Compulsory sex-marking as a threat to personal autonomy
Do our norms around sex presentation uphold a constrictive gender regime? In a new article in Ethics, Ophelia Vedder writes that the abolition of hegemonic gender roles must involve the elimination of "compulsory sex-marking," or the coercive social practice of signaling sexual identity through conv...
April 10, 2026185 views
Image: Phys.org
Do our norms around sex presentation uphold a constrictive gender regime? In a new article in Ethics, Ophelia Vedder writes that the abolition of hegemonic gender roles must involve the elimination of "compulsory sex-marking," or the coercive social practice of signaling sexual identity through conventional means like clothes, hairstyles, and personal pronouns. Ultimately, Vedder writes, sex-marking not only perpetuates heterosexist oppression, but also represents a threat to individual autonomy.
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