Feminist Theory Friday: Social Construction and Gender

“... the framework we have for understanding this bit of the world is “not inevitable” and is in some sense “up to us.” This matters because we have a way of making reality conform to our idea of it, and if we are unhappy with the reality, it is useful to know if it is the way it is because we have made it so, or because there is no reasonable or realistic alternative.” Sally Haslanger, “Social Construction: Gender and Other Social Categories”.

Today’s article - the one kicking off this new series - is written by Dr. Sally Haslanger, a feminist philosopher who teaches at MIT. You can find the full text of the article linked in the quote above. The article for this week explores a perspective that gender (the way in which we know ourselves to be women/men/both/neither/etc) is socially constructed; in other words, that it’s something which is ‘made up’ rather than existing as an innate or unchangeable category.

There are clearly lots of perspectives on this. Here are two articles which discuss Dr. Haslanger’s position on gender as something socially constructed.

https://www.feministcurrent.com/2015/05/08/feminist-theory-fridays-haslanger-social-constructivism-and-unpacking-gender-abolition/

http://feministing.com/2009/04/23/the_social_construction_of_gen/

And, if you’re very keen on her work, here’s a link to a further article of Dr. Haslanger’s which explores similar themes.

What questions arise for you while reading this article? New thoughts, new words, disagreements? I’d love to hear.