The Necessity and Insufficiency of Human Rights

Correa and Thomas both observe the indispensability and insufficiency of human rights. They appreciate the necessity of human rights whilst reminding us to remain critical of them. Human rights rely on a false sense of universality, without which they would not be able to exist. Yet this universality leads to an inability to factor in cultural, individual and group differences.

A critical question in regards to human rights is: "who gets to make them and how can they avoid ethnocentrism?"

Nikki Sullivan explores the white optics behind the western view of 'female genital mutilation (FGM)'. Comparing this practice with cosmetic genital surgery in the west, ethnocentric bias in perspectives on morality become clear.

The above video brings to attention the issues that human rights are built around. Human rights are not fulfilled worldwide. It can be seen that the more injustices there are in the world, the more human rights are needed. In this sense, to an extent, human rights reflect the amount of injustice there is in the world.

Finally, Thomas leaves us with the question: "who counts as human?"

References:

Corrêa, S, Petchesky, R & Parker, R 2008, “On the indispensability and insufficiency of human rights” in Sexuality, Health and Human Rights, London and New York, Routledge, pp. 151-163.

Thomas, K 2006, “Afterword: Are Transgender Rights Inhuman Rights?” in P. Currah, R. M. Juang, S Price Minter (eds) Transgender Rights, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 310-326.

Sullivan, N 2007. ‘“The Price to Pay for our Common Good”: Genital Modification and the Somatechnologies of Cultural (In)Difference’, Social Semiotics, 17:3, pp. 395-409.

Intersections of Race and Sexuality

In his article "I Think You're the Smartest Race I've Ever Met: Racialised Economies of Queer Male Desire", Alan Han develops a concept of desire as capital. In this economy of desire, he explores the way queer Asian men are racialised, whereas queer white men possess whiteness which means they also possess the invisible standard of desirability.

When Han says "...whilst campaigning for queer rights, I realized that the rights I was fighting for were those of queer white men", he problematises the way campaigns often ignore intersections, leading to exclusions and prejudices against certain groups of people. This is similar to how feminist activism is often white feminist activism, or women-only feminist activism.

In response to his question "What do queer white men gain from refusing to desire queer Asian men?" it would seem that it is a matter of othering queer Asian men in order to reinforce queer white men's white supremacy. However, as Han mentions that people don't "consciously choose their desires", I think it is important to look at the relations of power involved in the experiences of both queer white men and queer Asian men, taking into account that queer Asian men are also actors on the playing field where queer white men are more desirable to all queer men.

Reference:

Han, A 2006, ‘I Think You’re the Smartest Race I’ve Ever Met: Racialised Economies of Queer Male Desire’, Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association e-Journal, vol.2, no.2, pp.1-14.

Law and Justice

Derrida argues that law and justice are not the same. Caputo describes justice as being fairness, and the fact that this fairness isn't present in law demonstrates the difference between the two. The law tries to be just, he says, but it falls short of justice, unable to account for each individual situation. This difference between law and justice can be seen in the way the law is often biased against certain groups of people or individuals.
 

From 2010 to 2014, Norrie May-Welby fought for the legal status of being neither man nor woman. In April 2014, the high court ruled that a third gender must be recognised in NSW. The language that was used in court was scattered with assumptions of a sex binary. These assumptions are not fair on those who are outside this sex binary. When the foundations that a law is made on are unjust, then justice and law cannot be the same. However, in the case of Norrie May-Welby we can also see the way justice works to improve the law. Instead of seeing law as justice, we can see justice as being an influence on law.

Yet if it is impossible for the law to account for the individual, then can the law ever be just? And even when the law changes to become more just, is it really any more just than before when the language used is itself unjust?


J. Caputo, “In the names of Justice” in Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with constant Reference to Deconstruction, Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1993, pp. 69-92.

J. Derrida, “Froce of Law: ‘The Mystical foundation of authority”, trans. P.M. Quaintance, In D. Cornell, M. Rosenfeld and D. G. Carlson (eds), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, New York and London, Routledge, 1992, pp. 3-67

http://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/cases/s273-2013/Norrie_App.pdf

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/02/third-gender-must-be-recognised-by-nsw-after-norrie-wins-legal-battle

Interlocking Systems of Domination

In her article, Bell Hooks criticises the feminist movement for placing the problem of patriarchal dominance above problems of racism and other forms of domination. Hooks reminds us that "women can and do participate in politics of domination, as perpetrators as well as victims" (1989, p. 19) and that oppressed and oppressor can and do share the same race, class and/or sex. This reminds me of Foucault's theory of power. Foucault describes power as a "mobile field of force relations" (1978, p. 102), meaning that power isn't static. It also means that power cannot be possessed by a person or an institution, rather, power is a force relationship between people and institutions. Hooks speaks of the importance of "interlocking systems of domination" wherein more than one relation of power may be in effect. She emphasizes the importance to take class and race into account when focusing on patriarchal domination. Without considering interlocking systems of domination, we may just end up with a racist cause to end patriarchal domination, or a sexist cause to end racism. I suggest that what we need is an all encompassing cause to end oppression.

Hooks, B. 1989,  ‘Feminism: A Transformational Politic’, Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, South End Press Boston MA, pp. 19-27.

M. Foucault, “Method” in The History of Sexuality: An Introduction, trans. R. Hurley, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1978, pp. 92-102.

Questioning Gender Dimorphism

Judith Butler questions the necessity of sex reassignment surgery in intersex infants. She describes the falsity of gender dimorphism and the biological chromosomal continuum between male and female in infants. Butler thereby demonstrates how "gender dimorphism as a prerequisite of human development" is arbitrary. Intersex babies need not undergo what is often medically, and, arguably, socially, unnecessary surgery in order to fit into a defined gender role which they may find problematic.

In another example of problematising gender dimorphism, Patricia Elliot discusses incidents where transgender people have been denied membership to women's groups because they ostensibly pose a threat to feminist or female identity. I suggest that such feminists might consider taking on the challenges raised by this discussion in order to create an inclusive movement to address equality for all genders and not only equality for women.

In the following video, transman activist, Yee Won Chong reminds us of the common conflation of assigned sex, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. He separates them into continua illustrating these differences with his own personal experience. Chong's talk is useful to help people understand the reality and depth of the problems that transgender people experience on a day to day basis.

Butler, J 2004, ‘Doing Justice to Someone: Sex Reassignment and Allegories of Transsexuality’, in Undoing Gender, Routledge, New York, pp. 74-101.

Elliott, P, 2010, 'Ch 1: Feminist embattlement on the field of trans', Debates in Transgender, Queer and Feminist Theory', Ashgate, Farnham & Burlington, pp. 17-31.

Chong, YW 2012, Beyond the Gender Binary: Yee Won Chong at TEDxRainier, online video, 13 December, TEDx Talks, viewed 11 May 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lm4vxZrAig>.