Essentialist epistemology and (anti)transexcludent feminisms: biologizing gender in social networks

Abstract:

The article analyzes the growing circulation of trans-exclusive discourse in the field of the Brazilian left in the sphere of social networks. This feminism, epistemically marked by an essentialist and biologizing perspective, sometimes resorts to the argument of the materiality of the woman’s body, starting from the designated experience of biological sex (nature) in opposition to the notion of gender identity (culture), affirming the risk of erasure of women’s demands and their needs aimed at cisgender women. Starting from three cases that gained repercussion on social media in the period between 2022 and 2023, we present these controversies. The hypothesis we start with is that there is the sharing of an essentialist and trans-exclusive matrix-narrative about gender, both by feminist segments and by the right in the societal field, generating a feedback system between political spectrums that do not recognize identities other than the cisheteronormative one.

Keywords:
Essentialist feminisms; Trans-exclusionary feminism; Biologizing feminisms