{"id":9412,"date":"2024-05-05T12:49:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T10:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/2024\/05\/05\/agtrt-bdf100-transcompatible-manifesto\/"},"modified":"2024-05-05T13:13:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T11:13:35","slug":"agtrt-bdf100-transcompatible-manifesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/2024\/05\/05\/agtrt-bdf100-transcompatible-manifesto\/","title":{"rendered":"[AGTRT-BF100]  Transcompatible Manifesto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Jan Bergstra &amp; Laurens<\/strong><br><strong>Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see Formal Gender Theory (<a href=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/themes\/formal-gender-theory-fgt\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/themes\/formal-gender-theory-fgt\/\">FGT<\/a>) as a theoretical tool that can help bring the social debate on gender to fruition. In doing so, we try to find a workable middle ground between essentialism and co-essentialism, or what we call a <em>middle of the road version<\/em>(MotR version) of FGT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That such a middle ground can be found does not go without saying. Based on the insights gained from FGT and the search for moderate and informed positions on gender transition, we arrive at the following principles for a new transactivist agenda. We prefer to call this agenda transcompatible, or compatible with the phenomenon of gender transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Principles<\/strong><br>Just by distancing ourselves from gender essentialism, we take the position that under certain conditions gender transience (not only in the sense of formal gender, but also in the sense of legal gender) is defensible and so meaningful that it should also be accepted. We still summarize the arguments mentioned in our earlier texts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The way gender is talked about should be consistently understandable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This implies at least that the relationship between the biological, legal and social dimensions of gender must be able to be interpreted consistently.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This precludes a gender normatively guiding attribution based solely on the individual&#8217;s desire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gender incongruence and as a symptom gender dysphoria exist and in some circumstances gender transition is an effective way to end the condition of gender incongruence, and treat the resulting gender dysphoria.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The healing effect of gender transition can be so strong that it justifies the complexity of:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>(i) Adopting the concept of formal gender (in addition to a concept of bodily gender),<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(ii) Establish and maintain the legal basis for gender categorization (legally establish gender in accordance with formal gender),<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>(iii) Have practical procedures available for gender transition. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For example, the moment a person is legally recognized as a woman, this should also attach all the rights that a woman has and, in principle, she can also expect that her gender will not be questioned or discriminated against.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This implies that the threshold for legal recognition of male (female) gender must be high enough to make this grant of rights defensible. It also implies that this recognition is linked to physical criteria in an understandable way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong><br>Although the possibility of gender transition has long been enshrined in legislation in the Netherlands and in many other countries, acceptance of the possibility of gender transition is by no means universal. There is thus a form of cis-normative transactivism possible that aims to achieve global acceptance of gender transition, and thereby also to universally secure the possibility of, and thus the right to, gender transition in the long term. In this sense, we also see obvious relevance for cis-normative transactivism. The conceptual issues do not lie:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To argue the necessity, or at least the great relevance to some individuals, of the possibility of legal gender transition inevitably requires that gender classification (classification in terms of male, female, and neutral) be seen as important, and that it can also be explained where that importance lies. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, essentialist reasoning is used to argue that the classification of persons into male and female is a God-given ordering that for that reason should not be disputed. We do not see this as sufficiently convincing, but it is important that the trans movement itself can convincingly articulate why and under what conditions gender transition should be possible. We anticipate that stronger arguments will eventually be needed that motivate the importance of assigning gender to each person.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We currently assume that the co-essentialist position that gender identity determines gender classification is unconvincing because the concept of gender identity is too arbitrary for that (at present). This can change by sharpening the concept of gender identity, but also by accepting that sometimes a permanent discrepancy between legal gender and gender identity remains. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We believe that insisting on the co-essentialist position that gender classification (also known as gender categorization) should follow gender identity, and normativeizing that mechanism without providing a clear and convincing analysis of the concept of gender identity, does not serve the interests of transgender persons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The continued importance of 3G gender classification (three genders: male, female and neutral) is a premise of FGT, but for that reason it is also an Achilles&#8217; heel. Should the relevance of gender classification evaporate due to societal developments, it also undermines the arguments in FGT and the arguments in favor of accepting gender transition. We do not consider it within the domain of FGT to examine or justify the hypothesis that 3G gender classification is of enduring social importance. For now, this is an assumption, which may also prove incorrect in time. Precisely from the assumption of the relevance of 3G gender classification, we also conclude that there is a public interest in ensuring that gender classification is not arbitrary. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Clear language and terminology<\/strong><br>We propagate that male and female also be used as descriptive terminology in Dutch, in addition to male and female (see <a href=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/2024\/04\/09\/agtrt-bdf75-the-dutch-language-is-deficient-for-gender-theory-and-must-be-expanded-to-include-male-and-female\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7457\">AGTRT-BF75<\/a>). Male is a person of male sex, female is a person of become sex. Using clear and unambiguous language is important in a general sense, and in this the trans movement itself can take the initiative. The language of trans care must also be properly distinguished from the language of the trans movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At birth, a person&#8217;s sex is determined, with a choice between, male, female, and neutral. This concerns the classification of physical gender. With an unfortunate choice of words, this is called &#8220;<em>sex assigned at birth<\/em>,&#8221; whereas &#8220;<em>sex determined at birth<\/em>&#8221; would be a better term for it (see <a href=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/2024\/04\/12\/agtrt-bdf80-alex-byrne-and-richard-dawkins-see-problems-with-the-term-sex-assigned-at-birth-that-are-not-there\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7777\">AGTRT-BF80<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A person can be: AMAB<em>(assigned male at birth<\/em>),  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AFAB<em>(assigned female at birth<\/em>), or <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ANAB<em>(assigned neutral at birth<\/em>) are. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A better terminology would be: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CMAB<em>(classified male at<\/em> birth), <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CFAB<em>(classified female at birth<\/em>),  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CNAB<em>(classified neutral at birth<\/em>). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, a gender is assigned<em>(assigned<\/em>): <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A CMAB person is assigned male gender (and thus AMGAB, <em>assigned male gender at birth<\/em>), <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A CFAB person is assigned female gender (and thus AFGAB, <em>assigned female vender at birth<\/em>), and <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A CNAB person is assigned neutral gender (and thus ANGAB, <em>assigned neutral gender at birth<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(Formal) gender as focus of categorization<\/strong><br>The person classification that then plays a social role is the classification in terms of gender, or to accentuate the difference with physical gender: formal gender. This determines what is on an identity card and how one deals with emancipation and equal rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is formal gender, not bodily gender, that can be changed in the course of a person&#8217;s life, and it is that possibility that we believe continued transactivism can still bring about further acceptance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This by no means implies that the change of formal gender, and any subsequent change of legal gender, can occur on arbitrary grounds. The demands to be made on them require social consensus, and such a consensus is not easy to achieve, but in time such a consensus will have to emerge. We propose to conduct the dialogue on this with society in a structured, transparent and inclusive manner, respecting different positions. We believe that the ICE method may be suitable for this purpose (see <a href=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/2024\/03\/01\/agtrt-bdf56-specifically-how-can-concept-engineering-of-the-concept-of-formal-gender-help-eliminate-polarization-in-the-debate\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"6236\">AGTRT-BF56<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We see a cis-normative bias as inevitable<\/strong><br>We attempt to work toward an analysis that is relevant to groups and individuals with diverse positions on gender and gender incongruence-related caregiving. In the article <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/26895269.2024.2328249\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/26895269.2024.2328249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Cass Review: Cis-supremacy in the UK&#8217;s approach to healthcare for trans children<\/a><\/em>  (2024), Cal Horton rightly criticizes the Cass review, in our view, by saying that the Cass working group was cis-normative, if only because that working group is trying to find consensus with &#8220;experts&#8221; who do not believe in the existence of trans children.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all, we want to engage people in the debate who oppose gender transition even more strongly than the experts who Cass should not have given such a heavy voice to, according to Horton. But it is inevitable that our approach to transactivism would also be labeled cis-normative by Horton, and we do not see at this point how that can be avoided, we are not ashamed of a cis-normative bias. Incidentally, just to talk about &#8220;trans children&#8221; (which Horton herself does all the time) is cis-normative. It is anno 2024 still difficult for anyone not to work cis-normatively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jan Bergstra &amp; LaurensAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team We see Formal Gender Theory (FGT) as a theoretical tool that can help bring the social debate on gender to fruition. In doing so, we try to find a workable middle ground between essentialism and co-essentialism, or what we call a middle of the road version(MotR version) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94225296,"featured_media":9410,"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-9412","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\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39-300x126.png",300,126,true],"large":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-05-at-12.47.39.png",617,260,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Laurens Buijs","author_link":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/author\/laurensjanbuijs\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/category\/formal-gender-theory-en\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Formal Gender Theory<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Jan Bergstra &amp; LaurensAmsterdam Gender Theory Research Team We see Formal Gender Theory (FGT) as a theoretical tool that can help bring the social debate on gender to fruition. In doing so, we try to find a workable middle ground between essentialism and co-essentialism, or what we call a middle of the road version(MotR version)&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9412","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=9412"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9421,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9412\/revisions\/9421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gender-theory.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}