Unveiling Gender: Wollstonecraft, Butler, and the Pursuit of Human Worth

Abstract

Wollstonecraft’s idea of Sex and Butler’s notion of Gender Introduction All human beings are assigned specific sex at birth. One can define sex as the natural and biological characteristic that defines a human as either a male or a female or both at birth. The physical identity of sex is the penis or a vagina that any human being may naturally have at birth. On the other hand, Gender is a person's internal perception that enables an individual to identify with gender characteristics that match or are contrary to the sex one is assigned at birth. For this reason, one can conclude that sex is a biologically defined feature assigned to a person at birth. At the same time, Gender remains a socially constructed feature that a person identifies with from an internal perception. The need to analyze what it means to "do" or "perform" Gender will help understand how Wollstonecraft and Butler viewed and argued sex and Gender as two different terms that help shape the character of many humans. However, regardless of the distinctness of sex and Gender, both Wollstonecraft and Butler believed that the laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being regardless of sex distinction. According to Wollstonecraft (2014), Gender is a socially constructed notion or a belief that makes society perceive women inferior. Unfortunately, young girls believe that the only gender identity that best defines them is emulating their mothers, whom the society renders inferior, thus shaping the inferior character within these young girls through their womanhood. Butler confirms the social construction feature of Gender by arguing that Gender and sex are culturally constructed with Gender radically independent of sex, thus no significant distinction between the two terms. Butler’s definition of the two terms brings in the severity of clinging to such culturally constructed beliefs. The individual is enslaved to old beliefs that excellently shape one's identity. Practice makes perfect, which defines the suicidal addiction of performing Gender to keep up with the societal demands of an individual's gender identity. For instance, being born in a society that perceives women as inferior to men renders all female genders to remain dependent on the male Gender as a sign of respect and remaining submissive to the societal demands. However, is this sign of expressing virtue as human or a matter of ignorance of the sole ambition of humans regardless of sex distinctions? In response to this question, Wollstonecraft argues that women, just like men, deserve respect and value to avoid ignorance of humans worth attributed to their sex distinctions (Wollstonecraft, 2014). Women have the right to express their potential and strength regardless of their Gender. Women deserve to be independent. However, Gender hinders such potential as most women believe in their weaknesses and view the male Gender as the string pillars they need to keep up with the life pace. Initially, many women lacked education and feared being educated, viewing such privilege as solely a male field. However, the current times come along with changes as many women have come out to acquire an education that Wollstonecraft believes will help change their perception of Gender, which has pulled them behind for years (Wollstonecraft, 2014). According to Butler (1990), compulsory and naturalized heterosexuality as culturally and socially constructed within a society plays a significant role in explaining how people perform Gender. For instance, within such a society, the community views any gender identity that does not conform to the set system as a threat requiring adherence or consideration as a breach of the set laws. In such a society, all other genders, like homosexuals, level up to the demands of the set system to match the demands...