Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T23:01:46.869Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sex-Classification Policies as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2014

Heath Fogg Davis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sex-classification policies are unjust because they prompt and authorize administrative agents to use their own subjective gender judgments to target, inspect, and exclude transgender-appearing people from the public accommodations under their watch. The vast majority of sex-classification policies are not rationally related to legitimate policy goals because there is no objective, socially agreed upon test for determining who is male and who is female, and legitimate policy goals such as fraud prevention, safety, security, and privacy can almost always be met more effectively by alternative means that do not subject people to gender inspection. I make a legal-normative argument for using gender-identity antidiscrimination laws to abolish sex-classification policies. I ground this radical proposal in a modified liberalism that treats sexual self-definition as an integral feature of liberal self-definition. Gender and intersectionality theorists rightly point out the deep structure of race-sex-class perception and oppression, but many of these theorists are too quick to dismiss the radical potential of gender-identity discrimination laws to eliminate, rather than modify, longstanding sex-classification policies. Racial, class and gender perception intersect to generate the possibility, rather than the inevitability, of invidious sex administration. And that is more than enough reason to abandon sex-classification policies.

Type
Articles
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 45 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcoff, Linda. 2006. Visible Identities: Race, Gender, and the Self. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. 2012. Gender Dysphoria . http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Gender%20Dysphoria%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf (accessed October 6, 2013).Google Scholar
Appiah, K. Anthony. 2001. “Stereotypes and the Shaping of Identity.” In Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law, ed. Post, Robert C.. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Arkles, Gabriel. 2009. “Safety and Solidarity across Gender Lines: Rethinking the Segregation of Transgender People in Detention.” Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 18(2): 515–560.Google Scholar
Bernstein Sycamore, Matilda. ed. 2004. That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. (Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press).Google Scholar
Bornstein, Kate. 1995. Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Brown, Wendy. 2006. Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownstone, Sydney. 2013. “New Report Highlights Police Hostility Toward Transgender Women of Color.” The Village Voice Blogs, June 4. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/06/new_report_highlights_police_hostility_toward_transgenders.php (accessed November 27, 2013).Google Scholar
Brydum, Sunnivie. 2013. “N.J. Trans Woman Murdered, Media Misgenders Victim.” The Advocate, September 26. http://www.advocate.com/crime/2013/09/26/nj-trans-woman-murdered-media-misgenders-victim (accessed October 3, 2013).Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1997. “Excerpt from ‘Introduction’ to Bodies That Matter .” In The Gender Sexuality Reader, ed. Lancaster, Roger and Leonardo, Micaela di. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 2004. Undoing Gender. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Case, Mary Ann. 2010. “Why Not Abolish Laws of Urinary Segregation?” In Toilet: Public Restrooms and The Politics of Sharing, eds. Molotch, Harvey and Noren, Laura, New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Colapinto, John. 2001. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.Google Scholar
Craig v. Boren. 1976. 429 F. Supp 190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currah, Paisley, and Mulqueen, Tara. 2011. “Securitizing Gender: Identity, Biometrics, and Transgender Bodies at the Airport.” Social Research. 78(2): 557–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currah, Paisley, and Spade, Dean. 2007. “The State We’re In: Locations of Coercion and Resistance in Trans Policy, Part 2.” Sexuality Research and Social Policy 5(1): 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denvir, Daniel. 2009. “SEPTA’s Gender Discrimination: Is SEPTA Playing Gender Police?” Philadelphia Weekly, June 16. http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Transpassing-Prohibited.html (accessed October 5, 2013).Google Scholar
Delaware Code, , Title 6, Chapter 45. “Equal Accommodations.” http://delcode.delaware.gov/title6/c045/ (accessed October 6, 2013).Google Scholar
Dhamoon, Rita Kaur. 2011. “Considerations on Mainstreaming Intersectionality.” Political Research Quarterly 64(1): 230–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diamond, Morty, ed. 2004. From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FTM and Beyond. San Francisco, CA: Manic D Press.Google Scholar
Editorial Board. 2013. “The Next Civil Rights Frontier.” New York Times, July 31. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/opinion/the-next-civil-rights-frontier.html (accessed October 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Ellis, Blake. 2013. “Transgender Job Seekers Face Uphill Battle.” CNN Money, February 2. http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/22/pf/transgenderunemployment/index.html (accessed October 5, 2013).Google Scholar
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. 2000. Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Garcia-Bedolla, Lisa. 2007. “Intersections of Inequality: Understanding Marginalization and Privilege in the Post-Civil Rights Era.” Politics & Gender 3(2): 232–48.Google Scholar
Geidner, Chris. 2012. “Transgender Breakthrough: EEOC ruling that gender-identity discrimination is covered by Title VII is a ‘sea change’ that opens the doors to employment protection for transgender Americans.” Metro Weekly, April 23. http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=7288 (accessed October 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Geidner, Chris. 2013. “Federal Officials Protect Transgender Student Against Discrimination.” Buzz Feed Politics, July 24. http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-officials-protect-transgender-student-against-discri (accessed October 4, 2013).Google Scholar
GLAAD. 2013. GLAAD Transgender Resources. http://www.glaad.org/transgender?gclid=CPqCmvSTyrkCFewDOgod6wEAuw (accessed October 5, 2013).Google Scholar
Glenn v., Brumby. 2011. F. 3d 1312.Google Scholar
Green, Jamison. 2004. Becoming a Visible Man. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.Google Scholar
Halberstam, Judith. 1998. Female Masculinities. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Halberstam, . 2005. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Hankivsky, Olena, and Cormier, Renee. “Intersectionality and Public Policy: Some Lessons from Existing Models.” Political Research Quarterly 64(1): 217–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkesworth, Mary. 2006. Feminist Inquiry: From Political Conviction to Methodological Innovation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Haywood, Mari. 2013. “Update: Diamond Williams, Transgender Woman Murdered in Philadelphia.” http://www.glaad.org/blog/update-diamond-williams-transgender-woman-murdered-philadelphia (accessed October 6, 2013).Google Scholar
Herman, Jody. 2013. “Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and Its Impact on Transgender People’s Lives.” Journal of Public Management and Social Policy. 19(1): 65–80.Google Scholar
Hillman, Thea. 2008. Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word). San Francisco, CA: Manic D Press.Google Scholar
Hirschmann, Nancy. 2003. The Subject of Liberty: Toward a Feminist Theory of Freedom. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jamieson, Beth Kiyoko. 2011. “Fixing Gender: Gender Classifications, Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Prisoners, and the Politics of Law.” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Meetings, Seattle, WA, September 1–4.Google Scholar
Jespersen v. Harrah Operating Company Inc . 2006. 444 F. 3d 1104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan-Zachary, Julia. 2007. “Am I a Black Woman or a Woman Who Black? A Few Thoughts on Intersectionality” Politics & Gender 3(2): 254–63.Google Scholar
Kirkland, Anna. 2006. “What’s at Stake in Transgender Discrimination as Sex Discrimination?” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32(1): 83–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leff, Lisa. 2013. “Transgender ID Cards: Are the ‘M’ and ‘F’ Outdated?” Huff Post Gay Voices, June 15. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/15/transgender-id-cards_n_3447240.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices (accessed October 4, 2013).Google Scholar
Levy, Ariel. 2009. “Either/Or: Sports, Sex, and the Case of Caster Semenya.” The New Yorker, November 30. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/30/091130fa_fact_levy?currentPage=7 (accessed September 27, 2013).Google Scholar
Lindsay, Keisha. 2013. “God, Gays, and Progressive Politics: Reconceptualizing Intersectionality as a Normatively Malleable Analytical Framework.” Perspectives on Politics 11(2): 447–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macur, Juliet. 2012. “Sex-Verification Policy Is Criticized as a Failure.” New York Times, June 25.Google Scholar
Marso, Lori J., 2010. “Feminism’s Quest for Common Desires,” Perspectives on Politics 8(1): 263–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mia Macy v. Eric Holder. 2012. Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling April 24.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1997 [1859]. “On Liberty.” In Mill, ed. Ryan, Alan. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Molotch, Harvey and Noren, Laura. 2010. Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis . 1972. 407 F.Supp 163.Google Scholar
Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc . 1998. 96 F. Supp. 568.Google Scholar
Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, Public Accommodations Discrimination. http://www.phila.gov/HumanRelations/DiscriminationAndEnforcement/WhatIsDiscrimination/Pages/PublicAccommodationsDiscrimination.aspx (accessed October 1, 2013).Google Scholar
Plessy v Ferguson . 1898. 163 F.Supp 537.Google Scholar
Preves, Sharon. 2003. Intersex and Identity: The Contested Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Price Waterhouse v Hopkins . 1988. 490 F. Supp 228.Google Scholar
Prosser, Jay. 1998. Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
R.A.G.E. 2012. We’re Winning! SEPTA Plans to Remove Gender Stickers . Available at http://phillyrage.org/2012/04/12/were-winning-septa-plans-to-remove-gender-stickers/ (accessed September 27, 2013).Google Scholar
Rank, Jessica. 2006. “Is Ladies’ Night Really Sex Discrimination?: Public Accommodation Laws, De Minimis Exceptions, and Stigmatic Injury.” Seton Hall Law Review. 36(1): 223–247.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, Aaron Link, and Raz, Hilda. 2007. What Becomes You. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Rhode, Deborah. 2010. The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Richards, David A. J. 1999. Identity and the Case for Gay Rights: Race, Gender, Religion as Analogies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
SEPTA. 2010-2014. Five Year Strategic Business Plan . http://www.septa.org/reports/pdf/strategic.pdf (accessed October 5, 2013).Google Scholar
SEPTA. 2013. Board Approves Fare Increases; Budget Action Deferred . http://www.septa.org/media/releases/2013/05-23.html (accessed September 27, 2013).Google Scholar
Serano, Julia. 2007. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.Google Scholar
Simien, Evelyn and Hancock, Ange Marie. 2011. “Mini-Symposium on Intersectionality Research.” Political Science Quarterly 64(1): 185–86.Google Scholar
Snorton, C. Riley. 2009. “’A New Hope’: The Psychic Life of Passing.” Hypatia 24(Summer): 77–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder-Hall, R. Claire. 2010. “Third-Wave Feminism and the Defense of ‘Choice’.” Perspectives on Politics 8(1): 255–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spade, Dean. 2009. “Keynote Address: Trans Law & Politics on a Neoliberal Landscape.” Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 18(2): 353–73.Google Scholar
Spade, Dean. 2011. Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of the Law. Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Jamie Kathleen, 2007. “Transgender Identities and Public Policy in the United States: Relevance for Public Administration.” Administration and Society 39(7): 833–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Angela. 2013. “SEPTA to drop gender markers next month.” Philadelphia Gay News. http://epgn.com/view/full_story/22816963/article-SEPTA-to-drop-gender-markers-next-month (accessed October 3, 2013).Google Scholar
Transgender Law and Policy Institute. 2007. “Non-Discrimination Laws that Include Gender Identity and Expression.” www.transgenderlaw.org/ndlaws/ (accessed October 5, 2013).Google Scholar
Valentine, David. 2007. Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Valerio, Max Wolf. 2006. The Testosterone Files: My Hormonal and Social Transformation from Female to Male. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.Google Scholar
Vilaine, Eric. 2012. “Gender Testing for Athletes Remains a Tough Call.” New York Times, June 18.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 1993. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2006. “Taking the Basic Structure Seriously.” Perspectives on Politics 4(1): 91–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadsworth, Nancy. 2011. “Intersectionality in California’s Same-Sex Marriage Battles: A Complex Proposition.” 64(1): 200–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, Kortney Ryan. 2008. Still Black: A Portrait of Black Transmen.Google Scholar