Ashna Gupta: Philosophy and Gender Blog

 In Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory , Judith Butler discusses the idea that the social construct of gender can be used for political strategies. Gender is a series of acts that are repeated in order to formulate one's identity, and it can change over time. Some of these acts may be done in the name of representing women, yet they may still be politically motivated.  Butler raises an interesting point when she says that if people want to change the status of women in society, they must first "determin[e] whether the category of woman is socially constructed in such a way that to be a woman is, by definition, to be in an oppressed situation" (Butler, 523). She argues that political interests mainly create the social construct of gender in itself, and that feminists should investigate the construction of gender in order to examine how oppression shapes how women are perceived. On one hand, eradicating the term women s

     Transgender individuals are more likely to face violence, poverty, mental health issues, homelessness, and unemployment compared to the general U.S. population. The statistics mentioned in the 2015 Report of the U.S. Transgender Survey Executive Summary that related to the school experience for transgender folks were alarming, as over three quarters "of those who were out or perceived as transgender at some point between Kindergarten and Grade 12 (K-12) experienced some form of mistreatment, such as being verbally harassed, prohibited from dressing according to their gender identity, [or] disciplined more harshly..." (James et. al, 2016). I would hope that as a person gets older they would become more accepting of all gender identities despite any differences between themselves and others. I expected the percentage from K-12 to college to decrease, because I assumed that a person would be more likely to reject discriminatory views once they are no longer under the influe