SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

GENDER JUSTICE &

FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE
SEMESTER VII
SHRINKHALA
SWAROOP(FACULTY DOL)
 SHRINKHALA
SHRINKHALA SWAROOPSWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)
(DOL,PIMR)

WOMEN IN ANCIENT,
COURSE MODULE 1
★
MEDIEVAL & MODERN INDIA:
AN OVERVIEW;
★ WHAT IS GENDER JUSTICE ★ UNDERSTANDING
★ NOTIONS OF SEX & PATRIARCHY & FEMINISM;
GENDER ★ LIBERAL FEMINISM; RADICAL
★ DECONSTRUCTING MAN, FEMINISM;
WOMAN, OTHER PRIVATE ★ SOCIALIST/MARXIST
PUBLIC DICHOTOMY FEMINIST APPROACHES
INTRODUCTION ★
SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)
The word lesbian is a descriptive term used to
★ Gender is socially constructed terminology. describe women whose enduring physical,
Meaning, we are influenced by the messages we sexual, and/or affectional attraction is to other
receive from our social surroundings about what women.
is acceptable and permissible for us to do, be and ★ Gay is an adjective used to describe people
perform based on the gender with which we whose enduring physical, sexual, romantic
identify. Man, woman, masculine, feminine, or and/or affectional attractions are to people of the
some mixing or absence of these things. same sex and gender.
★ what do we mean by the acronym LGBTQIA. ★ Bisexual is an adjective used to describe people
You may see many variations of this acronym whose enduring physical, sexual, romantic,
used in your communities, online, and in and/or affectional attraction is to both men and
readings and other educational materials. You women.
may see variations such as LGBTQ, or GLBT ★ Bisexual identity does not require a history or
used. current activity that includes sexual experiences
★ These acronyms are derivatives of the more with men & women
inclusive term we have chosen. Which stands for ★ Recently, those who do not experience sexual
lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or transgender, attraction have become more visible, and have
queer, intersex and asexual. Some of these terms embraced the identity of asexual.
represent different sexual orientation identities,
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and asexual.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

MORE TERMINOLOGIES ★ Intersex individuals are typically assigned

A queer person is someone who does not as male or female at birth, and often
identify with socially prescribed binaries of gay, undergo surgery on their genitals in
straight, man, woman or other confining infancy to force a more culturally
societal structures of identity. Calling oneself acceptable gendered appearance. The
queer is a way to reclaim this once derogatory intersex movement has challenged the
slur and serves to unite people who are ethics of infant genital surgeries that are
marginalised because of their non conformity not medically necessary. Pointing out that
to dominant gender identities and/or many intersex people who undergo such
heterosexuality surgery in infancy later report feeling a
sense of loss of an essential aspect of
Intersex individuals possess anatomy, themselves. About 2 to 4% of all people are
physiology, and/or chromosomal variation born intersex to some degree.
differences from cultural ideals of male and
female. They may have mixed or ambiguous
external genitalia, internal genitalia, and/or
hormone production levels.
CONTINUED: SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

While each society is slightly different, and some

are more or less accepting of these identities, some
CISGENDER: The term cisgender refers to being what have strict and swift punishments for being
we think of as normatively gendered. Man or woman, LGBTQIA. And the people in those societies live in
male or female, and aligned with sex assignment we are constant fear of being found out and punished for
given at birth. possessing these identities.

TRANSGENDER:The term trans or transgender refers What is it that makes these terms unified or
to people who experience their gender differently than grouped together? These terms are often grouped
their sex assigned at birth.
together because people who identify as LGBTQIA
share common histories of experiencing
It is an umbrella term that may include transgender
people, transsexuals, crossdressers, drag queens, kings,
oppression based on their identities. And have
and other people who transgress the socially shared interests regarding the expansion of gender,
constructed confines of gender. sex, and sexual orientation categories and norms in
society. So that we can all live freely and without
the oppression currently caused by the regulation
of our lives.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

It is beyond the scope of this course to describe the specifics of how each
society responds to and/or sanctions people who are LGBTQIA. But suffice to
say that what unites all LGBTQIA people is our common history of resisting
norms and conventions related to who we are, who we love, and how we
express ourselves in terms of our gender and sex identities. Understanding the
terminology and language associated with LGBTQIA identities is the first step
to understanding how social history, law, and activism have come together to
create change.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

★ When gender is defined as one of two options, man or woman, this is known as the gender
binary or people will say that gender exist on a binary.
★ Several countries now recognize a third category, expanding the binary to include a new
category, what is commonly called a third gender.
★
★ As examples, Nepal, New Zealand and India all have legal categories for genders beyond the
male, female binary.
★
★ The legal recognition of a third gender represents some willingness to see gender as much more
complex than was once thought.
★ There's really very little consistency in public usage of the terms gender and sex, which can
create some confusion.
★ In critical theories of sex and gender, sex and gender are defined differently.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX & GENDER

In the western world and more specifically in
The commonly accepted difference between sex
the US, sex is often used interchangeably with
and gender defines sex as natural and gender as
gender, most commonly on forms and surveys
social. In other words, sex typically refers to
that ask individuals to check one of two boxes,
your biological makeup, but gender refers to
male or female.
your inner sense of self.
Sex, again, is usually seen as a binary.
Sex is a legal status. Everyone has a legal sex on
their driver's licenses, birth certificates, Most of us are taught to believe that there are
passports, sometimes university or college two and only two sexes, male or female.The sex
degrees, and many other places binary assumes that all bodies are easily
assigned to one of two sex categories, male or
Most of us are taught to believe that there are
female, even when sex asymmetries are
two and only two sexes, male or female.
present. For example, an individual with male
chromosomes and female sexual organs.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

FURTHERMORE
★ Cultural norms determine which physical characteristics are fundamental to
legal sex category assignment.
★ As an example, most people are not required to have their chromosomes
tested to determine their legal sex. Rather, a doctor or another healthcare
provider declare their legal sex, in most cases, on the day they were born.
★ The very fact that there is a set of criteria to define sex tells us that sex is not
always immediately known or easily assigned.
★
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

GENDER
What we mean by gender varies significantly from culture to culture, sometimes people use the term sex and gender
interchangeably and this adds to the confusion. To clarify, sex refers to the biology of bodies, whereas gender, otherwise
known as gender identity or gender expression, refers to individual and cultural understandings of behaviors, roles,
feelings and activities. Gender can also refer to specific roles, as an example gender enforces the idea that women
should raise children and stay at home, well men should provide for the family and go to work, or to an internal sense of
self.

Because gender is a central component of how we see and experience the world, most people have an internal sense of
their own gender. They feel like men or women, or in some cases, they do not feel like men or women. And this
experience of not feeling like your assigned sex category is precisely what makes us realize that gender is not in fact
innate or biological.

Instead gender is a social construct that has become a central component of most of our lives. Across cultures, it's
common to define all kinds of social phenomena via terms like masculine and feminine. Sex category, typically labelled
male or female, and the biological criteria used to define sex category, are relatively consistent across cultures. On the
other hand, gender varies widely from culture to culture and throughout history. Consider as an example the fashion of
stylish men in 18th century England, tights, wigs and elaborately designed vests were very common. In the present, we
might see these outfits as feminine.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

★ Unlike sex category, biological factors do not determine gender.

★ However, the current sex gender system links sex to gender through the
naturalization and enforcement of gender conventions and norms.

★ The conflation of sex and gender identifies masculinity and femininity as the natural
and normal gender expressions for people assigned male and female respectively.

★ Certainly, this is an accurate way to explain how some people experience gender, but
it is not accurately reflect all of our experiences. In theory, and in practice, all bodies
have the capacity to be masculine, feminine, or androgynous, a term that typically
refers to people who have a blend of masculine and feminine traits. There's nothing
about the body that makes someone like masculine or feminine things, and there's
nothing about the body that produces masculine and feminine gestures, interests,
tastes, or behaviors.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)
People are taught to behave in very specific ways, and much of this early socialization
focuses on growing up into men and women. People at every age are ridiculed and punished
for doing gender incorrectly. Children are punished at home and in school, adults are
threatened sometimes with violence, and workers can be treated unfairly if they fail to be
masculine men or feminine women.

All of these social factors participate in the sex gender system.

In many parts of the world, men are expected to be confident, strong, and in charge, while
women are believed to be naturally nurturing and submissive.

Dinner norms are so common that the impact much of our lives. When we break from
normative behavior or roles, others notice this conduct.

Much like sexual orientation, we do not actually know what causes gender identity.

We do know that just about every culture has a name for people who fall outside of the
simple binary. The binary assumes that all people easily fit into one or two categories, male
or female.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

TRANSGENDER
Susan Stryker, a prominent US scholar on trans issues, define transgender as such,refer to people who
move away from the gender they were assigned at birth, people who cross over trans the boundaries
constructed by their culture to define and contain that gender. Stryker explains further, quote some
people move away from their birth-assigned gender because they feel strongly that they properly belong
to another gender in which it would be better for them to live. Others want to strike out towards some
new location, some space not yet clearly defined or concretely occupied. Still others simply feel the need
to get away from the conventional expectations bound up with a gender that was initially put upon them.

Benign variation refers to the fact that we are different. We do not all experience gender the same way,
and we should try to approach these differences with neutrality.In practice, this means that there is no
right or wrong way of doing gender, or right or wrong way of being man, or woman, or humans.How we
choose to express our gender and how we understand our gender should be treated neutrally.

It should not be a hierarchy of gender expression, simply because this hierarchy ultimately enforces
particular ways of being. And it imposes huge obstacles for those who do no fit dominant or popular
views of gender.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

★ In conclusion, here are few key things to know.

★ Gender does not refer to sex category, and gender is not the natural result
of sex. Recognizing sex and gender as discrete categories allows us to
affirm all gender expressions irrespective of assigned sex.

★ Trans people, like cisgender people, should be given the right to privacy.
Inquiries about anyone's genitals outside of intimate or medical spaces,
are serious invasions of privacy and might count as harassment.
 SHRINKHALA SWAROOP (DOL,PIMR)

★ INTERSEX ACTIVISM
★ We should also note that some intersex people do wish to have surgical options and many
transgender people do too. Intersex activism isn't against surgery. Instead, it opposes
surgery on young people before they can reasonably consent to this life choice and it
opposes language that pathologizes benign differences via the authority of medical truths
or medical definitions of so called normal and abnormal bodies. The promise of biology is
misleading. The idea that your sex characteristics, the size and shape of your genitals,
your role in reproduction, or your hormone levels, tell you anything about yourself, other
than the very basic facts, is crude and misinforming.