Genderless Societies as Dystopian or Utopian.

Nicholas Vail-Stein

Abstract — Gender at this point is historic and normalised in all of human cultures. The point of this paper is not to define the end goals of any sociological movement as their goals are typically to diminish barriers between genders, not to entirely get rid of gender. This paper is to examine potential effects of removing gender biases and norms from modern cultures in such a way that would either impose either a dystopian or utopian society into place. The goal of this essay is to show how extreme removing gender could be to highlight its relevance to society and to outline how a proper reformation of gender norms could lead to a more equal future.

Key terms — Conflict, Dystopia, Functionalist, Gender, Symbolic Interactionist, Utopia

The concept of a genderless society in itself is very foreign to most people. This is mainly due to the fact that it has been so normalised in our cultures that many people tend to forget how many gender norms there are. To understand genders impact on society one needs to look into how it fits in with sociological theory. There are three main theories in sociology that will need to be understood, these are the functionalist, conflict, and the symbolic interactionist. Each of these perspectives play an important role in defining gender. The functionalist perspective views how the Male-Female dynamic can help to create a functional society with men as earners and women as caretakers. The conflict perspective focuses on how society is separated into different groups with different amounts of power based on which group you are in, which in this case would be men, women, and non-binary people. The Interactionist perspective focuses on how people’s actions are performed based on social norms and learned behavior. Through these perspectives it becomes much easier to realise how a genderless society could become either dystopian or utopian.

To understand why the loss of gender could be dystopian the functionalist perspective must first be taken. In society today we rely heavily on gender for many basic tasks. It holds many roots in our culture and effects industry, fashion, language, media, parenting, etc.. These are all fields that benefit from gender difference and would have a very hard time adapting if laws were put in place that prevented them from utilising gender. For example the sports industry has traditionally been very male dominated but with the introduction of a bill known as Title IX this would become impossible for most schools. According to “From 1981 to 2005, male athletes per school declined 6 percent, and men’s teams per school dropped 17 percent. Meanwhile, female athletes per school rose 34 percent, and women’s teams per school rose 34 percent” (Kasic, 6). This means that in an attempt to create equality many male athletes were driven out of sports because colleges did not have the budget to open female sports teams while keeping the male sports teams. This is an example of a restrictive law that, while helpful for equalising the gender barrier, ends up having a negative impact on the other.

With enough restrictive laws in place to govern what can and can not happen purely due based on gender society would almost certainly be detrimental to society. If for some reason the governing bodies of the world decided that both genders must be legal in every aspect then there are many more repercussive effects that could take place. If an employment law was passed in a similar vein to Title IX then it could end with massive layoffs of men and the introduction of massive amounts of ‘token’ female workers who may be sought after to appeal to legal standards rather than actual qualifications. These restrictive laws do exist loosely in many places and are known as Affirmative Action and are known to be detrimental to majority peoples. According to The Atlantic, “Affirmative action has severed its connection to the deepest wrong in American history and effloresced into a system whereby citizens are bestowed or denied preferences or benefits according to a complex hierarchy of race, ethnicity, national origin, and sex” (Frum). These laws are set up to pin down majority people who are more fit for positions without looking into the root of the source.

This is where the dystopian part of this example begins to take shape and the conflict perspective is seen, if men were pointlessly held down in workspaces and the societal view of them as the primary earners of a household would stay the same then there would be extreme pressure on men to still provide in a lopsided economy. Over time society would eventually change their views of men as primary earners and begin to see a more even split in work as women would step up to social expectations and fill in the jobs men were removed from. This may seem like a positive outcome in the end but to get there could take generations to first normalise having more women in certain fields and then to have the women in this society go through the full educational process to join said field. In this time there could be a very large deficit of skilled workers and a field may begin to fail and become a less desirable job path. This kind of chain reaction and aimless use of power is what could lead to economic depressions, and thus a dystopian society.

The solution for all of this is simple; fix the problem where it begins and not where it occurs. This means working first towards changing societal norms, gender discrimination, pay discrimination, and job discrimination would lead us into a utopian society. Obviously this is a very large oversimplification for a very complex and fragile topic but simple steps could be taken such as educational reforms to underperforming school districts. By putting focus on these areas and giving teachers and parents proper lessons in gender theory societal norms will eventually change. This change of societal norm could lead to more people entering typically avoided fields more organically and will not shock any industries, but still promote gender diversity in them. “Gender equality is a particularly relevant variable to be included in the analysis of a country’s child welfare and education policies. Finnish women were the first in the world to have equal political rights. Since 1906, women in Finland have had the right to vote and stand for elections, 14 years before the United States issued these rights to women” (Sahlberg). Using the Interactionist perspective to assess this article one can see that giving women rights slowly changed society’s view of them as a whole and that Finland’s progressiveness has lead them to be one of the most successful countries for sociological topics.

In conclusion society should actively be avoiding setting up any type of restrictions based on gender. All they do is equalise gender norms and by discriminating against groups that are equally as qualified. Actions taken to fix sexism in all fields should take place where they begin and work towards finding where groups become oppressed in the first place. Raising one group up to another takes time and support and if society wishes to remove gender from someone’s chances of success and societal value then it must reinforce that gender isn’t an obstacle from a young age and not only when they enter into higher level sports or their career field. Society as a whole seems to already be heading towards this genderless utopia, but there will still be a lot of reform needed to get rid of recent history’s poor legacy.

Sources

Frum, David. “Why Affirmative Action No Longer Works.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 Apr. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/04/why-affirmative-action-no-longer-works/361113/.

Kasic, Allison. “Title IX and Athletics: A Case Study of Perverse Incentives and Unintended Consequences.” Independent Women’s Forum, Independent Women’s Forum, June 2010, http://www.iwf.org/files/8fc3dc20d277ff96968266aaab0add0a.pdf

Strauss, Valerie. “How Gender Equality Could Help School Reform.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Sept. 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-new-finnish-lesson-why-gender-equality-matters-in-school-reform/2012/09/05/3703ad4c-f778-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_blog.html?utm_term=.ca10ebacbe94.