Essay Example on Feminist Analysis of Gender Concepts: Examining the Concept of a Man

Over time various feminist philosophers have strived to develop analyses of different gender concepts by focusing on the idea of a woman. It is not an easy task as women seem not to possess a single property or element that tends them to be considered to be universal. It is evident that women as well belong to oppressed groups in society like women of color, social class women as well as marginalized women. Hence Sally Haslanger develops a conceptual analysis of the concept of a man that can help solve the issue of inclusion. She employs Ameliorative inquiries as she invites feminists to the most useful concept off a woman that tends to prevent gender injustice in society. According to Haslanger, a woman is defined as a socially subordinate being by the respect of the presumed female sex, and the concept tends to ignore the problem of inclusion as all women oppressed are included as subservient.

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For Haslanger, being a gendered woman, entails occupying a hierarchical role in society based on one's sex anatomy (Haslanger, 2019). Hence its analyses the aspect that defines gender from the perspective of as social class. Gender can be well illustrated through the definition of the function of a woman in society. A woman is observed to possess specific bodily characteristics presumed to perform a biological function of reproduction. A woman is an individual who occupies a subordinate position and tends to play a role that is oppressive on the overall dimension of subordination. Hence one is a woman if she functions as a woman, whereas men are people who are privileged based on bodily features that play a male role in the reproduction process. The target concept leaves open the position s women to occupy as it does not analyze the particular experiences of women concerning culture, class as well as race.

Oppression is a paramount factor that must be considered concerning gender since sometimes non-oppressed women tend to be marginalized. Haslanger views that the analytical project concerns similarities and differences in the female that tend to be significant, but keeping in mind the analysis of gender will serve as a primary tool for justice in the society. The perfect strategy for gender definition relates to women's subordinate position as well as the women's oppression experiences. Hence there are three principles upon which gender can be clearly understood. Gender is primarily defined in terms of how an individual is socially positioned in the society, therefore, relates to how an individual is viewed, treated, as well as how one's lifestyle is structured legally economically and socially.

Gender has a hierarchical definition within oppression relations as women are positioned to be subordinate to men within the variations of economic and social oppression. Sexual differences are significant as they act as a physical marker in making a distinction of gender, and this justifies the treating of people differently in society (Haslanger, 2019). Through the definition of gender, the main political aim is to curb the existing social categories by preventing the social injustices that do exist. According to Haslenger's descriptions, it becomes a challenge to define whether a particular individual is a man or woman. Many people tend to qualify the first and second definition and indeed occupy oppression positions in society. It implies that the primary goal of the descriptions is to fight the level of inequalities between the male and female in society.

As well as Talia Mae Better has developed various concepts about the nature of gender and argues that the dominant models that focus on trans sexuality are misguided, which is the Wrong body model and Transgender model. As a result, a model is developed that is the multiple meaning views that enable trans people who desire to fit into the different binaries of man and woman to do so without being prevented. It is significant to take into consideration the Trans communities in the definition of gender rather than a general view of a man and woman. The light enables the Trans people to stop accommodating themselves to dominant groups of gender. The look of Tran sexuality is based on the concept that women are generally trapped in male bodies, and it's a wrong body model. Still, Tran sexuality focuses on gender identity and the sexed body (Bettcher, 2017). It is based on the idea that one's sex is innate, and identification can be achieved through surgical procedures that aligns one's body features with the regarded identity. Due to the challenges of the models, Talia Mae provides an alternative view of whether; a person is a man or woman. As well proposes of the concept of trans people, and it means all individuals who tend to give an identity as a gender than the one assigned when they were born which includes trans women as they are identified to be male at birth but later identified as women individuals in the society

Single Meaning Position

A woman is defined as an adult female human being, and a man as an adult man being, and this implies the differences are biological. But many feminists argue that a woman has a social role or status in society. Then it means an alternative analysis of a woman must be done. It is difficult to define a female or male in case of the multiple features of sex determination like genital reproduction and hormone levels as well as gonadal structure. Hence, in this case, it seems complicated to define the gender of a person, whether male or female. Accordingly, to identify gender single meaning position is developed due to resemblance ness, for instance, where people are regarded as trans women as they meet certain conditions to be qualified as a woman; hence the definition of gender is achieved. One can base the definition of a woman of some characteristics like possession of surgically altered genitalia; hormone levels accordingly claim to be a woman as well as having karyotype, and birth genitalia support manhood.

Semantic Conceptualism

It is a concept whereby a woman tends to operate in an indexical manner as a specific type of context must determine its content. It is based on the idea that, for instance, a context D1 in which similarities involve self-identification of a woman and another context D2 whereby the similarities do have XX Chromosomes, then it's evident that any trans woman will be counted as a woman hence gender definition of an individual. In the trans community environment, gender terms like women are altered, and cultural practices of gender do differ and dictate the definition of a woman.

The concepts of both philosophers tend to give the nature of gender, but Haslenger's target concept of the woman tends to ignore the idea of trans women's gender characteristics; thus, the ideas of Talia seem to be more defensible given that she identifies trans women population in the definition of gender. Gender includes all categories of women who must be involved due to feminism concepts.

Conclusion

Gender is an issue that has been in the limelight by many scholars, and different concepts have risen concerning their definitions. For Haslengers, the description is based on three prepositions that are conceptual, analytical as well as descriptive manner. Talia tries to oppose the dominant models of Transsexuality by considering trans women individuals regarding the definition of gender. She argues that some people pose multiple characteristics at birth that must be identified to constitute the ones that can support the gender of either being manhood or womanhood. People undergo correctional surgery do to multiple characteristics at birth. As well semantic conceptualism is very important as the composition context of an individual defines the gender that exists. Indeed a woman is a person who is marginalized in many societies when having a view on the social position as they tend to be low and thus high levels of inequalities. The definitions of gender are aimed toward addressing the problem of inequality and injustice in society and give awareness that gender equality should be enhanced in any community to create a conducive environment for each human being.

References

Bettcher, T. (2017). Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments. Philosophy Compass, 12(11), e12438. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12438

Haslanger, S. (2019). Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?. Nous, 34(1), 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1111/0029-4624.00201