Gender Fluidity Provoke Reconsideration of Temporal, Ethical, and Ontological Assumptions About Identity, Persistence, and Social Recognition
Gender fluidity is an umbrella term for identities that do not conform to conventional definitions of gender roles and expectations regarding sexual orientation and behavior. It includes people who identify themselves as transgender, nonbinary, agender, androgynous, demigender, and others. They may choose not to identify with any particular gender identity or express their gender through multiple genders simultaneously. While there are several reasons why individuals might adopt such identities, some argue that it can provoke reconsideration of temporal, ethical, and ontological assumptions about identity, persistence, and social recognition.
One way that gender fluidity challenges temporal assumptions about identity is by questioning whether time should be measured by birth or death. In many societies, including Western ones, birth is considered the beginning of life, while death marks its end. This understanding leads to the assumption that one's identity begins at birth and remains constant throughout one's lifetime until death.
Gender fluidity suggests that identity can change over time and even indefinitely into old age.
From a moral perspective, gender fluidity also raises questions about how we recognize and validate identities. Traditionally, we have used binary categories of male/female to determine which behaviors and characteristics are appropriate for each group. But now, some argue that this approach ignores the diversity of human experience and fails to account for individuals whose identities fall outside these rigid boundaries. By refusing to define themselves within these binaries, they challenge our moral assumptions about what constitutes valid identity.
From an ontological standpoint, gender fluidity calls into question our beliefs about the nature of reality. We often assume that humans are either male or female and cannot cross those lines without undergoing surgery or hormone treatment. Gender fluidity disrupts this view by suggesting that gender is not innate but rather something we create through language and cultural norms. It encourages us to consider whether there may be other ways of organizing society beyond the traditional male-dominant hierarchy.
Gender fluidity challenges us to rethink our assumptions about identity, morality, and reality. While it may seem threatening to some, it also offers new possibilities for understanding ourselves and our place in the world.
References:
1. "Gender Fluidity" by Dr. Ava Carson, University of California Berkeley. 2021. Accessed on May 3, 2021. https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn 978052024167738
How does gender fluidity provoke reconsideration of temporal, ethical, and ontological assumptions about identity, persistence, and social recognition?
Gender fluidity challenges the idea that one's gender can be fixed for life, as it suggests that people may experience changes in their gender identity over time. This has implications for how we think about the stability and permanence of identity, since it implies that identities are not set in stone but rather flexible and open to change.