Amelioration and Inclusion: Gender Identity and the Concept of Woman

Ethics 126 (2):394-421 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Feminist analyses of gender concepts must avoid the inclusion problem, the fault of marginalizing or excluding some prima facie women. Sally Haslanger’s ‘ameliorative’ analysis of gender concepts seeks to do so by defining woman by reference to subordination. I argue that Haslanger’s analysis problematically marginalizes trans women, thereby failing to avoid the inclusion problem. I propose an improved ameliorative analysis that ensures the inclusion of trans women. This analysis yields ‘twin’ target concepts of woman, one concerning gender as class and the other concerning gender as identity, both of which I hold to be equally necessary for feminist aims

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-12-18

Downloads
1,483 (#7,606)

6 months
262 (#9,318)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Katharine Jenkins
University of Glasgow

Citations of this work

Gender and Gender Terms.Elizabeth Barnes - 2019 - Noûs 54 (3):704-730.
Are women adult human females?Alex Byrne - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (12):3783-3803.
He/She/They/Ze.Robin Dembroff & Daniel Wodak - 2018 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 5.
Real Talk on the Metaphysics of Gender.Robin Dembroff - 2018 - Philosophical Topics 46 (2):21-50.
Ideology Critique Without Morality: A Radical Realist Approach.Ugur Aytac & Enzo Rossi - 2023 - American Political Science Review 117 (4):1215-1227.

View all 128 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Gender Concepts and Intuitions.Mari Mikkola - 2009 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 39 (4):559-583.

Add more references