University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2015 Rethinking Responding to Raymond: Re-replying to Reproaches of Transsexualism Evan Isaiah Spencer University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Spencer, Evan Isaiah, "Rethinking Responding to Raymond: Re-replying to Reproaches of Transsexualism" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 962. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/962 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. RETHINKING RESPONDING TO RAYMOND: RE-REPLYING TO REPROACHES OF TRANSSEXUALISM by Evan Spencer A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2015 ABSTRACT RETHINKING RESPONDING TO RAYMOND: RE-REPLYING TO REPROACHES OF TRANSSEXUALISM by Evan Spencer The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Andrea Westlund The topic of transsexualism was most prominently brought into the feminist movement's consciousness through the critical work of cultural radical feminist Janice Raymond. In this paper I will argue that the original response given by trans theorists to Raymond's critiques has allowed for the propagation of certain mistaken notions about trans people. In order to correct these misconceptions a different tack must be taken in responding to Raymond. I will begin by overviewing how two schools of feminist thought have lent themselves to theories of transsexualism, then focusing on radical feminist critique by Janice Raymond and a post-structural feminist response by theorist Sandy Stone.