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Essentialist Approaches

Difference politics:

--Negritude movement of 1950s�--Essentialist feminism: ”In a different voice” (Gilligan); Turkle’s bottom up female programmers; etc.�“I am [inherently] different than you, and that is OK”

“Inherent” might be claims for genetic difference, or non-genetic but deeply psychological [eg dinnerstein]; or “Inherent to the social construction of X” (therefore not present with a better construction).

Montessori; 5%ers; etc: “You are deficient, not fully human”

Anti-essentialist: �--Audre Lourde: “The master’s tools will never tear down the master’s house”�--Derrida: deconstruction requires us to both reverse and displace�--Haraway: “Reversal is never enough”

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Essentialist Approaches

Sameness politics:

--Civil rights movement 1960s

--Liberal feminism

--Homonormativity; neoliberal valorization of sexual orientation as just another diversity variable

“I am just like you; perceived differences are either trivial or non-existent”

“Once adjusted for X we will regain our equal rights” (curb cuts for wheel chairs; switching from strength based to intelligence based economies for women; eliminating racial bias for people of color via legal means; fixing algorithmic bias, etc.)

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“Cluster”

Anti-essentialist step 1: identities cannot be reduced to a single common core (Wittgenstein’s family resemblance).

Wrong Right

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Unask the question

Anti-essentialist 2: the questions we tackle were created via essentialism in the first place. “Are the two genders equal” requires us to assume two genders. Alternatively:
More than two genders (anthropology)
Fluid spectrum (one dimension)
Multidimensions: I can be full on manly in some dimensions; fluid in others; downright womanly elsewhere
Cuts or projective geometry: Barad avoids reduction

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