Gender Boundaries

In Hilde Lindeman’s opinion, gender is not factually based. Gender is a norm established by society. In her essay “What is Feminist Ethics?” she details the effects that a prescriptive gender identity can bear on the interactions and relationships between men and women. According to Lindeman, “it’s a power relation, so it tells men that they’re entitled to things that women aren’t supposed to have and it tells women that they are supposed to defer to men and serve them” (155). Society’s construction of gender spurs the sole delegation of power positions to men over women and the unequal distribution of resources, such as money.

The potential effects of defined gender are clearly identified by Lindeman in her essay. However, what she points out is not so clear, is how we as a society actually discern these definitions and draw a black-and-white line between male and female. She points to cases like those with Klinefelter’s syndrome, with three sex chromosomes, and the gray scale of gender that enters in cases of transgender or gender neutrality.