The Bioethical and Ideological Background to the »Gender Theory«

Abstract

In the second half of the past (twentieth) century we see the so–called »gender theory« appearing in ethical and bioethical debates. The gender concept was then introduced and was to be distinguished from the concept of sex. This is the result of feminist and LGBT research begun by John Money and which was further developed by feminists Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler, the philosopher Michael Foucault and proponents of other postmodern currents in philosophy. Gender is defined as a social construct not contingent upon sex which is a biological determinant and therefore is fluid, changeable and free. The goal of this theory is to create a new social equality by transcending the »dictatorship of nature« and eliminating class differences between men and women which are a product of our patriarchally ordered society. In this regard, the »gender theory«« may be understood as cultural Marxism. One must keep in mind that the content of the »gender theory« is based exclusively upon highbrow theorems which have no justification in the empirical sciences. For this reason, it would be incorrect to regard such a theory as a scientific truth. It is by excluding man’s biological givens and viewing him as an exclusively social construct that gender theoreticians have discounted the nature of man which is broader than mere structuralism.