Postgenderism is a diverse social, political and cultural movement whose adherents affirm the elimination of gender in the human species through the application of advanced biotechnology and assistive reproductive technologies. Advocates of postgenderism argue that the presence of gender roles, social stratification, and cogno-physical disparities and differences are generally to the detriment of individuals and society. Given the radical potential for advanced assistive reproductive options, postgenderists believe that sex for reproductive purposes will either eventually become a thing of the past or that all human beings will have the ability, if they so choose, to both carry a pregnancy to term and father a child, placing the entire need for gender and gender differences into question. The word gender describes the state of being male, female, or neither. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... The structure of insulin Biotechnology is a technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. ... Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a general term that some biology students have to research. ... A bagpiper in military uniform. ... Social stratification is a sociological term for the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes, and strata within a society. ... A gender difference is a disparity between male and female humans. ... Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that results in increasing genetic diversity of the offspring. ...

Cultural roots

Postgenderism as a cultural phenomenon has roots in feminism, masculism, along with the androgyny, metrosexual/technosexual and transgender movements. However, it has been through the application of transhumanist philosophy that postgenderists have conceived of the potential for actual morphological changes to the human species and in how future humans will reproduce. In this sense, it is an offshoot of transhumanism, posthumanism, and futurism. Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, a famous suffragette, in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster. ... Masculism (also referred to as masculinism) is a term relating to a number of ideologies found in the streams of the mens movement that are either antifeminist or very critical of feminism. ... Androgyny refers to two concepts. ... Metrosexuality is, according to British journalist Mark Simpson, the trait of an urban male of any sexual orientation who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great amount of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. ... Technosexual (a portmanteau word combining technological and metrosexual), previously used to refer to an individual with a sexual attraction to machinery, is a term recently redefined to describe a person (usually a male) with a strong aesthetic sense and a love of gadgets. ... Transgender is an overarching term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at birth. ... Natasha Vita-Mores Primo Posthuman Transhumanism (sometimes abbreviated >H or H+) is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human physical and cognitive abilities and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as... In literary and critical theory, posthumanism, meaning beyond humanism, is a European emergent philosophy and is the dominant secular, rational humanist philosophy. ... Futurism may refer to: Future studies, the philosophical or academic study of the medium to long-term future also known as futurology. ...

An important and influential work in this regard was socialist feminist Donna Haraway's essay, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp.149-181. In this work, Haraway argued that women would only be freed from their biological restraints when their reproductive obligations were dispensed with. In other words, Haraway believes that women will only achieve true liberation once they become postbiological organisms, or postgendered. Socialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a womans life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of womens oppression. ... Donna Haraway Donna Haraway, born in 1944 in Denver, Colorado, is currently a professor and former chair of the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, United States. ... Cyborg theory was created by Donna Haraway in order to critique traditional notions of feminism. ...

Types of postgenderism

Postgenderists are not exclusively advocates of androgyny, although most believe that a “mixing” of both masculine and feminine traits is desirable – essentially the creation of androgynous individuals who exhibit the best of what males and females have to offer in terms of physical and psychological abilities and proclivities. Just what these traits are exactly is a matter of great debate and conjecture.

Androgyny aside, some forms of radical feminism advocate the elimination of males altogether (i.e. gendercide), which can be construed as a type of postgenderism. Radical feminism is a branch of feminism that views womens oppression (or patriarchy) as the basic system of power upon which human relationships in society are arranged. ... Femicide or Feminicidio, Femicidio in Spanish stands for female genocide. ...

Future technologies

In regard to potential assistive reproductive technologies, it is believed that reproduction can continue to happen outside of convential methods, namely intercourse and artificial insemination. Advances such as human cloning, parthenogenesis and artificial wombs may significantly extend the potential for human reproduction. The word intercourse refers to: Look up intercourse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Artificial insemination (AI) is when sperm is placed into a females uterus (intrauterine), or cervix (intracervical) using artificial means rather than by natural copulation. ... Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of an existing, or previously existing human or growing cloned tissue from that individual. ... Kaguya is one success from 460 attempts at growing embryos. ... In the field of ectogenesis, an artificial womb is used to grow an embryo outside the body of a female. ...

It is also thought that posthuman space will be more virtual than real. Individuals may consist of uploaded minds living as data patterns on supercomputers or users engaged in completely immersive virtual realities. Postgenderists contend that these types of existences are not gender-specific thus allowing individuals to morph their virtual appearances and sexuality at will. Posthuman can have the following meanings: Posthuman (Human evolution), a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... A supercomputer is a computer that leads the world in terms of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation, at the time of its introduction. ... Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to intereact with a computer-simulated environment. ... Example of an avatar as used on internet forums. ...

Sexuality

Postgenderists maintain that a genderless society does not imply the existence of a species disinterested in sex and sexuality. It is thought that sexual relations and interpersonal intimacy can and will exist in a postgendered future, but that those activities will take on different form. Look up Sex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

For example, the act of sex may be "performed" in virtual reality, while one-to-one communication may be enhanced by such potentials as techlepathy. Physicality and gender-specificity as a prerequisite for sexual relations, argue postgenderists, will become less relevant with the advent and maturation of pending technologies.

For those who wish to continue engaging in physical intercourse, the possibility may exist for sexual reassignment. Surgery that allow transgendered individuals to alter their gender may also be used for those who wish to change their morphology as they see fit and not have to remain fixed to one particular gender.

The possibility also exists that some postgendered individuals will choose not to engage in any kind of sexual activity whatsoever. Posthumans, or the postgendered, may be involved in different activities altogether or have a mind-space that is beyond sex and gender.

References

• Haraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,". Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991), pp.149-181.
• Schaub, Joseph Christopher. Presenting the Cyborg's Futurist Past: An Analysis of Dziga Vertov's Kino-Eye. Department of Comparative Literature, University of Maryland
• Galántai, Zoltán Galántai. Proposal for the Declaration of Intelligent Beings' Rights. Technical University of Budapest

See also