Postgenderism

Cultural roots

Postgenderism , feminism , masculinity , along with the androgyny , metrosexual / technosexual and transgender movements. However, it has been made possible by the application of transhumanism that postgenderists have conceived the potential for future morphological changes to the members of the human species and future humans in a postgender society will reproduce. In this sense, it is an offshoot of transhumanism, posthumanism , ^[2] and futurism . ^[1]

One of the earliest expressions of postgenderism was Shulamith Firestone ‘s The Dialectic of Sex . It argues,

[The] end goal of feminist revolution must be, unlike that of the first feminist movement, not just the elimination of male privilegebut of the sex distinction itself: genital differences between human beings would no longer matter culturally. (A reversion to an unobstructed pansexuality Freud’s’ polymorphous perversity’-would probably supersede hetero / homo / bi-sexuality.) The reproduction of the species by one sex for the benefit of both would be replaced by (at least the option of) artificial reproduction: children would be born to both sexes, or independently of. however, one chooses to look at it; The dependence of the child on the mother (and vice versa) would be significantly increased, but it would also be necessary to compensate for culturally. ^[3]

Another important and influential work in this regard was socialist feminist Donna Haraway’s essay, ” A Cyborg Manifesto : Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cybers, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York, Routledge, 1991), pp. 149-181. In this work, Haraway is one of the reasons why they would be freed from their biological restraints when their reproductive responsibilities were dispensed with. This may be viewed as Haraway expressing belief that women will only achieve true liberation once they become post- biological organisms, or postgendered. ^[1] However, Haraway has made public their use of the word “post-gender” has been grossly misinterpreted.^[4]

Types

Postgenderists are not exclusively advocates of androgyny, and most believe that a “mixing” of both masculine and feminine features is desirable-essentially the creation of androgynous individuals who exhibit the best of what males and females have to offer in terms of physical and psychological abilities and proclivities. Just what these traits are exactly is a matter of great debate and conjecture. ^[1]

Postgenderism is not concerned with the physical sex or its assumed traits. It is focused on the idea of ​​eliminating or moving beyond gendered identities. In a traditional gender construct, it is a man or woman, but in postgenderism Thus an individual in society is not reduced to a gender role but is simply an agent of humanity who is to be defined (if at all) by one’s actions.

However, not all postgenderists are against the existence of gender roles in some form; some argue for the deemphasization of gender roles. In this form of postgender, they would be able to identify themselves with a gender perspective, but they would not be mandatory.

Future technologies

In regard to potential reproductive technology assistive, it is Believed That breeding can continue to happen outside of conventional methods derived, namely intercourse and artificial insemination . Advances such as human cloning , parthenogenesis and artificial wombs can significantly extend the potential for human reproduction. ^[1]

Many argue that posthuman will be more virtual than real. Individuals May Consist of uploaded minds livingroom we have data patterns supercomputers or users engaged in completely Call immersive virtual realities . Postgenderists contend That thesis kinds of existences are not gender-specific THUS Allowing Individuals to morph Their virtual appearances and sexuality at will. ^[1]

Sexuality

Postgenderists maintain that a genderless society does not imply the existence of a species uninterested in sex and sexuality . It is thought that sexual relations and interpersonal intimacy can and will exist in a postgendered future, but that these activities may take on different forms. ^[1] Postgenderism, however, is not directly concerned with the physical action of sex or with sexuality.

Feminism

In the 1970 book The Dialectic of Sex , Feminist radical Shulamith Firestone wrote that differences in biological reproductive roles are a source of gender inequality . Firestone singled out pregnancy and labor, making the argument that an artificial womb would “free women from the tyranny of their reproductive biology”. ^[5] [6]

Novels with postgenderist themes

• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson ^[7]
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
• Distress by Greg Egan
• Do not Bite the Sun by Tanith Lee
• Glasshouse by Charles Stross
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. The Guin
• Steel Beach by John Varley
• Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon

See also

References