Abstract:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The constitution of the category of woman has long been a site of sustained theoretical and social contestation. In the last year alone, this contestation has underpinned significant socio-political regress. From government-sponsored reports on data collection (Sullivan, 2025), reinterpretations of terminology in equality legislation (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, 2025), and an international sporting body\u2019s reintroduction of physiological testing practices (International Olympic Committee, 2026), decisions on who is legitimately included in the category of woman \u2013 and, whether by extension or in contrast, female \u2013 have ramifications spanning multiple domains. However, despite the rhetorical intensity of its contestation, the underlying cognitive structures that organise the category remain under-examined in the current antagonistic political context. In this paper, I argue that differential cognitive models of woman often positioned in competition to one another have substantial overlap. Further, I contend that the differences between, for example, models for woman and trans woman are insufficient for sustaining the categorical exclusions currently being legislated and enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Broadly, this paper takes a socio-cognitive approach to discourse studies (van Dijk, 2008; Webster, 2021) in generating empirical evidence for the features, conditions, and structures that organise the category woman in trans-inclusive and trans-exclusionary imaginaries. Building on foundational category structure research from cognitive linguistics (e.g. Rosch, 1973; Lakoff, 1987), I identify the central, peripheral, essential, prototypical, and exemplar conditions that constitute woman as a category in each cognitive model. I then put forward a novel method of cognitive mapping, combining conceptual blending (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) and deictic space theory (Chilton, 2014), to plot these conditions and render them visually comparable. Overlaying differential models of the category makes immediately apparent the substantial overlap and insufficient structural differences across trans-inclusive and trans-exclusionary variants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The primary contribution of this paper is twofold. Methodologically, it puts forward a novel approach to visual cognitive mapping that makes comparison within and across categories immediately legible. It also generates an empirical and evidence-based challenge to \u2018gender-critical\u2019 politicking, demonstrating that the conditions comprising woman as a trans-exclusionary cognitive category are insufficiently different from its trans-inclusive counterpart to warrant or enable a stable foundation for long-term legislative and social exclusions, which are currently being executed in its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chilton, P. 2014. Language, Space and Mind: The conceptual geometry of linguistic meaning. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fauconnier, G. & Turner, M. 2002. The Way We Think: conceptual blending and the mind\u2019s hidden complexities. Basic Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. 2025. UK Supreme Court (UKSC) 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
International Olympic Committee. 2026. International Olympic Committee announces new Policy on the Protection of the Female (Women\u2019s) Category in Olympic Sport. 26 March, 2026. https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/ioc\/news\/international-olympic-committee-announces-new-policy-on-the-protection-of-the-female-women-s-category-in-olympic-sport<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, Fire & Dangerous Things. University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosch, E. 1973. On the internal structure of perceptual and semantic categories. In T. Moore (ed.), Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language. Academic Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosch, E. 1978. Principles of categorization. In E. Rosch & B.B. Lloyd, Cognition and Categorization. Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan, A. 2025. Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender. UCL Social Research Institute. https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/media\/67d98b8a4ba412c67701ed92\/review-of-data-statistics-research-on-sex-and-gender.pdf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
van Dijk, T.A. 2008. Discourse and Context: A socio-cognitive approach. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Webster, L. 2021. Erase\/rewind: How transgender Twitter discourses challenge and (re)politicize lesbian identities. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 26(2), 174\u2013191. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/10894160.2021.1978369<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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