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Midterm
WGS100W Gender Trouble
Emory University Fall 2023
Thursday October 12, 11:30am-Friday October 13, 11:30am
This is an open-book test—
you may consult reading materials and notes from the course
.
There are three sections: essay, discussion question, and identifications. Do all
questions.
Type your answers into this document and upload your completed test (as a Word
document or a PDF) to Assignments on Canvas by 11:30am, 13 October.
NO late
submissions will be accepted.
The test is designed to take an hour. Do it at your convenience as long as you hand it
in on time.
Do not collaborate with any other student while taking this test. And of
course, you may not use any AI such as searching on Google or using
ChatGPT.
You may not collaborate with other students on your answers during the
test (it is fine to have studied together with others in advance of the
test).
Adherence to the Emory Honor Code is expected.
Canvas will run your
paper through Turnitin.
Name:
__Will Xu
________________
1. ESSAY QUESTION [60 POINTS]
Discuss how you think Foucault and Butler might interpret the politics of recent
anti-trans bills in US state legislatures – No more than 700 words
Recent legislative measures in several US states aim to target transgender youth, a
recurring tactic employed by fascist groups to shape their future perspectives. Adolescents
are inherently vulnerable and susceptible to systematic pressures, and transgender youth,
who already face heightened discrimination and violence, are especially affected. These
anti-trans bills only serve to exacerbate this issue.
For instance, organized sports play a significant role in the lives of many American
children. Consequently, the recent bans on transgender youth participating in sports can
generate feelings of isolation, shame, and depression. Moreover, these bans increase the
likelihood of these young individuals becoming victims of bullying and harassment, which
can have detrimental effects on their mental and physical well-being. Foucault might
interpret these bans as a form of biopower, a means by which the state regulates and
controls the bodies of transgender athletes, dictating their participation in sports. This also
reinforces the binary gender system by denying transgender athletes the opportunity to
compete on teams that align with their gender identity. In this context, Butler's perspective
would suggest that these bans hinder the performance of the chosen gender identity and
force transgender athletes to conform to a gender expression that does not resonate with
their true selves.
Another legislative proposal under discussion in the US legislature involves a ban on
gender-affirming care. This prohibition would obstruct transgender youth from expressing
their gender identities, paralleling the sports ban in many ways. Resisting the ban on
gender-affirming care is integral to the fight for transgender rights and liberation. Much of
what Foucault and Butler have articulated in the previous argument can be applied to this
situation as well. Foucault's focus on biopower would see this healthcare ban as an attempt
to regulate the bodies of transgender youth. By implying that gender-affirming care is
harmful without substantial evidence, this ban reinforces the binary gender system,
depriving young individuals of access to necessary care for living according to their chosen
gender identity. Foucault has also argued that the binary gender system is a social construct
designed to control and regulate bodies, and this ban perpetuates this construct and body
regulation through systemic means. Allowing young individuals to access gender-affirming
care disrupts the conventional notion of the "nuclear family," so Foucault might view this
ban as an attempt to uphold this rigid system. Meanwhile, Butler, who regards gender as a
social construct, adds that there is no genuine or "authentic" gender identity. For Butler,
similar to the sports ban, the healthcare ban hinders young individuals from expressing their
gender identity as they choose and compels them to adopt a gender identity that doesn't
align with their true self, causing harm to their mental and emotional well-being. Both
Foucault and Butler would likely perceive this ban as driven not by reason but by prejudice
and fear, perpetuating harmful stereotypes about transgender individuals.
In summary, these anti-trans bills not only reinforce antiquated societal norms rooted
in white supremacy and Christian nationalism but also establish new standards that infringe
upon an individual's right to self-identify. Foucault's lens would reveal these regulations as
manifestations of biopower, illustrating how the government and established societal
systems seek to control bodies through the suppression of gender expression. Butler, on the
other hand, would share this perspective but underscore that gender should not be rigidly
defined; rather, it should be seen as a performance and a means to express one's identity
and how the bans conflict with this viewpoint, rather than focusing on how the bans are a
vehicle for exercising power over transgender individuals.
2. DISCUSSION OF TEXT [15 POINTS TOTAL, 5 POINTS EACH] DO ALL.
(i) “African social categories are fluid. They do not rest on body type, and positioning is
highly situational. …the idiom of marriage that is used for social classification is often not
primarily about gender…”
Who wrote this? Give the source (book/article) of this quote, including page number and
context. In three or four sentences,
explain the implications of this quote for thinking about
gender.
“CONCEPTUALIZING GENDER: THE EUROCENTRIC FOUNDATIONS OF FEMINIST CONCEPTS
AND THE CHALLEGE OF AFRICAN EPISTEMOLOGIES“ Oyewumi, Page 8
The key point of this quote is the fluidity of social categories in the African societies which
implies how biological characteristics and appearance don’t define one’s social category, but
instead rely on situational context and societal roles. This viewpoint implies that gender can
be viewed as a similar fluid societal construct where actions and environmental context
instead of the western viewpoint of bodies and biology determining societal roles. The
context of this quote also emphasizes how marriage can play a complex role where it’s not
dependent on biology and the need to reproduce, but as a means of social classification
based on relationships and roles that go beyond traditional gender roles.
(ii) “
Between each of us and our sex, the West has placed a never-ending demand for
truth: it is up to us to extract the truth of sex, since this truth
is beyond its grasp; it is up to sex to tell
us our truth, since
sex is what holds it in darkness. But is sex hidden from us,
concealed by a new
sense of decency, kept under a bushel by
the grim necessities of bourgeois society? On the contrary,
it shines forth; it is incandescent. Several centuries ago, it was
placed at the center of a formidable
petition to know. A
double petition, in that we are compelled to know how things
are with it, while it is suspected of knowing how things are
with us.”
Who wrote this? Give the source of this quote, including page number and context. In three
or four sentences,
explain why this is significant for thinking about gender.
The History of Sexuality Vol. 1; Part 4: The Deployment of Sexuality; Foucault, Pg. 77
The main focus on this quote talks about the role and visibility of sex in western society.
Foucault’s discussion of how the nature of the truth of sex is constantly elusive extends to
the concept of gender. If sex is not as fixed or definable as we currently believe, then gender
identities, roles, and expressions can vary just as greatly without being universally defined.
(iii) The major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight
oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions.
We do not have racial, sexual, heterosexual or class privilege to rely upon…”
Who wrote this? Give the source of this quote, including page number and context. In three
or four sentences,
explain why this is significant for thinking about gender.
The Combahee River Collective Statement; Combahee River Collective Pg. 7
This quote discusses intersectionality which recognizes that individuals experience many
forms of both oppression and privilege due to multiple social identities. In this particular
quote, the author discusses how Black women don’t only face oppression through race, but
through gender, sexuality, and class as well. This idea applies to gender as intersectionality
underscores the oppression that is faced on multiple fronts and a need for a more
comprehensive, inclusive, and intersectional approach to understanding and advocating for
gender equality.
3. DEFINITIONS [25 POINTS, 5 POINTS EACH.] DO ALL
In two or three sentences each,
give a definition for the following terms and explain the
significance of this term for thinking about gender
(i) Intersectionality
Intersectionality is the idea that there are many facets of oppression that people face
including but not limited to race, gender, class, sexuality all within the current system. This
term is relevant in the idea of gender as gender is a large part of what people choose to be
within their identity and therefore place in society. In order to rectify the current structural
inequalities effectively, the full spectrum of one’s identity must be considered instead of
dividing one’s identity into parts.
(ii) Gender Performativity
Gender performativity is defined by an idea in which gender is not inherent or defined when
born but instead an act which people learn and perform according to societal standards. The
traditional binary provides a long history of generalizations and assumptions that one would
be apart of when identifying with that gender which upholds the desire to continually fit into
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one gender or another. When thinking about gender, one must separate biological sex from
the concept of gender as gender is a societal conformity whereas sex is the natural body.
(iii) Intersex
Being intersex means being biologically born into a body who’s characteristics fit neither sex
within the binary of male or female. Generally, this means that one’s chromosomes are
neither XX or XY and/or one’s genitals do not have a direct analog to that of either male or
female. When thinking about gender, intersex people bring into question how binary sex
really is and how sex is approached within the established power system.
(iv) Male Daughter
The term “Male Daughter” comes from the Yoruba society where given a family without male
successors, the daughter of the family is deemed a male. This daughter is then treated by
the society as a male by all rights and status. This is significant to the idea of gender as this
fluid treatment of gender demonstrates how gender is confined into and not born into, which
challenges the centuries of bodied-gender within the western world.
(v) The Repressive Hypothesis
The repressive hypothesis states that all people within the western world have inherited a
society which is and has been sexually repressed, hindering self-liberation and expression.
This hypothesis reflects on the idea that there is power in declaring sexuality and that the
historical taboo surrounding sex is there to repress power from society in order to control
those under current systems.