The Legal Certification of Sex in Belgium over Time. Ideological Effects and Practical Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Aguirre-Sánchez-Beato ◽  
Caroline Closon ◽  
Isabelle Rorive
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
The Way

<p><br />Belgium has recently modified the way ‘sex’ is legally certified for trans* people following the principle of self-determination. However, like in most countries, this modification has not changed the way ‘sex’ is determined for all members of society, being limited to trans* people. How is sex legally certified for different categories of people in Belgium and what are the effects thereof? Drawing on the theoretical perspective of discursive psychology (DP), we consider sex/gender categories as something constructed in discourse – in this case, legislative discourse – and not as an essentialist and pre-discursive reality. Categories are thus an effect of discourse: what discourse accomplishes or constructs. Based on this premise, this paper aims at elucidating the ideological effects and practical implications of the legal certification of sex in Belgium. The effects of the legislative discourse are ideological in the sense that they establish social norms, in this case, regarding sex/gender, leading to practical implications in everyday life. To elucidate these effects, we first identified Belgian civil law on the legal certification of sex since the establishment of Belgium as a sovereign state. We then applied a DP-inspired analytical device comprising a qualitative content analysis and the examination of content variability. The variability of discourse is a key analytical tool to elucidate the effects of discourse since these are not directly observable. The results show that the analysed legislation constructs women and men as natural categories. This is carried out through: 1) the establishment of a distinction between the population at large (unmarked) and those ‘outside the norm’ (marked subjects: ‘transgender’, ‘intersex’); 2) the lack of legal regulation of the attribution of sex markers at birth, being taken for granted; 3) the regulation of the latter only in ‘abnormal cases’ (called ‘children suffering from sexual ambiguity’); and 4) the fact that gender identity is recognised as a criterion for the attribution of sex markers only for trans* people, presented as an exception to the norm. This variability reifies sexual dimorphism and naturalises the correspondence between ‘biological sex’ and gender identity, thereby constituting ‘normative’ and ‘deviant’ sex/gender categories. The results are discussed in light of the practical implications that this legal norm has in everyday life.</p><p> </p>

Gender Identity without Gender Prescriptions

1998 ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Janet C. Wesselius
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Emancipatory Politics ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Susan Bordo

The feminist philosopher Susan Bordo suggests that the dilemma of twentieth-century feminism is the tension between a gender identity that both mobilizes a liberatory politics on behalf of women and that results in gender prescriptions which excludes many women. This tension seems especially acute in feminist debates about essentialism/deconstructionism. Concentrating on the shared sex of women may run the risk of embracing an essentialism that ignores the differences among women, whereas emphasizing the constructed natures of sex and gender categories seems to threaten the very project of a feminist politics. I will analyze the possibility of dismantling gender prescriptions while retaining a gender identity that can be the beginning for an emancipatory politics. Perhaps feminists need not rely on a reified essentialism that elides the differences of race, class, etc., if we begin with our social practices of classification rather than with a priori generalizations about the nature of women.

Anthropological, Social, and Moral Limitations of a Multiplicity of Genders

Hypatia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-47
Author(s):  
Hilge Landweer ◽  
Gertrude Postl
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Complete Dissociation

This work argues from a social-theoretical perspective for the view that every concept of ‘gender’ remains bound to reproduction. As every culture is interested in its continuity, it distinguishes individuals according to their assumed possible contribution to reproduction and so develops a fundamental dual classification. Subsequent gender categories are necessarily derived from this one. The conceptual and empirical arguments for this thesis are illustrated through an imagined dystopia. There I envision under what conditions a complete dissociation of the concepts ‘sex and ‘gender’ from the old dual distinction would be possible and in what way a multiplicity of genders would be accomplished.

Paradoxes of Visibility

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99
Author(s):  
Alejandra Wundram Pimentel ◽  
Mónica Leonardo Segura
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Sex Marker ◽  
Identification Documents ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
The Right

Abstract Identification documents are essential for the recognition of individuals within the nation-state. By denying trans people the right to change the M or the F on these documents, governments perpetuate perceptions of trans people as frauds and of trans bodies as fake. Examining both legal examples and ethnographic data, the article calls attention to the current attempts to formulate a national gender identity law in Guatemala. Doing so, we discuss trans visibility as contentious. Because of the need for social inclusion, including access to services, trans activist organizations work to make trans people visible within the nation-state. At the same time, changing the sex marker on their identification documents could make trans populations more vulnerable to surveillance. Therefore, trans activists seek to ensure that trans individuals' status and history as transgender is rendered invisible in these legal name and sex changes. The article argues that the apparent tension between visibility and invisibility, made evident in the process of drafting the gender identity law, can be understood only in the context of local trans discourses that aim to claim inclusion in normative gender categories through renegotiating the meaning of men and women.

scholarly journals Gender Precarity: Gender Identity and the Economy of Authenticity

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-75
Author(s):  
Benjamin Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Trans People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Trouble

In this paper I examine the role of authenticity within contemporary debates about gender identity with an eye to exploring the structure of sex and gender-based oppressions - with particular consideration with the marginalisation of trans subjects. I begin with a return to Butler's Gender Trouble to critically examine her ontology of gender and the suggestion that gender cannot be a matter of authenticity. Though this disagrees with the common schematic of trans identity mobilised within contemporary identity politics, this paper seeks to use this critique to provide a deeper explanation of trans oppression within the context of Butler's heterosexual matrix. The aim of this move is to situate trans struggles as central within philosophical feminist theory - whilst breaking from several of the shortcomings of contemporary identity ontology. These considerations will then be explored alongside Butler's work in Precarious Life, wherein the oppression of trans people will be explored in how these subjects bear a greater burden of authenticity - wherein trans genders are automatically regarded as authentic whereas cis genders remain unquestioned. This contextualises the rhetorical and ontological move adopted by many trans activists whereby they present gender as a matter of absolute and inviolable fact - which is incompatible with Butler's ontology of gender. Using bother of Butler's texts, we can regard this move as the pursuit of an impossible security, a move that serves to obscure the inauthenticity of gender overall. Instead, we are encouraged to embrace in inauthenticity of gender and to refuse to allow ourselves to sink into an economy of authenticity that marginalises trans subjects.

Gender and Gender Identity Development Among Young Trans People in North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Sinclair-Palm
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Medical Discourses ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Trans Youth ◽  
The Way

When children are born, they are typically assigned a sex, male or female, based on the appearance of external genitalia. The gender of the newborn is assumed based on the assigned sex. Researchers debate the origins of gender and whether gender is largely biologically based or socially constructed. Sociologists tend to argue that children learn about their gender from their parents and experiences at school through a process known as gender role socialization, whereas medical discourses argue that one’s gender should be aligned with one’s assigned sex. Schools are one of the first sites outside the home where researchers have studied the way gender nonconforming and trans children and youth face discrimination and harassment. Education research about trans youth documents the need for trans youth to have a voice in school policies and practices. Trans adults offer a wide range of theories about gender and critique traditional models of gender for their failure to capture the complexity, fluidity, and diversity of gender experiences and identities. Trans youth have yet to enter these conversations and their gender, access to treatment and services, and rights are often determined by medical discourses about gender and gender identity development. In the 21st century, the parents and families of trans youth are beginning to play an important role in advocating for and supporting the needs of their trans child. Trans identity development models are shaped by theories about gender and are often designed as a stage model. In 2004, Aaron Devor created the first trans identity development model based on the CASS model that Viviane Cass developed in 1979. Scholars have critiqued these models for their rigid conceptualization of gender, the linear structure of stages in these models, and the lack of recognition of the role race, class, disability, and sexuality have in the complexity of gender. Scholars have also remarked on the way these models were developed for trans adults and fail to conceptualize trans youth. Theories about gender and gender identity development have shaped gender models used in the treatment of gender nonconforming children. The gender affirmative model takes a progressive approach to this treatment, allowing children and youth to be experts on their gender and to be supported in socially transitioning at any age. Research about gender and gender identity development among trans youth in North America is increasingly recognizing the need to center the voices and needs of young trans people.

Transgender language reform

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lal Zimman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Language Reform ◽  
Inclusive Language ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Linguistic Challenges ◽  
Contemporary United States ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Selection Of

Transgender people’s recent increase in visibility in the contemporary United States has presented new linguistic challenges. This article investigates those challenges and presents strategies developed by trans speakers and promoted by trans activists concerned with language reform. The first of these is the selection of gendered lexical items, including both gender identity terms (woman, man, etc.) and more implicitly gendered words (e.g. beautiful, handsome). The second is the assignment of third person pronouns like she/her/hers and he/ him/his as well as non-binary pronouns like singular they/them/theirs or ze/ hir/hirs. Both of these challenges tap into the importance trans people place on individual self-identification, and they come with new interactional practices such as asking people directly what pronouns they would like others to use when referring to them. The third challenge addressed here is avoiding gendering people when the referent’s gender isn’t relevant or known, which can be addressed through the selection of gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language. The final challenge is how to discuss gender when it is relevant – e.g. in discussions of gender identity, socialisation or sexual physiology – without delegitimising trans identities. Several strategies are presented to address this issue, such as hedging all generalisations based on gender, even when doing so seems unnecessary in the normative sex/gender framework or using more precise language regarding what aspect(s) of gender are relevant. Taken as a whole, trans language reform reflects the importance of language, not just as an auxiliary to identity, but as the primary grounds on which identity construction takes place.

Make Love at War? Representing Gender and Memory in the Soviet Estonian Film Dark Windows (Pimedad aknad, Tõnis Kask, 1968)

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Liis Jõhvik
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Nazi Germany ◽  
National Narrative ◽  
Moral Choices ◽  
The One ◽  
Falling In Love ◽  
The Way

Abstract Initially produced in 1968 as a three-part TV miniseries, and restored and re-edited in 2008 as a feature-length film, Dark Windows (Pimedad aknad, Tõnis Kask, Estonia) explores interpersonal relations and everyday life in September 1944, during the last days of Estonia’s occupation by Nazi Germany. The story focuses on two young women and the struggles they face in making moral choices and falling in love with righteous men. The one who slips up and falls in love with a Nazi is condemned and made to feel responsible for the national decay. This article explores how the category of gender becomes a marker in the way the film reconstructs and reconstitutes the images of ‘us’ and ‘them’. The article also discusses the re-appropriation process and analyses how re-editing relates to remembering of not only the filmmaking process and the wartime occupation, but also the Estonian women and how the ones who ‘slipped up’ are later reintegrated into the national narrative. Ultimately, the article seeks to understand how this film from the Soviet era is remembered as it becomes a part of Estonian national filmography.

Cute Girls, Tough Boys

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-111
Author(s):  
Alexandra Gueydan-Turek
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Graphic Art ◽  
Masculinity And Femininity ◽  
Gender Performances ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Form Of Expression ◽  
The Way

This article explores the way in which masculinity and femininity are constructed in Algerian manga, an emerging, understudied sub-genre within the field of Algerian graphic art. Through the exploration of youth-oriented publications of shōjo and shōnen manga, I will demonstrate how these new local works offer a privileged form of expression for and platform to address disaffected Algerian youths. The primary focus of this investigation will be the differences (or lack thereof) between ideals of gender performances as expressed in Algerian manga and ideals of gender identity in society at large. This article will demonstrate that, while some differences manifest a desire for change on the part of both artists and readers, they certainly do not constitute radical revisions of the popular Algerian notions of masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, this study will demonstrate the limits of manga as an imported genre within an Arab-Islamic context, oscillating between the promulgation of alternative social ideals and the reinforcement of social norms.

AN EXPLORATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TEENAGERS’ USE, CONSUMPTION AND DIGITAL PRODUCTION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina-Maricica Seserman ◽  
Daniela Cojocaru
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
The Way

Today’s teenagers have a very close relationship with ICTs and the digital space related to them, as they have impacted the way the youth constructs their sense of self and the tools they use to perform their carefully constructed identity. One key element which influences the way one constructs their views by themselves is within the boundaries set by their biological sex and therefore through the behaviors associated with their asigned gender. Through the symbolic interactionist lense, or more specifically through Goffman's dramaturgical theory on the manner in which one presents him/herself in society, this paper looks at the manner in which teenagers use social media platforms and at the way they consume and create digital content in order to present their gender identity. The way teenagers consume and produce digital content differs and depends on how they interpret their ideals of femininity and masculinity, which are afterwards reproduced in the content they post on their social media pages. Therefore this research is an attempt to understand what are the factors teenagers take in account when consuming and producing content. What gender differences can be observed in regards to new media consumption? What difference can be observed in online activity behaviors between males and females? How do they feel about their gender identity concerning fitting in with their peer group? A mix-methodological approach was engaged in the data collection process. In the first stage of the research highschool students (n=324) from the city of Suceava (Romania) participated in taking an online survey. The initial intent was to meet with the young respondents in person, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this was deemed impossible. For the second stage of data collection, six of the participants who took the online survey were invited to participate in a focus group designed to grasp a better understanding of the results from the previous stage. The discovered findings uncover engaging gender similarities and differences in social media consumption and the type, subject, matter and style in which they posted their content, but also in regards to the performance of the self between the online and offline space.

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