#gender normativity

Languages are constantly evolving, time for the next stage of evolution - inclusivity!

But we need to understand the problems before we can address them. So, here are some ways in which English enforces gender normativity.

Spotlighting

When an adjective draws attention to a role, that challenges a gender stereotype, this is spotlighting.

Ex. Lady Doctor, Male teacher, Female professor, Female Mechanic, Male Housekeeper

Diminutivisation

This is when diminutive suffixes are added to titles or names.

Ex. author-authoress, master-mistress, poet-poetess

Differential Naming

It is a prevalent practice in which males are referred to by adult titles and females are denied adult recognition.

Ex. Mr. Snape, the men from Durmstrang and the girls from Beauxbatons have gathered at the pier.

Featurism

Featurism is when something like appearance is prioritized in women but not in men. This belittles and undermines women's contributions.

My boyfriend is doing a paper for his intro to cultural anthropology class, and he asked me this question: where would hijres fit on the LGBTQ+ spectrum?

((Hijras are the official third gender recognized in South Asia.))

So my boyfriend and I are trying to figure out the question because it sounds like it’s trying I place a gender of people ((neither completely male or female)) on the sexuality spectrum, and we don’t exactly think of gender as interconnected with sexuality... so

Where would the third gender of intersex people (hijras) fit in the LGBTQ+ community?

“Another girl.”

“Another girl.”

“We need a boy!”

“I know!”

“Oh well, I’m sure she’ll be very cute.”

>:[

Some liberals try to account for the existence of trans people by arguing that gender and “biological sex” are separate, and one can be “biologically female” while being “mentally” a man (or vice versa). TERFs claim gender must be abolished, but that one is either “male” or “female” biologically, determining the “social status” accredited to them, and that going against the designation of “male” or “female” is merely a denial of one’s essential place in society (TERFs thus accuse CAFAB trans people of internalized misogyny, and trans women of denying male privilege and being “female fetishists” or “predators”).

Both of these positions are incredibly paradoxical. On the one hand, TERF ideology alleges that we should do away with “men” and “women” as oppressive constructs, while themselves perpetuating and reifying the restrictive constructs of “female” and “male”--which are rooted and tied to patriarchal conceptions of men and women in the first place. On the other, liberals ignore how the designations “male” and “female” and the biological essentialism tied to these labels are inherently gendered and tied to coercive gendering of trans people, defanging the threat trans people pose to gender normativity.