| dc.description.abstract | In recent work, Robin Dembroff proposes that those who wish to improve operational gender kinds by making them trans-inclusive should look to trans-inclusive spaces and communities to imitate social practices. Imitating the social practices of trans-inclusive contexts, focussing more specifically on classification practices, Dembroff argues, can change the construction of gender kinds in more contexts, making them more trans-inclusive. In this thesis, I take Dembroff’s proposal, the imitation approach, and work to defend and, hopefully, develop it. Whereas Dembroff does not clearly lay out constraints that an approach to gender classifications and improving gender kinds ought to meet, I do so here by drawing on the methodology of trans-philosophy and wider aims of trans-rights movements. With these constraints in place we are better able to consider how successful Dembroff’s proposal can be. Ultimately, I argue, as long as the imitation approach is not considered a standalone approach but a component of broader efforts to improving gender kinds, it can – broadly – meet the constraints I lay out here. To defend that it is worthwhile turning to this approach to gender classifications, I draw on two arguments. The first of these is Dembroff’s own argument that gender kinds in operation in dominant contexts are ontologically oppressive, so our classification practices should not aim to track the membership conditions of these kinds, but should turn instead to consider operational kinds in other contexts and their associated practices. The second – the argument from social implications - is another of Dembroff’s arguments, though repurposed to defend the imitation approach, rather than the normative view of gender classifications they defend in their PhD dissertation. I argue that these combined provide stronger motivation and support for the imitation approach. I also turn to look at how the imitation approach can negotiate the gender kinds in operation when looking at a more fine-grained contextual understanding. I draw on Ásta’s account of social ontology to argue that, in many contexts, the gender kinds in operation can successfully be made more trans-inclusive through adopting the imitation approach; though, there are limits to the scope of implementation, and sometimes, implementing it might be overridden by other normative concerns. | eng |