings of essentialism. Uniessentialism is a theory about the unity of individuals, and it holds that individuals. This analysis is intended to facilitate a critique of the argument that defends binary gender as a psychological fact of human nature, including the presupposition that gender is essential in the.
One may think that gender essentialism, the view that gender, masculine and feminine, is produced by essentialized sexual difference, now has no place within antiessentialist thought. As such, the world is divided up into essences from which behaviors can be inferred. These theories can be generally divided into three families. Essentialism is the view that every entity has a set of attributes that are necessary to its identity and function. Gender essentialism is often used to excuse genderbased biases in society. Antiessentialism unites such thinkers as judith butler, naomi zack, cressida heyes, natalie stoljar and julia kristeva, who claim that there is no essence to the category woman. Gender essentialism is the widely discredited and outdated idea that men and women act differently and have different options in life because of intrinsic or essential differences between the sexes. The relationship between lay theories of gender and attitudes to abortion policy has received minimal empirical attention. Nov 12, 2010 in this chapter i distinguish among different theories of gender essentialism and sketch out a taxonomy of gender essentialisms. In other words, gender is not a selfconcept or a social construct under this theory, but instead an externallymeasurable property of a person as determined by specific attributes. Functionalism and essentialism functionalists argue that.
In other words, it is the idea that men and women are fundamentally different for reasons that are unchangeable. Masculinity is defined as sexual dominance, femininity as sexual submissiveness. I propose that there is an interesting and useful form of gender essentialism that pertains to social. It is, in fact, in our political engagements that we are most likely to fall foul of one or other version of essentialism.
Strategic essentialism in reducing gender inequalities. In categories, aristotle similarly proposed that all objects have a substance that, as george lakoff put it, make the thing what it is, and without which it would be not. Definition of essentialism noun the theory that any entity such as an individual, group, object, or concept has innate and universal qualities. In this article, i discuss some of the writings of feminist legal theorists catharine mackinnon and robin west. In feminist theory and gender studies, gender essentialism is the attribution of a. The essentialist aspect of naive theories sciencedirect. Gender ideologies, youth sports, and the production of. I argue that their work, though powerful and brilliant in many ways, relies on what i call gender essentialismthe notion that a unitary, essential womens experi. Essentialism, culture, and beliefs about gender among the. This essay considers how we might come to understand social constructionism sociologically. William blair bell, a british gynecologist, first made this from sex roles to gender structure. Touching down empirically on contemporary professional class youth sports coaches views of children and gender, i identify an ascendant gender ideology i call soft essentialism. I argue that their work, though powerful and brilliant in many ways, relies on what i call gender essentialism the notion that a unitary, essential womens experi. An introduction to gender we are surrounded by gender lore from the time we are very small.
Because one can regard feminist legal theory as a subcategory of feminist theory, this debate can have an impact on feminist legal theory as well. An analysis of essentialism and gender disempowerment forrest t. Social cognitive theory of genderrole development and functioning integrates psychological and sociostructural determinants. It is this tripartite taxonomy that i propose to use to help to clarify the claims of the antiessentialist theories of gender. People who identify as nonbinary explicitly reject the notion of gender essentialism by forgoing either male or female identities. Gender essentialism and occupational segregation in insolvency. It examines a number of related approaches to gender and sexuality that speak to sociological concerns and might be termed social constructionist.
Over the years, the perception of the issue gender has been changing and developing from essentialism to social constructionism. Rubin et al, 1974, interviewed 30 parents and asked them to use adjective pairs to describe their babies. Social cognitive theory of gender role development and functioning integrates psychological and sociostructural determinants. An ongoing theoretical debate in the psychological essentialism literature queries whether biological attributions causally influence social attitudes or primarily function to justify existing attitudinal commitments. Gender transgression and gender transformation attempts to. The views of essentialism and constructivism have been in debate within the literature we have been reading. Functionalism and essentialism functionalists argue that traditional gender roles help to integrate society talcott pearson.
Essentialism and constructivism explaining sex and. As regards gender differences, it is widely thought that girls. Gender essentialism and its resultant disempowerment. Sociologicallyoriented theories emphasize the social construction of gender roles mainly at the institutional level lorber, 1994. Oct 23, 2015 its a pretty aggressive verbal attack to accuse someone of essentialism especially in academia. Apr 11, 2020 gender essentialism and nonbinary genders. William blair bell, a british gynecologist, first made this from sex roles to. It is, in fact, in our political engagements that we are most likely to.
To excuse pure essentialism on the grounds that malts results are a product of confusion, then, is to endorse the following strategy. Gender is a complex issue, constituents of which encompass styles of dressing, patterns of moving as well as ways of talking rather than just being limited to biological sex. Essentialism is the idea that everything has an essence something that makes it, it. There is the idea that there may be an essence, but we cant prove it. Gender essentialism, the attribution of innate qualities to being male or female, and accompanying denial of legitimacy to any state that fails to conform to these rigid, starkly differentiated. In this paper i distinguish among different theories of gender essentialism and sketch out a taxonomy of gender essentialisms. The term is often used pejoratively by constructionists see constructionism, but strategic essentialism is a common activist strategy, and biological essentialism surfaces in the insistence of some feminists that the physical facts of sexual difference do have entailments. In recent years, the debate over essentialism2 has become a central problem in contemporary feminist theory. Catharine mackinnon develops her theory of gender as a theory of sexuality. Essentialism, culture, and beliefs about gender among the aravanis of tamil nadu, india ramaswami mahalingam1 the purpose of this study was to investigate the gender beliefs of the aravanis, a transgender community in tamil nadu. The essence of a thing is conceived as the totality of its essential properties.
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