Material Girls
by Kathleen Stock · first published 2021
3mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2022–2023first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Material Girls is a timely and trenchant critique of the influential theory that we all have an inner feeling about our sex, known as a gender identity, and that this feeling is more socially significant than our biological sex. Professor Kathleen Stock surveys the philosophical ideas that led to this point, and closely interrogates each one, from De Beauvoir's statement that, 'One is not born, but rather becomes a woman' (an assertion she contends has been misinterpreted and repurposed), to Judith Butler's claim that language creates biological reality, rather than describing it. She looks at
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That is just one definition of gender. There's confusion over its usage because it has a number of different and conflicting meanings. In her book Material Girls, which thoroughly and thoughtfully explores this topic, Kathleen Stock describes four senses of the word: > GENDER1: A polite-sounding word for the division between men and women, understood as a traditional…
It's a very good read. Helen Joyce's Trans and Kathleen Stock's Material Girls are also excellent critiques of this movement.
on “'An explosion': what's behind a rise in girls questioning their gender identity?” ↗…enlightening read too, with more of a focus on US law and politics, as her linked blog post is. If you would prefer a more philosophical treatment of this topic, may I also recommend Kathleen Stock's work Material Girls.
on “We're much further along in the liberation of women and girls than it may appear” ↗