Essentialism, in general, is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the practice of regarding something (as a presumed human trait) as having innate existence or universal validity rather than being a social, ideological or intellectual construct” Therefore in context of gender, essentialism argues that those members of the same group (namely of the same gender) possess some underlying similarities and characteristics.
In my findings the idea and connotations of essentialism have been frequently debated, specifically in the context of gender. In general, essentialism is making a sweeping statement that the all members of a specific group must share some similar qualities in order to pertain to that group. What these similar qualites are for each defined group vary from person to person. From my findings, I found that specific groups (for example, feminists) change the stance they take to gender essentialism according to context. For example, in “Essentialism and Anti-Essentialism in Feminist Theory”, feminists denounce the essentialist idea that there is no biological evidence that supports only two categories for humans as male or female, and thus gender essentialism is not validated.
However interestingly enough, although essentialism implies concrete traits, the level of gender essentialism accepted varies from group to group. As the British Psychological Society explains, the use of essentialism is not always present in society but rather people’s desire to adhere to this essentialism is most present when there chance for change. It even hints that even sometimes, groups use the ideas of essentialism (the idea that there is a commonality between the members) to prove that other aspects of their groups are different. Thus ironically essentialism is almost used to disprove essentialism. I think this demonstrates that ultimately essentialism, which is supposed to be a rigid and innate quality, is actually very malleable, depending on context and interpretation.
While I agree that frequently nurture creates behaviors that are mistaken for those that exist naturally, I don't think that Essentialism should be entirely dismissed. At least pertaining to XX girls and XY boys, there is a genetic foundation that leads to verifiably different physical traits. Puberty ensues and the sexes experience different expressions of a largely identical DNA code. The different hormones also have different effects on the brain. For instance testosterone frequently creates increased feelings of aggression. This is most likely behind the "masculinity" of fighting and so on. Although it is certainly ridiculous to claim that women inherently love cleaning kitchens or anything else along those lines, it is well founded to note that women and men are biologically different from each other and similar to themselves. This fact suggests that other inherent differences exist.
ReplyDeleteGreat nuance from both Surya and Sonia. Note that a lot of people get into trouble by championing gender essentialism - notably Larry Summers, former president of my alma mater and former economic advisor to President Obama, who told a group of women in science that research suggests that women, on the whole, don't have the same aptitude for science as men do.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in learning more about what research says about gender and the brain, stay tuned for a guest lecture from Dr. Harris soon!