Jenkins

Michael McCool

Blog Post

Word Count: 435 (Without 1,2,3,4)          

In Katherine Jenkins’s Amelioration and Inclusion, Jenkin’s overall argues that the concept of gender as identity should not be assigned a secondary or peripheral status within a critical feminist analysis of gender but should have equal status with the concept of gender as class. (415). Jenkins means by this that the role of gender as an identity and gender as a social class should be viewed as equal. One is not more important than the other and one is not less significant. These two ideals should be viewed equally. If one only looks at gender as an identity, then one cannot see how oppression can operation through self-policing behavior. Jenkins gives four examples to support this argument.

1.      A trans woman does not publicly present as a woman and is perceived as a man by people around her. (399-400)

2.      A trans woman publicly presents as a woman, but her gender presentation is not respected: she is seen by those around her as a man “pretending” to be a woman. (400)

3.      A trans woman publicly presents as a woman, and her gender presentation is respected by those around her (they use her correct pronouns, etc., and think of her as a woman). Specifically, though, her gender presentation is respected because she is perceived by those around her as having bodily features associated with a female’s role in reproduction (e.g., she may be perceived as having breasts or be presumed to have a vulva). (400)

4.      A trans woman publicly presents as a woman, and her gender presentation is respected, but, unlike in scenario 3, this is not because she is perceived as having bodily features associated with a female’s role in biological reproduction. Although she may or may not be perceived as having such bodily features, her gender presentation is respected unconditionally, being taken as an indication of how she would like to be treated socially. (400)

By viewing these statements through the scope of Haslanger then trans women will only be identified as women in a situation of scenario 3.

Gender has two concepts in Jenkins view. Gender as a social class and gender as a lived identity.

                Gender as a lived identity is expressed as one in which a person identifies as a gender and lives through the social characterizes of said gender. This gives the freedom for any person to identify as the gender they feel best suits them, being male, female, or a gender that does not fit this two system of societal gender.

                Gender as a social class is expressed through the example of job opportunities. One who identifies as a woman and is treated as one, may take a job at a lower pay rate or be offered the job at a lower pay rate. This shows how if one does not recognize gender as a social class, equally as gender as a lived identity, you neglect to see the oppression the social class view can bring.

                In my opinion, even treated equally, both views proposed by Jenkins will still offer some oppression no matter what. This oppression too is not equal, or would be very hard to express as being equal. Through the lived identity of gender, a person who identifies themselves as a gender that they were not born into will still face oppression. Whether this be in day to day life or applying for employment, oppression in the 21rst century is at a peak amongst transgender persons. Also, though gender as a class, there is a clear oppression of “natural born women” but this oppression may be even greater for transgender women seeking employment. No matter which view is looked at, these views must be viewed together and not separately to ensure that one may account for the varying ways in which gender can be oppressed.