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Thinking about the Plurality of Genders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2020

Cheshire Calhoun
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Abstract

Linda Nicholson argues that because gender is socially constructed, feminist theorizing must be about an expansive multiplicity of subjects called “woman” that bear a family resemblance to each other. But why did feminism expand its category of analysis to apply to all cultures and time periods when social constructionism led lesbian and gay studies to narrow the categories “homosexual” and “lesbian”? And given the multiplicity of genders, why insist that feminist subjects are different, resembling women rather than a multiplicity including women as well as not-women and not-men?

Type
Author Greets Critics
Information
Hypatia , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , Spring 2001 , pp. 67 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by Hypatia, Inc.

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