Unit 11
Who is a Woman? Transgendered Persons

Overview

Although this course is about women, we have not yet examined the underlying concept of sex that informs all debate over women’s place and status in society. Most people assume that the concept of sex is stable, easily identifiable and immutable. However, as the cases and articles below discuss, this is not true for persons with gender identity disorders. Although sex changes are controversial, in Canada people can legally change their sex. Nonetheless, in certain contexts, some feminists regard male-to-female transgendered persons as not being “women” in the same way natural-born women are, which creates a problem. To the extent that a feminist organization is legally entitled to restrict admission to women only, admission of transgendered people is controversial. This unit reviews this issue through a prominent and recent example: Vancouver Rape Relief Society v. Nixon. Is there a right answer to the Nixon case? Does this debate have anything to say about the usefulness of framing a social movement around “women’s” needs, aspirations and realities?

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit students should be able to

1. identify why some feminists do not think male-to-female transgendered persons should be admitted to women only spaces.
2. analyze the issues posed by a transgendered person’s claim for admission to a women only space.
3. assess the legal arguments raised by the Vancouver Rape Society v. Nixon case.
4. discuss the implications of transgender issues for feminist theory.