Phenomenal Women: A Constitutivist Approach to Gender

The main point of disagreement between naturalist and social performists seems to be disagreements arising from and between the expressivist and the anti-expressivist then also the essentialist and non-essentialist. What I will claim is that these debates, as they currently sit, undo much of what feminists wish to accomplish in defining gender. A reformulation of the problems is necessary into terms of internal and externalism before clear progress can be made in the overarching positions I will discuss. Current models focus on the societal ramifications of gender and classify its existence within this framework. This is what I will suggest is an externalist approach to gender. I will also claim that the essentialist debate of thinkers such as Butler present a false dichotomy of choice between the essentialist theories such as gender and sex identicality and non-essentialist accounts such as Haslanger’s, Butler’s, and Young’s. Each of these theories take for granted the external nature of gender due to their commitment to non-essentialist accounts. What I will show is that this move not only lacks necessitation, but also limit’s further solutions to Haslanger’s problems of commonality and normativity. Through a constitutive approach to this debate, we may explain the variations in gender not expressed within current literature. Our adoption of gender constitutivism does not lack ability for social critique; It could be argued that it expands the limitations which plague both the normativity and commonality problems. This approach should serve to better represent the lived experience of individuals within a gendered society and explain the not yet further discussed downstream effects of gender upon identity and Self-conception