Jiao Sun

This autoethnography presents a comprehensive personal journey of a transgender evolutionary biologist examining the origins of their gender identity, finally culminating in an argument for gender abolitionism. The author’s “gender identity” is not to an innate, ontological essence, but to a complex synthesis of internalised social norms, childhood trauma, aesthetic preferences, and reactions to a “pervasively gendered” society that repeatedly assigned gendered meaning to neutral behaviours, objects, and personality traits. The narrative critically engages with mainstream gender theories, revealing logical inconsistencies, circular reasoning, and category errors within concepts such as the sex/gender distinction, “innate gender identity”, “assigned sex at birth” (ASAB), and the cisgender/transgender binary. The author proposes a revolution in the form of gender abolitionism: a framework that strictly limits sex sensu stricto to gametes, dismantles phenotypic “sex” into a spectrum of sexual dimorphic traits, and advocates for the complete removal of gender as a social, legal, cultural, and self-identity category. Furthermore, the article extends its critique to post-structuralist and queer theories, arguing that while their deconstructive intentions are noted, their real-world effect paradoxically reinforces gender-centrism and destructed an intersubjective world, ultimately failing to provide a path to liberation. Ultimately, the work is a defence of universalism and scientific realism as essential tools for dismantling all forms of oppression, arguing that a consistent application of reason offers the most profound and inclusive path toward human freedom, transcending the contemporary identity politics.