Ashna Gupta: Philosophy and Gender Blog

Image Credit In Serano's book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, the relationship between sexism, feminism, masculinity, and transsexual activism is discussed.  Serano highlights that "most of the anti-trans sentiment that I have had to deal with as a transsexual woman is probably better described as misogyny", and I found it interesting that she was ridiculed more for her femininity rather than an inability to conform to gender norms (Serano, 3).  I can see how misogynists would assume that everyone wants to be a man because they believe men are superior to women, and as a result, they mock transgender women for their feminine qualities.  I never realized that the choice tr anssexual women make when they choose to be women actually challenges preconceived beliefs in our society, as societal norms promote masculinity and adore men as they are in a higher power position. If society assumes that men and masculinity are superior,

    Image Credit The philosopher Asta Sveinsdottir discusses the construction of social categories in her book The Categories We Live By . Some people are unaware of the social categories they have in their every day lives, such as being an American if one lives in the United States, while other social categories such as skin color may play a larger role in one's life if they are a person of color living in an area with mostly white people. Asta states that many of these social categories provide special protections for certain groups of people while mistreating others. She proposes the conferralist theory in which a social category is “defined by a social property”, and an individual’s social property is “a property that someone has conferred on them by others” (Asta, 2). This property implies a social status that gives a person a disadvantage or advantage, and these properties can eventually have significant social implications. An example of a social property leading to social s