Philosophy and Gender

  The gown that Billy Porter wore to the Oscars in 2019 is stunning. Describing why he commissioned and wore this piece in an interview with Vogue , Porter explains that he always wanted to wear a ball gown, and wanted this look to "play between the masculine and the feminine". He's intentionally not dressing drag, and he is intentionally wearing a dress. When he first put on the gown, Porter's reaction was: I felt alive. I felt free . And open, and radiant. And beautiful!  Especially in pandemic times, when I can barely be bothered to put on actual pants instead of sweatpants, I find this sentiment impressive. You've got a dang good outfit when you not only feel at home in it, but free and beautiful.  Porter knew that his gown would get some reactions, and not all of them great. In the Vogue interview he recalls how people treated him when he wore a pink cape to the Golden Globes: "What is masculinity? What does that mean? Women show up every day in pants, b...

  The results of a 2016-2017 Siena Student Climate Survey reported that 100% of Siena transgender students expressed that they had personally experienced bias/harassment/discrimination at our college.  Knowing this, I feel terrible. How can we turn this around so that not only are our transgender students not harassed, but embraced? There are infrastructure and policy issues that we can and should change. These changes go far beyond changing the signs on our restrooms (although I think we should do that too). For instance, as far as I know Siena is not among the colleges that cover transition-related medical expenses under student health insurance, nor among the colleges that have gender inclusive housing in which students can have a roommate of any gender (cf. Siena's Transgender Student Housing Policy ). Of course, I would be happy to be corrected on that if others know otherwise!  There are aspects of classroom norms, curriculum, and campus climate that can be more tr...

  Buck v. Bell is a US Supreme Court decision from 1927 regarding the constitutional permissibility of forced sterilization. Patricia Hill Collins refers to the majority opinion that Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for this decision, in her 1998 article "Its All In the Family: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Nation". The citation that Collins gives for the disturbing passage she quotes from Holmes' opinion is Mark Haller's (1984/1963) book Eugenics: Hereditarian Attitudes in American Thought.  As Haller, and thus Collins, render it, the passage is as follows:  "It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the state for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped by incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting for their imbecility , society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains co...