Gender System

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews part of the vast literature exploring the dichotomy of our gender system as a means of disrupting a paradigm that can no longer be upheld. It begins by evaluating a feminist reading of ancient philosophy that purports to show that the male/female dichotomy is analogous to the philosophical mind/body split. It then shows how such a dichotomy can be readily shattered in the case of intersexual infants and how such instances, as they manifest themselves in the real world, effectively show that the gender dichotomy is a social construct. The paper then explores gender's intersections with key issues of sexuality, as they emerge in the work of such authors as J. Butler and E.K. Sedgwick. Finally, the paper looks at the autobiographical narratives of a number of women who have had lived experience of the problems posed by the gender dichotomy.

From the Paper:

"While Spelman argues against the conceptualization of women as being on the inferior end of the mind/body dichotomy, she nevertheless ends her argument by asserting that the mind/body split can still be a useful intellectual paradigm. This conclusion is shattered by the analysis of such writers as Fausto-Sterling (2000). Fausto-Sterling explores the subject of intersexuality - that is, infants who are born with ambiguous genitalia that poses a direct threat to the socially constructed norms of gender. These infants are neither female nor male, and often become the subject of corrective surgeries at a young age to "normalize" their bodies and transform them into one of the properly (i.e. socially) defined genders. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bornstein, K. (1995). Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us. New York: Vintage.
• Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.
• Clausen, J. (1999). Apples and Oranges: My Journey to Sexual Identity. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). The Five Sexes, Revisited. The Sciences, July/August 2000, 18-23.
• Foucault, M. (1990). The History of Sexuality: An Introduction. New York: Vintage.

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