anti-essentialism

Anti-essentialism is the idea that things, including people, don’t have fixed, unchanging “essences” or core qualities that define their true nature. Instead, identities and characteristics are seen as shaped by cultural, social, and individual factors that can change over time. For example, rather than viewing gender as tied to a specific, unchanging essence, anti-essentialism suggests that gender is a social construct influenced by context and experience. This perspective challenges the notion of fixed categories, emphasizing variability, diversity, and the influence of environment and history on how we understand identities.