A WGSS Glossary
- Gender
Halberstam (118) describes gender as a marker of social difference and a bodily performance of normativity alongside the challenges made to it. Gender is also described as the social relation which subjects experience as organic, ingrained, and immutable. Another definition of the concept is a primary mode of oppression that sorts human bodies into binary categories to assign responsibility, labor, and emotional styles and moral attributes. Throughout history, there have been suggestions that gender is a biological fact rather than a cultural invention. This has led some medical scientists to rediscover the relationship between sex and gender. Oudshoorn (07) describes sex as the categories of male and female and the biological characteristics placed in these categories. This concept is important in the world of WGSS because it provides a critical understanding of gender as a cultural convention while establishing the boundary between gender and sex. The concept emphasizes that gender is an extension of the patriarchy that exists in society and which perceives women as second class members of the communities and societies to which they belong. While gender is an important part of humanity, the definition of this concept establishes that it is flawed and oppressive to women. In this regard, it is necessary to redefine gender and eliminate the oppression that comes with it.
- Nation-State
The definition of this term implies that a state and a nation coincide geographically. The concept is a recent one and emphasizes the importance of nationalism and newness in identity. With this concept, women and men began to exist as individuals with different identities rather than belonging to a particular group or clan. Since nation-states are patriarchal, they produce gendered citizens (Kaplan 150). Women and men have different privileges and legal rights although class race and sexuality differentiate how different groups of women can access these rights and privileges (Kaplan 150). For instance, for most of the history women were not allowed the right to vote. After women were granted this right, women of color could still not vote or claim citizenship. Additionally, the concept of the nation-state brought more freedom and independence to women, making it possible for them to oppose the systems of oppression that existed and which still exist (Kaplan 152). This concept is important in the world of WGSS because it highlights the crucial role of the nation-state in the fight for equality between men and women and amongst women from different races. Ultimately, the systems that have been established to govern a nation-state will determine the rights and positions of all women within that nation-state.
- Reproductive Justice
This concept refers to reproductive freedom which goes beyond the abortion debate to include opposition to population control, and sterilization abuse (Kaplan, 103). For a long time in the past and even presently, men, women and the state had tried to exert control, over women’s bodies. As women tried to control how they could reproduce, physicians and industrialists joined hands and established male control over women’s bodies. Abortion was outlawed and sterilization was forcefully used on minority populations such as African American and Asian women (Kafer 161). The lack of reproductive freedom was not only a violation of women’s rights but proof that patriarchal society was unbeneficial and irrelevant to women’s needs. This concept is important in WGSS because it highlights how far women have come in the fight for freedom over their bodies. Women’s liberation activists fought for better birth control knowledge and a repeal of abortion laws as well as the legal and medical control over a woman’s right to control her reproductive nature. While abortion is still illegal in many parts of the world, this concept establishes it as a right that women should be more aware of and at liberty to choose whenever it serves their interests.
- Self-determination
Self-determination promotes respect for all expressions of gender. It gives individuals the right to alter their genders, engage in temporary gender exploration, and sex reassignment. It also allows for the mutilation of gender through surgery, clothing, civil disobedience, and any other means available. The concept emphasizes on individual rights to self-identification, eliminating the role of the state in the same. The concept also resists medical interventions that come from a non-transgender point of view and therefore work to the disadvantage of the transgender group (Spade 30). It also emphasizes how important transgender people need to be involved in legal procedures or policies that involve them. The self-determination concept goes further to establish that gender the legal case involving them, gender identity discrimination rather than disability discrimination laws should be sued. The use of the latter has often led to the treatment of transgender as a disability rather than real gender identity. Self-determination is an important concept in WGSS because it gives every human the right to rediscover and define their sexualities. It recognizes individual differences and expands the notion of freedom and liberty, giving every human a chance to freely express themselves in a manner that suits their social identities.
- Social Constructionism
This is the belief that concepts like gender, race, and sexuality are not entirely natural or solely the product of biology but are instead created through the intersection of political, social, and economic forces that vary over time and across cultures (Vance 29). The social constructionism concept offers many radical possibilities in theorizing about sexuality. It strives for uncertainty by questioning existing assumptions and emphasizes the need to tolerate ambiguity and fluidity. Social constructionism shares that all movements of sexual liberation are based on imagining that things could be different or better on the other side. This imaginative impulse drives people to recreate new rules for themselves with regard to their sexual orientation (Vance 31). By arguing against essentialism the concept recognizes that although sexual identities are socially constructed they are only relevant to the societies or contexts within which they exist. This standpoint discourages the idea of perceiving sexuality as a biological concept that that equally cuts across all historical periods. Critics have argued against social constructionism by accusing it of encouraging the perception that sexual identities are fictional and therefore unreal and easily changeable (Vance 30). In their defense, however, social constructionists have argued that constructed realities do not imply that such realities are unreal to the people living it. Social constructionism is important to WGSS because it broadens the understanding of current and emerging sexual identities. The concept encourages women to take charge of their lives and make decisions that they are comfortable with.
Works Cited
Halberstam, Judith. Gender.
Kaplan. Gendered Identities in Nations and States.
Kafer, Alison. “Accessible Futures, Future Coalitions.” Feminist, Queer, Crip: 149-169.
Oudshoorn, Nelly. “Sex and the Body”. Beyond the natural body: An archaeology of sex hormones. New York: Routledge, 2003. 6-11.
Spade, Dean. “Resisting medicine, re/modeling gender.” Berkeley Women’s LJ 18 (2003): 15-3.
Vance, Carol. “Social construction theory: Problems in the history of sexuality. homosexuality, which homosexuality.” International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Studie Altman et al. London: GMP. 1989.