{"id":9067,"date":"2023-10-05T13:21:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T11:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/2023\/10\/05\/agtrt-bdf11-non-binary-gender-through-the-lens-of-formal-gender-theory\/"},"modified":"2024-05-05T22:51:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T20:51:47","slug":"agtrt-bdf11-non-binary-gender-through-the-lens-of-formal-gender-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/2023\/10\/05\/agtrt-bdf11-non-binary-gender-through-the-lens-of-formal-gender-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"[AGTRT-BF11] Non-binary gender through the lens of Formal Gender Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jan Bergstra & Laurens Buijs
Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most notable author on gender theory in recent years, as far as we can tell, is Robin Dembroff (self-proclaimed non-binary, Yale\/Princeton). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Why be nonbinar<\/a><\/em> (2018), Dembroff describes the essence of being nonbinary. We explained in AGTRT-1<\/a> and in AGTRT-3<\/a> why we think neutral in the context of gender is a better term than non-binary, but because of the link to Dembroff’s paper, we still use the term non-binary here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want to characterize Dembroff’s view from the results of our recent research on formal gender theory. We mention a few points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about our work on formal gender theory:
<\/em>Why gender science may pay more attention to formal gender<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Dembroff argues that being nonbinary is an opt-in only<\/em>, or in other words that you can belong to the nonbinary only on your own initiative. Therefore, according to Dembroff, non-binary is “radically anti-essentialist.” This is certainly correct, but we prefer to speak of “co-essentialism” (see AGTRT-M1<\/a> and AGTRT-M5<\/a>), because the belief that a person’s own psyche alone determines that they would be non-binary is also a form of essentialism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Dembroff leaves open whether man and woman are also opt-in only<\/em> gender labels. If yes, Dembroff’s position is fully co-essentialist; if no, Dembroff’s position is partially co-essentialist, or selectively co-essentialist. In the latter case, in the absence of an opt-in to<\/em> a gender, the gender assigned at birth is valid (i.e., gender assigned at birth<\/em> is valid by default<\/em>). We note that a compelling argument is made in Barnes (2022)<\/a> that this attribution by default<\/em> is necessary in some cases, particularly in the absence of a convincing opt-in<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Dembroff prefers to see the notion of gender become irrelevant: no secret about that. The choice to be non-binary is also a political choice against the dominance of gender as a concept imposed on people from outside. Dembroff is what we in AGTRT-7<\/a> called gender erosion indifferent <\/em>, or indifferent to the fact that gender differences can erode and thus disappear. This makes Dembroff an advocate rather than an opponent of what we in AGTRT-M4<\/a> call “reckless transgendering”(capricious transgendering<\/em>). We assume that Dembroff would find our notion of “responsible transgendering”(responsible trasgendering<\/em>) nonsensical, or at least irrelevant, and and would find its use undesirable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Dembroff sees only a minority of nonbinary individuals as sexually neutral from birth: those with an intersex condition. Most nonbinary individuals are therefore transgender in the sense that they have gone from male to neutral or from female to neutral (in AGTRT-1<\/a> terminology: male-to-neutral transgender <\/em>and female-to-neutral transgender<\/em>, or transneutral<\/em>). Only a minority of these trans-neutral individuals see that transition as a solution to gender dysphoria; most, in opting in <\/em>from non-binary, are making an essentially political move.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Dembroff sees little in the distinction between gender categorization and gender identity, which we derive from Barnes (2022) and see as fundamental. For Dembroff, gender identity (i.e., self-identification) determines gender categorization. That, according to Bogardus (2022)<\/a>, is an implausible construction. In AGTRT-1<\/a>, we describe that Bogardus’ doubts, while obvious, are not necessarily decisive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Dembroff leaves open whether there is also an opt-out <\/em>of gender “man” without a simultaneous opt-in <\/em>for either gender “female” or gender “neutral.” It is also unclear whether there is also an opt-out <\/em>of gender “woman” without a simultaneous opt-in for either gender “man” or gender “neutral.” If such opt-outs<\/em> without simultaneous opt-in <\/em>are realistic, then this is where the gender bottom <\/em>(or gender unknown, symbol ?) that we stage in AGTRT-1<\/a> arises, if not then there may be no such thing as a “loose” gender opt-out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Jan Bergstra & Laurens Buijs Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team The most notable author on gender theory in recent years, as far as we can tell, is Robin Dembroff (self-proclaimed non-binary, Yale\/Princeton). In Why be nonbinar (2018), Dembroff describes the essence of being nonbinary. We explained in AGTRT-1 and in AGTRT-3 why we think neutral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94225296,"featured_media":5011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":""},"categories":[770841050],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formal-gender-theory-en"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",2000,1252,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",2000,1252,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",2000,1252,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",150,94,false],"medium":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",300,188,false],"large":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",1024,641,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",1536,962,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/9a9c2-dembroff.jpg",2000,1252,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Laurens Buijs","author_link":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/author\/laurensjanbuijs\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Formal Gender Theory<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Jan Bergstra & Laurens Buijs Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team The most notable author on gender theory in recent years, as far as we can tell, is Robin Dembroff (self-proclaimed non-binary, Yale\/Princeton). In Why be nonbinar (2018), Dembroff describes the essence of being nonbinary. We explained in AGTRT-1 and in AGTRT-3 why we think neutral…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94225296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9067"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9486,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions\/9486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}