Prof. Florence Ashley publishes new research on construction of gender identity
Sarah Kent - 5 July 2023
Assistant Professor Florence Ashley of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law has recently published new research on the construction of gender identity.
The paper, titled “What is it like to have a gender identity?” appears in the prestigious philosophy journal, MIND.
In it, Ashley explores how people individually construct gender identity through ongoing social experiences. Gender identity, they argue, is “how we make sense of our gender subjectivity, the totality of our gendered experiences of ourselves.”
Using the metaphor of architecture, Ashley suggests that gender identity “is the form of the building whereas gender subjectivity is its material.”
Ashley argues that gender identity is the product of every-day “mundane and unexceptional psychological processes” and “is largely due to pre-reflective interpretation.”
Their theorization of gender identity allows for diverse explanations of how people experience and construct their gender identities without universalizing them.
An open access version of the paper is available on Ashley’s website.
Ashley is the author of Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis. They have widely published research in journals including the University of Toronto Law Journal, the NYU Review of Law & Social Change, the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and Perspectives on Psychological Science. Their work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health standards of care.