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Gender abolitionism is a movement that advocates for the eventual elimination of gender, and by extension, gender roles, gender identity, and gender expression, and even sexual orientation. Originating within the radical feminist framework, the belief has also been embraced by certain Marxist theorists who believe gender differentiation to be the basis of class. Proponents of gender abolitionism argue that gender, rather than class, constitutes the primary contradiction in society contributing to the oppression of women.
Criticism
In their book Transgender Warriors, which offers "a fresh look at sex and gender in history and the interrelationships of class, nationality, race, and sexuality", Leslie Feinberg responds to the gender abolitionist position, noting how proponents tend to believe LGBT+ are a product of oppression and they will cease to exist once society is liberated. Feinberg finds this idea unhelpful to LGBT+, as it "renders all our trans identities meaningless", and argues instead that passing is a product of oppression,[1] which was imposed by the the Catholic Church as part of the rise of capitalism and settler colonialism, and served to erase diverse gender expression in order to weaken communal ties and subdue communities to the private property interests of the Church.[2] Feinberg also says that gender expression cannot be caused exclusively by biology nor by culture.[3]
See also
Gender Abolitionism is Inherently Transphobic, essay by Prolewiki editor, Annamarx
- ↑ “Today, although the authentic stories of their lives have been lost to us, many people speculate about those individuals, and why they chose to pass. My life is subject to the same conjecture.
"No wonder you've passed as a man! This is such an anti-woman society," a lesbian friend told me. To her, females passing as males are simply trying to escape women's oppression—period. She believes that once true equality is achieved in society, humankind will be genderless. I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't predict human behavior in a distant future. But I know what she's thinking—if we can build a more just society, people like me will cease to exist. She assumes that I am simply a product of oppression. Gee, thanks so much.
[...]
I have lived as a man because I could not survive openly as a transgendered person. Yes, I am oppressed in this society, but I am not merely a product of oppression. That is a phrase that renders all our trans identities meaningless. Passing means having to hide your identity in fear, in order to live. Being forced to pass is a recent historical development.
It is passing that is a product of oppression.”
Leslie Feinberg (1996). Transgender Warriors. [LG] - ↑ “Several of these saints paid dearly for their renunciation of their birth sex, and all of them had to keep their change of sex secret. In cooperative societies, transgender, transsexual, and intersexual people lived openly, with honor. But in a class-divided society like medieval Western Europe, the Church's legends of the female-to-male saints introduced the concept of "passing"—being forced to hide a trans identity.”
Leslie Feinberg (1996). Transgender Warriors. [LG] - ↑ “I don't take a view that an individual's gender expression is exclusively a product of either biology or culture. If gender is solely biologically determined, why do rural women, for example, tend to be more "masculine" than urban women? On the other hand, if gender expression is simply something we are taught, why has such a huge trans segment of the population not learned it? If two sexes are an immutable biological fact, why have so many societies recognized more than two? Yet while biology is not destiny, there are some biological markers on the human anatomical spectrum. So is sex a social construct, or is the rigid categorization of sexes the cultural component? Clearly there must be a complex interaction between individuals and their societies.”
Leslie Feinberg (1996). Transgender Warriors. [LG]