The Metaphysics of Gender - Gender Essentialism - Essay Example

However, the book has an innate lacuna in the sense that while discussing the enveloping influence of gender over the varied social roles one affiliate to, Charlotte Witt somehow loses the sense of the diverse and variegated nature of gender and the gender identities that do not ascribe to the binary gender identities in a strictly conventional sense, gender is defined and construed. The thing is that any valid feminist philosophy does need to be holistic and catholic enough to incorporate a wide array of gender identities and affiliations.

The other thing is that perhaps guided by the intention to be co-opted by the mainstream feminism in the enunciation of her essentialism theory of gender, she has not only conveniently bypassed the kind essentialism but has also failed to touch upon the social anomalies that ensue from the existence of kind essentialism. The very fact that the kind essentialism does accrue an emphatic criticism from the feminist circles no way means that kind essentialism does not exist and has no repercussions in a social context.

In that context, it would not be wrong to say that Charlotte Witt is in a way trying to limit the scope and domain of social normativity with regards to gender, where social normativity tends to be set apart from moral normativity in the sense that it pertains to salient obligations, privileges, and constraints that are innately impinging on the varied social roles that are circumscribed by particular gender identity. As per Witt, one is evaluated, judged, and accessed within the scope of these obligations, privileges, and constraints, despite the fact that one may or may not be aware of them and may not endorse them consciously or passively.

In that context, considering the gender essentialism that Witt is affiliating to, there is a small hole in her argument in the sense that she no way accounts for the people who do not ascribe to the binary gender categorization.