Gender fundamentalism

About

Gender fundamentalism is a similarity cluster of beliefs which focus on the idea of gender as a fundamental quality that is:

• binary (male/female)
• unambiguous (people cannot be a different gender than they appear to be)
• inseparable from sexual role in reproduction
• ineffable (there is no measurement for it, other than birth genitalia)
• immutable (cannot be altered)

...and that is given to every human at birth, with each of the binary sexes having a set of qualities that go with them. Those whose existence violates any of these beliefs are either deluded (the focus of much anti-trans and anti-gay advocacy) or possibly subhuman (most notably intersex people), though this is rarely stated explicitly.

Subsets of gender fundamentalist belief include:

• gender essentialism: gender is essential and immutable
• gender prescriptivism: your gender determines your role in life (aka biology is destiny)

Links

News (to file)

• 2018-08-17 Gender Fundamentalism and Heteronormativity in the Political Discussion About Lesbian and Gay Parenthood($; Sci-Hub): "The empirical analysis shows different discursive strategies deployed by MPs to combat the challenges to the heteronormative family, whose common reference is the hegemonic model of gender which has characterized the resistance of the Catholic Church to the recognition of non-heterosexual reproduction and kinship. Findings highlight that the opposition to the recognition of gay and lesbian parents contributes to reiterating restrictive standards of motherhood and to maintaining the institutionalization of sexualities and reproduction within the patriarchal order."
• 2008-01-04 RetroWomen: The Rise of Gender Fundamentalism