Gender in Time

Abstract: I propose two theories to lay bare phenomena of gender change, as they relate both to gender identity and to a person’s “function” within social systems. Narrative-gender describes a person’s perception of their gender across time, including both their memories and their expectations for the future. Narrative-genders are highly detailed and unique to individuals, but they are integrally shaped by historical gender concepts such as “man” and “woman.” By describing the relationship between a person’s narrative-gender and historical gender lineages, we can interpret claims such as “I am a woman” in the most charitable way. This view of gender identity points toward the concept of social trajectory, which describes movement across sociopolitical categories. I modify Sally Haslanger’s social position account to describe movement of this kind