In their 1990 book Gender TroubleĀ¹, Judith Butler argues that gender is performative: its norms develop through mimesis, as well as subversion, of various body and linguistic acts, ultimately creating the illusion of fixed gender identities. As the title indicates, they wish to demonstrate the complicated and fluid nature of gender, which has historically been simplified to biological essentialism. This follows a feminist tradition which has been critical of how biology has been utilised in the oppression of women and, in more recent literature, sexual minorities. I believe this scepticism is well-founded and has lead to women and queer people's emancipation. However, this should not lead to antibiologism: it is possible to engage with biology in ways that aren't essentialist. As such, I would argue that further engagement with sexual dimorphism would benefit gender studies.
How might theories of gender performativity be supplemented with a study of biology, evolutionary drives and sexual difference? First, I will discuss how gender is both performative and biologically driven. Next, I will look at how studying biological sex is necessarily complicated as it is enmeshed with performativity. Lastly, I will argue why sexual difference is nevertheless relevant to gender studies.
Judith Butler opens Gender TroubleĀ with Simone de Beauvoir's famous quote from The Second Sex "One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one"Ā². De Beauvoir rejected the notion of an "eternal feminine"Ā³, instead positing that femininity is something which is taught and replicated.Ā Butler expands upon this idea, linking it to J.L. Austinās theory of performative utterances - forms of speech which perform actions in themselvesā“. Butler argues that in invoking gender, a set of expectations is placed upon us. Throughout our lives, we replicate, reiterate and deviate from these norms.
āSuch norms are not simply imprinted on us, [ā¦] in the sense of strictly determining who we are. Rather, they inform the lived modes of embodiment we acquire over time, and those very modes of embodiment can prove to be ways of contesting those norms, even breaking with them.āāµ
For Butler, gender is not so much something that we are, but rather something that we do. And in performing gender, we constantly redefine the normative. Intuitively, for instance, I have a sense of how I should and shouldn't present myself in order to be perceived as masculine - to not cross my legs, to regulate my voice, to not be too expressive in my gestures... Yet as an open queer person, I'm actually afforded a relative amount of leeway regarding these norms, since I don't have to pass as straight all the time. This is not to say gender norms aren't felt by queer people, as a way to be taken seriously, as a means of safety or to feel attractive - the ubiquity of the term #masc4mascā¶ on gay hookup/dating sites (masculine men looking exclusively for other masculine men) indicates otherwise. On the other hand, queer culture demonstrates how performativity is in flux: drag culture appropriates, subverts and celebrates these norms. This culture, alongside the inability to follow heterosexual "happiness scripts"ā·, has made it so that for many queer people, the idea of gender performativity is practically a given.
More generally, I would argue that contemporary western society now acknowledges it to a certain degree, though that at has not always been the case. De Beauvoir's early writings on the topic were revolutionary as they opposed ideas of sexual essentialism which dictated that women were inherently inferior to men - rather than having historically been subjugated. But though we have made many strides, the idea cannot be overstated. Queer and trans people continue to experience disproportionate levels of violence. According to stonewall.org.uk, "two-thirds (64%) of LGBTQ+ people had experienced anti-LGBT+ violence or abuse"āø. In acknowledging the performativity of heteronormative gender, we recognise how its norms are somewhat arbitrary. And in openly embracing non-normative ways of performing gender, we allow for new ways of safely inhabiting the world.
As discussed, the role performativity plays in the construction of gender identities is significant. But I would argue that performativity is not the only force at play in our experiences of gender. If we look at other animals, they too have behavioural differences between the sexes, yet don't share our ability for self determinationā¹. This would imply sexual determinism plays a substantial role in their behaviour. Neurology shows that from birth, human brains on average are more developed in certain areas than others depending on the person's sexĀ¹ā°. Interestingly, research indicates that binary transgender people's brains tend to look more like that of the sex they were not born with, even before transitionĀ¹Ā¹. Of course, human beings do have the ability to transcend facticity, which is exactly why sexual determinism is a fallacy when speaking about people. So rather than being fatalistic, biology must be viewed in regards to how it affects our our drives, desires and subconscious affects.
Let's consider the following, fairly rudimentary, example. The fundamental difference between the sexes in mammals is that females produce a small amount of large reproductive cells, whereas males produce a large amount of small ones. How might this information help us understand human social patterns? Angus Bateman argues that, since the ovaries demand more time and energy to be produced, females evolved to be more selective regarding who they mate with, in order to ensure the survival of their offspring. Males on the other hand, will have evolved to inseminate as many females as possible to maximise the survival of their own offspring, as they do not have the same resource scarcityĀ¹Ā². This would imply higher promiscuity in men, which appears to play out among humans. According to the Natsal 2012 reportĀ¹Ā³, British men averaged at 11.7 opposite-sex sexual partners whereas British women averaged at 7.7 (ages 16-44).
An inquiry into sexual difference can therefore help us better understand differences in men and women's behaviour - an analysis which gender theory might benefit from. There is a caveat to this though: one might just as well analyse such statistics through the lens of gender performativity. Indeed, a 2019 meta-analysis found that "people on average still clearly have traditional cognitions about [sexual double standards], in particular with regard to men and women having casual sex"Ā¹ā“. As such, one might argue that these statistics simply reflect our biased views on promiscuity, which has traditionally been far harsher towards women.
This is the first problem we encounter when trying to study the sociological effects of sexual difference. Since our experience of sex is so bound up in culture, how can we distinguish between biological and social influences? In my view, it's impossible to fully differentiate the effects of nature and nurture; especially in regards to sex, which isn't fully developed at birth. It's also important to note that sex is not as much of a binary as we often consider. As sexologist Anne Fausto-Sterling argues, "both sex and gender are in part social constructs. But they take place in the body, and so are simultaneously biological"Ā¹āµ. Her work primarily focuses on intersex people and the socio-medical stigmatisation they endure due to the sex-binary social construct. This has lead to many intersex infants undergoing unnecessary 'normalising' surgery - a phenomenon which Amnesty International considers a human rights violation. In a study she conducted with Brown University, she "estimated intersexual birthrates to be about 1.7%"Ā¹ā¶, though this figure has been disputedĀ¹ā·. Regardless, in discussing sexual difference it is important not to ignore intersex experiences, as they indicate that sex is more fluid than we often think of it. As Malin Ah-King and Eva Hayward explore, sex hormones are in constant reaction to our environments, a phenomenon which is increasing due to pollution and climate changeĀ¹āø. This sexual fluidity must be accounted for in non-essentialist philosophies of sex.
Biology holds other biases too. Transphobic discourse routinely weaponises "biology", conflating biological sex and gender identity in order to misgender and attack trans people. And though the natural sciences have allowed many trans people to be emancipated from their gender dysphoria through gender confirmation surgery, they continue to face medical discriminationĀ¹ā¹. Regarding psychology, it was only in 2013 that the DSM-5 removed "gender identity disorder" from its list of mental illnessesĀ²ā°. And though neurological research could help us better understanding transgenderism, some trans activists worry it might become a further medical roadblock.
Furthermore, the natural sciences have a long history of misogyny. The birth of Western rationality was coupled with a devaluing of women's labour and a crackdown on their bodily autonomy. During the middle ages, medicine was one of the few domains where women were allowed to work, primarily as midwives, and it was commonplace in rural communities for women to share medicinal knowledgeĀ²Ā¹. But by the early Renaissance, due to growing fears of population decline and political ambitions, women's reproductive health and midwifery were put on trial. The Malleus Maleficarum, one of the primary treatises for the contemporary witch trials, issues the following indictment.
"No one does more harm to the Catholic Faith than midwives. For when they do not kill children, then, as if for some other purpose, they take them out of the room and, raising them up in the air, offer them to devils."Ā²Ā²
Silvia Federici discusses how this vilification lead to the increased policing of midwives by the state, "to check, for instance, that [women] did not hide their pregnancies or deliver children out of wedlock"Ā²Ā³, as well as "the entrance of the male doctor into the delivery room"Ā²ā“ and "the first male midwives"Ā²āµ. As she argues, this was not simply another "case of female de-professionalization"; "midwives were marginalized because they were not trusted, and because their exclusion from the profession undermined women's control over reproduction"Ā²ā¶. This coincided with a culture which demeaned women's morality and intelligence (see figure 1Ā²ā·) and depicted female medicine as irrational in opposition to the that of the male doctor (figure 2Ā²āø).
This has lead many feminists to be sceptical of biology. In Gayle Rubin's seminal essay 'Thinking Sex', which Butler describes as having "set the methodology for feminist theory, then the methodology for lesbian and gay studies"Ā²ā¹ she explores cultural biases and prejudices we have towards sex - both as an act and as part of our biology - arguing for the separation of sex and gender. In a speech given at Duke University's 2008 Feminist Theory Workshop, Elisabeth Wilson argues that though Rubin's work was a necessary and valuable launchpad for contemporary feminism, it also instilled a culture of antibiologism. Wilson looks at the following quote from Rubinās essay.
"Human sexuality is not comprehensible in purely biological terms. Human organisms with human brains are necessary for human cultures, but no examination of the body or its parts can explain the nature and variety of human social systems."Ā³ā°
Wilson agrees with the former part of this statement, but takes issue with the latter. The first sentence is "uncontentious, if we keep the focus on the word 'purely' [...] but then again, nothing is comprehensible in purely biological terms"Ā³Ā¹. She finds the rest of the quote contentious though, both for its lack of empirical backing and in terms of logical sense. Just because an examination of the body won't tell us everything about human socialisation does not mean it can't tell us something about it. Yet, Wilson argues, for much of contemporary feminism, most notably "Judith Butler [...] and Eve Sedgwick"Ā³Ā² this antibiologist methodology is the "ignition that gets the car running"Ā³Ā³. In Gut Feminism, Wilson argues that biology is therefore potentially threatening to feminism.
"Because antibiologism has done such important authorizing work for feminist theory, any intervention that takes a nonparanoid approach to biological and pharmaceutical claims is likely to breach long-standing, dearly held feminist convictions."Ā³ā“
This allows us to better understand how taboos around biology continue to permeate within feminism. Why, then, should gender studies engage with biological sex?
As we have seen in the previous section, our relation to sex is necessarily steeped in culture; it cannot be isolated from it. Furthermore, in discussing biological predispositions, there are endless exceptions to anything you posit. Like any theory of gender, such explorations cannot be applied with authority to the individual, who is awarded autonomy. However, when looking at statistics and averages, we may analyse sexual difference to understand peopleās behaviours. Such an endeavour might put into question fundamental tenets of contemporary feminism. But it is ultimately a productive force in better understanding the complexity of sex and gender.
Firstly, there are political incentives to exploring sexual difference. Luce Irigaray explores how conversations which claim to be neutral often treat the masculine and male as default. For example, she observes that girl's subjectivities are underdeveloped in psychoanalysis: "any theory of the 'subject' will have always been appropriated as 'masculine'"Ā³āµ This devalues femininity, so that in order to be taken seriously women often have to present themselves as non-feminine. The Ć©criture inclusive movement in France, which wishes to replace default masculinity in the French language with more inclusive grammarĀ³ā¶, highlights how this bias plays out in language. Thus, Irigaray wants us to move away from a phallocentric society of sexual hierarchy to one of sexual difference. Pragmatically, politics of sexual difference may concern themselves with workers' rights. Regarding parental leave, we should acknowledge the toll pregnancy has on women's bodies. To expect (cisgender) women to return to work at the same time as men would be unjust. Countries therefore have different policies depending on your sex. In France, for example, paternal/partner leave lasts 25 daysĀ³ā·, whereas maternal leave lasts 16 weeks (112 days), 6 of which are before giving birthĀ³āø. Though trade unions are right in demanding we extend partner leave, a policy which was put in place in France in July 2021, it would be unfair to criticise the state for prioritising women (we should, however, criticise these policies for their ambiguity regarding trans people - most notably trans men who wish to give birth).
But politics should not be the only reason we concern ourselves with sexual difference. Though gender studies should engage with politics, this cannot undermine its philosophical aspirations to understand gender. Sexual difference is not anodyne: it affects our sense of self, how we move around the world and how we relate to others. The natural sciences can answer many questions regarding biological sex, but it is philosophy's job to explore those regarding the psychoanalytic, ontological and phenomenological dimensions of sexual difference. As such, were there no political incentives to look at sexual difference, it would still be relevant. And even if, as Wilson argues, such endeavours have a "capacity for harm", we still ought to engage with sexual difference to better understand the human condition. In that light, I wouldĀ like to close this essay with a small selection of questions which might concern future philosphical endeavours. In doing so, I hope to point towards the scope of interest in sexual difference and to engender further explorations on the topic.
Regarding time: How does the cyclical nature of menstruation affect women's awareness the passage of time? How does this affect their relation to the abject, borders and mortality?
Regarding the Self: What are the links between our brain chemistry and the body we feel comfortable in/those we are attracted to? How does being attracted to people who share the same sex as you affect your relation to yourself? What can we learn from transgender individuals' relation to their bodies regarding the mind/body connection?
Regarding the Other: We tend to define our sexuality quite rigidly in regards to the bodies we are attracted to. To what extent does biological sex actually play a role in sexual attraction? How does gender presentation affect our relation to others' bodies? Might there be more fluidity in sexual attraction than we tend to concede?
To conclude, gender is constructed both performatively and through sexual biology. As such, I disagree with philosophies such as gender abolitionism which would "say no to a positive embrace of gender [and] want to see it gone". As Rachel Williams concurs, "if gender is a system of signs that operate on difference, then gender will never go away because differences will never go away". We may elucidate, deconstruct and expand our conception of gender towards one that is not dimorphic but "multidimensional" but the role sexual difference plays in our identities, and thus gender, cannot be fully transcended.
I hope to have made the case for further studying biological sex in gender studies in a non-essentialist manner, so as to better understand all aspects of gender. This plays into a larger discussion about interdisciplinarity between the sciences and humanities: in my view, sexual biology should be one of the first things that are taught in gender studies courses. This would allow feminists to better articulate the relation between sex and gender but also be better equipped against the ways biology continues to be co-opted by anti-feminists.
Notes
1. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of IdentityĀ (New York: Routledge, 1989).
2. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. by Constance Borde (new York: Penguin Random House, 2015), p. 330.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
4. J.L. Austin, How To Do Things With Words: The William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955Ā (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975).
5. Judith Butler, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of AssemblyĀ (Harvard: āHarvard University Press, 2015), p.29.
6. Jeremy Helligar, āWhy āMasc4Mascā Isn't Necessarily Self-Hating And Anti-Gayā, HuffPost, 9Ā June 2017 <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-masc4masc-isnt-necessarily-self-hating-and-anti_b_5939f417e4b0b65670e56926> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
7. Sara Ahmed, The Promise of HappinessĀ (Durham [NC]: Duke University Press, 2010), p.59.
8. Stonewall, āLGBTQ+ Facts and Figuresā <https://www.stonewall.org.uk/cy/node/24594> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
9. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, āSexual Behavior' <https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/sexual-behavior> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
10. Bruce Goldman, āHow Men's and Women's Brains Are Differentā, Stanford MedicineĀ <https://stanmed.stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mens-and-womens-brains-are-different.html> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
11. Brain and Spine Team, āResearch on the Transgender Brain: What You Should Knowā, Cleveland Clinic, 27Ā March 2019 <https://health.clevelandclinic.org/research-on-the-transgender-brain-what-you-should-know/> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
12. A.Ā J.Ā Bateman, āIntra-Sexual Selection in Drosophilaā, Heredity, 2.3: (December 1948), 349ā68 <https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1948.21>.
13. National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, āSexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in Britain: Highlights From Natsal-3ā <https://www.natsal.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-04/Natsal-3%20infographics%20(1)_0.pdf> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
14. JoyceĀ J.Ā Endendijk, AnneloesĀ L.Ā vanĀ Baar and Maja DekoviÄ, āHe is a Stud, She is a Slut! A Meta-Analysis on the Continued Existence of Sexual Double Standardsā, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 24.2: (December 2019), 163ā90 <https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868319891310>.
15. Anne Fausto-Sterling, āGender & Sexualityā <http://www.annefaustosterling.com/fields-of-inquiry/gender/> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
16. Ibid.
17. Leonard Sax, āHow common is lntersex? A response to Anne FaustoāSterlingā, Journal of Sex Research, 39.3: (August 2002), 174ā78 <https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552139>.
18. Malin Ah-King and Eva Hayward, āToxic Sexes: Perverting Pollution and Queering Hormone Disruptionā, Anthropocene Curriculum, 20Ā March 2019 <https://www.anthropocene-curriculum.org/contribution/toxic-sexes-perverting-pollution-and-queering-hormone-disruption> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
19. JoshuaĀ D.Ā Safer and others, āBarriers to Healthcare for Transgender Individualsā, Current Opinion in Endocrinology & Diabetes and Obesity, 23.2: (April 2016), 168ā71 <https://doi.org/10.1097/med.0000000000000227>.
20. American Psychiatric Association, āGender Dysphoriaā, Psychiatry.org, 2013 <https://www.psychiatry.org/File Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/DSM/APA_DSM-5-Gender-Dysphoria.pdf> [accessed 7Ā April 2022].
21. Monica Green, āWomen's Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europeā, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14.2: (January 1989), 434ā73 (p. 438) <https://doi.org/10.1086/494516>.
22. Jakob Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, trans. by Montague Summers (Eastford [CT]: Martino Fine Books, 2011), p.Ā 66.
23. Silvia Federici, Caliban and the WitchĀ (London: Penguin Classics, 2021), p.Ā 201.
24. Ibid., p.98.
25. Ibid., p. 201.
26. Ibid., p. 202.
27. Frontispiece to The Parliament of WomenĀ (1646) "The Parliament of women: with the merry laws by them newly enacted; to live in more ease, pomp, pride, and wantonness: but especially that they might have superiority, and domineer over their husbands. With a new way found out by them to cure any old, or new cuckolds, and how both parties may recover their credit and honesty again).", referenced in Federici, p. 117.
28. Title-page to James Primrose, Popular Errours or the Errours of the people in matter of PhysickĀ (London, W. Wisson for Nicholas Bourne 1651), referenced in Federici, p. 100. The British Museum description reads: "the title on a sheet below a cherub at the top; below the title, a sick man in bed is being attended by a doctor, while an angel" restrains a woman quack from intervening".
29.Gayle Rubin and Judith Butler, āSexual Trafficā, Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 6.2+3: (1994), 62ā97 (p.Ā 62).
30. Gayle Rubin, āThinking Sexā, in DeviationsĀ (Durham [NC]: Duke University Press, 2012), pp.Ā 137ā81Ā <https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394068-006>.
31. Elisabeth Wilson and Duke Women's Studies, Keynote Address at the 2008 Feminist Theory Workshop, online video recording, YouTube, 24Ā May 2010 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-dJR4ptTHY> [accessed 8Ā April 2022], 12:18.
32. Ibid., 4:35.
33. Ibid., 11:24.
34. ElizabethĀ A.Ā Wilson, Gut FeminismĀ (Durham [NC]: Duke University Press Books, 2015), p.Ā 4.
35. Luce Irigaray, Speculum of the Other Woman, trans. by GillianĀ C.Ā Gill (Ithaca [NY]: Cornell University Press, 1985), p.Ā 133.
36. Mark Liberman, āĆcriture inclusiveā, Language Log, 9Ā October 2017 <https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=34912> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].
37. MinistĆØre du Travail, de l'Emploi et de l'Insertion, āLe congĆ© de paternitĆ© et dāaccueil de lāenfantā, 1Ā July 2021 <https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/droit-du-travail/les-absences-pour-maladie-et-conges-pour-evenements-familiaux/article/le-conge-de-paternite-et-d-accueil-de-l-enfant> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].
38. Ibid., āLe congĆ© de maternitĆ©ā, 6Ā December 2010 <https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/droit-du-travail/les-absences-pour-maladie-et-conges-pour-evenements-familiaux/article/le-conge-de-maternite> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].
39. Alyson Escalante, āGender Nihilism: An Anti-Manifestoā, libcom.org, 22Ā June 2016 <https://libcom.org/article/gender-nihilism-anti-manifesto-alyson-escalante> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].
40. Rachel Williams, āThe Promise and Failure of Gender Nihilismā, 4Ā December 2016 <https://transphilosopher.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/the-promise-and-failure-of-gender-nihilism/> [accessed 8Ā April 2022].
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